Built at 17.
Trusted at 19.
Still personal.
I started AerEthos at 17 in a classroom in Waterford — for my own graduating class, before anyone approved it. Three years later, AerEthos is in final talks with a private school on Manhattan's Upper West Side, with advanced discussions begun Summer 2025.
Six years.
A hundred friends.
Nothing to show for it.
In late 2023, I was a 6th year student at Waterpark College in Waterford — student council president, class rep for all six years, Green Schools Committee member, and the person my year turned to when something needed organising. I'd also just planned a 150-person debs entirely by myself.
Waterpark had never had a yearbook. I didn't ask if one was possible. I didn't wait for approval from admin, from my principal, or from anyone else. I started designing, got all 100 of my classmates on board, and had the whole thing nearly finished before my principal found out.
By the time he saw it, the school already loved it. There was nothing left to stop. AerEthos was born — with my graduating class as my first client, and my school as my first proof of concept.
“I didn't ask if I could. I just built it — and by the time anyone noticed, it was already done.”
by a disruptive person.
This wasn't my first idea.
It never is.
Enterprise has been an obsession since childhood. AerEthos isn't a lucky first attempt — it's the latest in a pattern that started when I was ten years old.
New York City.
Two summers.
It started at 19.
What happened that summer is the part of this story that people don't expect.
I spent the summer of 2025 in New York City on a J-1 visa — 13 weeks, working full-time at a private beach club on Long Island. An independent trip, funded by myself, because that's how I operate.
On my days off, I was emailing schools. On my breaks, I was following up on calls. I was 19, working a summer job in a foreign country, and still growing AerEthos. Because stopping wasn't something I considered.
One school was deeply interested from the very first call — one of New York City's most academically prestigious independent schools. What began as a coffee meeting with a member of their admin team became months of calls, meetings, proposals, and planning.
I went back the following summer. A second J-1 season at Lawrence Beach Club — this time as the experienced staff member rather than the new one, and with a year of New York contacts already built. Two consecutive summers in the same city turns a trip into a foothold.
“I did this at 19. I don't say that to impress anyone. I say it because the only thing that made it possible was refusing to think it wasn't.”
Tokyo, Japan.
Age 20.
Still building.
After a second summer in New York, I flew straight to Japan — an 11-month solo exchange at Kanagawa University, starting September 2026. I'm believed to be the first Irish student to study a full 11-month year at Kanagawa.
AerEthos doesn't pause for that. I'm running the company from Japan the same way I ran it from a beach club on Long Island — full-time, hands-on, one person, fully accountable. Irish and UK schools notice no difference, because there isn't one.
And I didn't come here only to study. Eleven months on the ground in Greater Tokyo is eleven months of research into what AerEthos looks like in Asia — a region where the school yearbook, as Ireland and the US know it, barely exists yet.
Running a company.
From the other
side of the world.
Building the future.
I'm an International Business student at SETU Waterford, currently on an 11-month exchange at Kanagawa University in Yokohama. AerEthos runs full-time alongside it, exactly as it did at home — the schools I work with are in Ireland and the UK, and the time difference has changed nothing about how I answer them.
After three years building this solo, I'm now beginning to build out a team. AerEthos Vision and AerEthos Studio are proprietary platforms I developed myself — technology built specifically for this business, owned entirely by it.
I'm also in early talks with SETU to organise the first-ever SETU Ball for summer 2028 — a 500+ person event, with institutional support. Because apparently, running a growing company isn't enough.
Four things that drive
every decision we make.
You're not dealing
with a company.
You're dealing with Nathan.
Every school that works with AerEthos gets direct access to me. No handoffs, no account managers, no waiting. Send a quote request and I'll respond personally — usually the same day.