2025 at Joy Brings Light: The Work, the People, and What We’re Carrying Forward

As we come to the close of 2025, we wanted to pause and reflect on what this year held.

At Joy Brings Light, this year was about showing up consistently. For communities. For organizations. For moments that asked for care, grounding, and presence.

It was a year of deepening the work while expanding how and where it could live.

The Work We Held

In 2025, Joy Brings Light facilitated dozens of live gatherings, reaching over 2,000 people across Nebraska and beyond.

Our work showed up in many forms, but the intention stayed the same—and it took place in real rooms, with real partners, responding to real needs.

We offered:

• Community wellness gatherings open to the public, including sessions hosted in spaces like Omaha Public Library, Luli Creative House, and Millwork Commons, where we held our third year of Mindful Mondays

• Sound healing sessions for teams and professional associations, including Children’s Nebraska, Weitz Family Foundation, Creighton University, Urban League of Nebraska, and the Nebraska Counseling Association

• Education- and youth-based experiences within school systems and professional networks, including work with UMÓⁿHOⁿ Nation schools, Nelson Mandela Elementary, the School Social Work Association of Nebraska, and more

• Creative and cultural offerings rooted in sound, reflection, and art, in partnership with organizations such as CreativeMornings Omaha,  Joslyn Art Museum and Clover 24

Throughout the year, we worked alongside:

• Nonprofit and community-based staff

• Educators

• Students

• School-based mental health professionals

• Healthcare and behavioral health providers

• Cancer survivors 

• Artists and culture workers

• Members of the broader community 

• And more 

Many of the people we reached are carrying significant responsibility—supporting students, patients, families, organizations, and neighborhoods—often while navigating burnout, change, and uncertainty themselves.

This work unfolded through partnerships across public libraries, healthcare institutions, universities, cultural spaces, professional associations, and community-led organizations throughout the region.

How the Work Took Shape

The work Joy Brings Light held this year took shape across multiple modalities—both experiential and strategic.

Alongside sound healing, breathwork, somatic exercise, and meditation, Andrea Joy also partnered with organizations and leaders through strategic advising, development facilitation, and experience design, including work with institutions such as Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement (CIRA), and Long Beach Opera in California, and regional leadership partners navigating growth and change. This work supported teams in navigating growth, cultural alignment, leadership transitions, and the emotional realities of high-responsibility roles.

Some of this work was highly visible and public-facing. Other engagements were quieter and confidential—held with care during times of crisis, transition, or uncertainty through advising, leading investigations, guiding mediations, and more -  moments where the work was less about being seen and more about helping bring steadiness and light into some of the darkest moments organizations and communities were navigating. 

Sometimes the work looked like a room full of people lying down in stillness—educators, clinicians, or community members gathering after long days in spaces like libraries, museums, or community hubs. Sometimes it looked like professional development for educators or staff wellness sessions. And at other times, it looked like thoughtful planning conversations—helping organizations shape gatherings, programs, and strategies that were intentional, humane, and aligned with their values.

Across formats, the throughline remained the same: creating conditions where people and systems could slow down, gain clarity, and move forward with greater care.

Creative Growth: Journey of Becoming

One of the most meaningful milestones this year was the launch of Journey of Becoming, our first sound healing song cycle. This six-piece offering exists as both a creative work and a healing resource, composed and guided by Andrea Joy.

First brought to life on The Ambient Complex by Gongs Unlimited, Journey of Becoming was then released as a digital offering, with each track shared individually for wider access. The cycle now also served as the anchor for our first solo art exhibition at Clover 24.

The exhibition brings together:

• A live, immersive Journey of Becoming experience

• Photography from Andrea Joy’s own journey of becoming

• Original art pieces

• Introspective prompts inviting visitors into reflection

Together, these elements create space for slowing down, remembering, and engaging with sound and story in a different way.

Holding Cultural Conversations

Throughout 2025, Andrea Joy Pearson served as a facilitator, speaker, host, and emcee—holding space for public conversation across cultural, artistic, and community-centered settings.

One such moment was facilitating and leading a public conversation with Terence Blanchard—Grammy Award–winning composer, trumpeter, and NEA Jazz Master—centered on his work Scoring Malcolm X.

Presented in partnership with Omaha Performing Arts and the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, and attended by community members, artists, and cultural leaders, the conversation explored music, legacy, and the responsibility of storytelling through sound. Andrea Joy guided the dialogue with care and intention, creating space for reflection on cultural memory, creative process, and the enduring impact of Malcolm X’s legacy.

