We built the guidance we wished we'd had.
We spent years helping people change direction in their work and their lives. The same gap showed up every time. People faced a real decision without a clear read on themselves to make it well. We're educators, psychologists, and builders. We built VITALS to close that gap.
"The world finally has the intelligence it needs. Now it just needs to know you."
The decisions that shape a life keep getting bigger and faster. The clarity needed to make them keeps getting thinner. People choose a direction, or change careers, surrounded by more input than any generation before them. For all the advice available, almost none of it is about them specifically.
At the same time, the world has real intelligence on tap. Anyone can ask anything and get an answer in seconds. That intelligence was trained on everyone. It can report what worked for someone else. It has no model of the person asking.
Guidance that does start with you has always come from a good counselor or an executive coach. Getting it took money or the right employer. We built VITALS to make that kind of clarity available to anyone.
"The world finally has the intelligence it needs. Now it just needs to know you."
The decisions that shape a life keep getting bigger and faster. The clarity to make them keeps getting thinner. People pick a direction or change a career surrounded by more noise than any generation before them. Almost none of it is about them.
At the same time, the world has real intelligence on tap. Anyone can ask anything and get an answer in seconds. That intelligence was trained on everyone. It can report what worked for someone else. It has no model of the person asking.
Guidance that does start with you has always come from a good counselor or an executive coach. Getting it took money or the right employer. We built VITALS to make that kind of clarity available to anyone.
The people behind it
Anthony Hughes is a serial EdTech and social impact entrepreneur helping people navigate education, careers, and opportunity. He co-founded and led Tech Elevator, a nationally recognized tech training company acquired by Stride (LRN), and was President of The Software Guild, acquired by Wiley. At JumpStart, he founded an MIT-partnered mentoring program that helped 100+ companies raise $45M. At VITALS, Anthony pairs positive psychology with workforce expertise to help people make better choices.
Josh Tucholski is a technology and education leader with more than 15 years of experience building products, teams, and learning experiences. He spent eight years at Tech Elevator, progressing from its first Lead .NET Instructor to Vice President of Instruction, where he led curriculum development, instructor training, student support, and new learning initiatives. His career also includes engineering and technology leadership roles at Unlocked Labs, KeyBank, and Rosetta.
Terry Warnock is an operator and growth leader who has scaled businesses, built partnerships, and expanded access to education and career opportunity. He joined Tech Elevator before it had revenue and spent eight years scaling it through its acquisition by Stride, ultimately leading its 200+ person Consumer Education division. He later served as Chief Growth Officer of My Home Park and Director of Business Development at Merit America. At VITALS, Terry leads growth and go-to-market strategy.
Dr. Dave Watterson is a psychologist and personality assessment expert with more than 50 years applying psychometric science to real-world decisions. He spent 31 years at the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing (IPAT), working alongside Raymond Cattell and rising to Executive Director and Chairman. He contributed to the 16PF Fifth Edition, trained practitioners in 14 countries, and created the Watterson Personality Inventory, used in executive assessment and government intelligence.
Melissa Sorensen is an Industrial-Organizational Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Bowling Green State University whose work focuses on applying behavioral science and quantitative research to questions about people, work, and organizational performance. Her research experience spans employee engagement, workplace outcomes, work-life dynamics, and organizational effectiveness.
Anthony Hughes is a serial EdTech and social impact entrepreneur helping people navigate education, careers, and opportunity. He co-founded and led Tech Elevator, a nationally recognized tech training company acquired by Stride (LRN), and was President of The Software Guild, acquired by Wiley. At JumpStart, he founded an MIT-partnered mentoring program that helped 100+ companies raise $45M. At VITALS, Anthony pairs positive psychology with workforce expertise to help people make better choices.
Josh Tucholski is a technology and education leader with more than 15 years of experience building products, teams, and learning experiences. He spent eight years at Tech Elevator, progressing from its first Lead .NET Instructor to Vice President of Instruction, where he led curriculum development, instructor training, student support, and new learning initiatives. His career also includes engineering and technology leadership roles at Unlocked Labs, KeyBank, and Rosetta.
Terry Warnock is an operator and growth leader who has scaled businesses, built partnerships, and expanded access to education and career opportunity. He joined Tech Elevator before it had revenue and spent eight years scaling it through its acquisition by Stride, ultimately leading its 200+ person Consumer Education division. He later served as Chief Growth Officer of My Home Park and Director of Business Development at Merit America. At VITALS, Terry leads growth and go-to-market strategy.
Dr. Dave Watterson is a psychologist and personality assessment expert with more than 50 years applying psychometric science to real-world decisions. He spent 31 years at the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing (IPAT), working alongside Raymond Cattell and rising to Executive Director and Chairman. He contributed to the 16PF Fifth Edition, trained practitioners in 14 countries, and created the Watterson Personality Inventory, used in executive assessment and government intelligence.
Melissa Sorensen is an Industrial-Organizational Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Bowling Green State University whose work focuses on applying behavioral science and quantitative research to questions about people, work, and organizational performance. Her research experience spans employee engagement, workplace outcomes, work-life dynamics, and organizational effectiveness.
Where VITALS came from
VITALS grew out of the founders' work at Tech Elevator. The job there was helping people retrain and step into new careers in technology. Year after year it put the team in a room with adults making one of the highest-stakes decisions of their lives.
The people who did well were rarely the ones with the best résumé. They were the ones who understood themselves. They knew what they valued and where they would actually thrive. The ones who struggled usually had plenty of ability and no clear read on who they were.
VITALS is the answer to that gap. The same conviction that drove the team at Tech Elevator drives it now. Give people an honest, validated read on themselves and they make better calls about their own lives. We paired that lesson with decades of validated research and built something anyone can start today.
Where VITALS came from
VITALS grew out of the founders' work at Tech Elevator. The job there was helping people retrain and step into new careers in technology. Year after year it put the team in a room with adults making one of the highest-stakes decisions of their lives.
The people who did well were rarely the ones with the best résumé. They were the ones who understood themselves. They knew what they valued and where they would actually thrive. The ones who struggled usually had plenty of ability and no clear read on who they were.
VITALS is the answer to that gap. The same conviction that drove the team at Tech Elevator drives it now. Give people an honest, validated read on themselves and they make better calls about their own lives. We paired that lesson with decades of validation research and built something anyone can start today.
See yourself clearly. Then decide.
It starts with the assessment: about 20 minutes, built on validated psychology, and a living profile that's yours to keep.