This moment reflected another dimension of Joy Brings Light’s work: creating space for culturally grounded conversation rooted in history, artistry, and community. 

That same intention showed up throughout the year in Andrea Joy’s role as a co-host of CreativeMornings Omaha, alongside Natalie Wallace.

As co-hosts, Andrea Joy and Natalie helped steward monthly gatherings that brought together creatives, artists, and community members around shared themes. Andrea Joy supported the shaping of these mornings through thoughtful facilitation, tone-setting, and care for how people entered and moved through the space—helping CreativeMornings Omaha remain welcoming, accessible, and grounded in lived experience.

On Film & In the Media

Throughout the year, Andrea Joy’s work and voice also reached audiences beyond live gatherings through film, news, and conversation.

Andrea Joy appeared in local and regional news coverage, and joined podcasts such as The Creative Block, where she reflected on sound, creativity, community care, and the role of art in public life.

Media coverage included features connected to community and cultural moments, such as Giant kites fill Omaha sky at inaugural Heartwood Preserve festival (WOWT) and ‘Hope for transparency’: Omaha community responds to Terence Crawford traffic stop (KETV). In addition, Andrea Joy was featured in a commercial for We Make Omaha, a project centered on arts, community, and local storytelling.

These appearances extended the work beyond physical spaces—inviting broader audiences into conversations about care, creativity, and presence.

Strengthening the Work

This year also marked a period of intentional strengthening behind the scenes.

Joy Brings Light expanded internal capacity with the addition of Natalie Gilcrease, our dedicated Operations Specialist, in mid-2025—supporting the coordination, care, and continuity required to hold this work well across communities and partners.

At the same time, we began a phased brand evolution—revisiting how the work is named, held, and shared. This included a redesigned website and refreshed brand colors, with more to come in the new year. These shifts were less about reinvention and more about alignment: ensuring the way the work appears reflects how it is actually practiced.

Care in the Small Moments

Something we’re often reminded of after sessions isn’t just the sound itself, but what happens once the room settles.

People regularly approach Andrea Joy at the close of gatherings wanting to share a hug. These moments aren’t planned, prompted, or assumed—they happen organically, when welcomed. Over time, they’ve become a familiar and gentle part of the work.

These hugs reflect a culture of care grounded in presence and attunement. They’re quiet gestures of connection and appreciation—simple signs that people felt comfortable enough to soften and be human together in the space.

Retreats & Team Gatherings

In addition to individual sessions and public gatherings, Andrea Joy was invited into a range of company, community, and organizational retreats throughout the year.

Retreats varied in length—from single-session experiences to multi-day gatherings—and were shaped by the needs of each group. Andrea Joy was most often brought in to facilitate sound healing as part of retreat programming, offering grounding and integration within larger retreat contexts.

In some settings, particularly leadership, community, and professional association retreats, her role also expanded to include facilitation and strategic advising over longer timeframes. These retreats supported leadership teams, nonprofits, professional associations, and community-based organizations—creating space for reflection, connection, and intentional next steps.

Digital & On‑Demand Offerings

2025 marked the beginning of new ways for Joy Brings Light’s work to live beyond the room.

This year, we began offering public digital resources available to all through our website and YouTube. We will continue to grow this library throughout 2026. These resources include printouts, sound healing recordings, and guided breathwork—designed to be accessed whenever they’re needed, whether for a moment of pause, regulation, or reflection.

Alongside these public offerings, we also introduced custom on‑demand digital recordings created specifically for organizations and communities. These audio‑only or audio + visual resources are tailored to a group’s culture and intentions, and may include sound healing, guided breathwork, somatic practices, or non‑sleep deep rest exercises.

Designed for flexible use—during group gatherings, class transitions, staff meetings, shared spaces, or at home—these recordings help extend the benefits of live sessions and support ongoing focus, balance, mindfulness, and connection. Together, these offerings reflect an intentional expansion of access, allowing care to continue wherever people are.

What People Shared

Throughout the year, participants shared reflections on how these spaces felt and what they made possible. While experiences varied, a few themes came up again and again—slowing down, feeling grounded, and having permission to pause.

— Community participants

Gratitude

As we close the year, we want to offer a gigantic THANK YOU! 

To the organizations who trusted us with their teams. To the community members who showed up! To everyone who made space for care in a busy world.

We’re grateful for the opportunity to do this work and for everyone who walked alongside us in 2025 because together WE ARE MAKING THE WORLD A BRIGHTER PLACE! 

With love and light,

Joy Brings Light