In this episode of Fast Forward, I sit down with Jillian Mason Shannon, founder of Neotopia, a nonprofit reimagining how we engage with theology, philosophy, and culture, to talk about making the deepest questions in life feel accessible instead of intimidating.

Jillian spent 14 years in New York before relocating to San Antonio, where she earned her Master of Divinity from SMU's Perkins School of Theology. What started as bite size theology on Instagram grew into a curated bookstore, a nonprofit, monthly webinars, and a teaching role as a college religious studies professor. She also happens to be someone I went to high school with at Lake Highlands, so this conversation got personal fast.

If you have ever felt spiritually curious but institutionally resistant, this one is for you. Jillian breaks down how to strip the stigma off religion and reframe it as something that lightens your load instead of adding to it.

🎙️ We dive into:

• Why she left a 14 year life in New York and what the move to San Antonio actually unlocked
• How a curated bookstore became the launchpad for a virtual nonprofit
• The real value of building community in person when our instinct is to hide behind our screens
• Why she strong arms her students into an A but warns them they can still fail themselves
• The classroom exercise where every student has to stand up and say how they changed their mind
• How she brings her full self to her work, foreign films, reality TV, sermons, and all
• What it actually feels like to put scary, personal work into a world that can be brutal about religion
• The David Foster Wallace idea that we are all worshiping something whether we admit it or not
• Why missing the point is the original definition of sin
• The moon and the finger metaphor that explains why religions get stuck fighting each other
• Her three to five year plan, from city pop ups to writing her dissertation from Oslo
• Raising two boys with a wing it philosophy and no diaper bag in sight

Jillian's whole mission is to flip the cultural perception of faith from shallow and corny to genuinely useful for a complex modern life, and she makes a compelling case.

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🎤 Hosted by Jeffrey Mailey
📍 Fast Forward Podcast

#FastForwardPodcast #Neotopia #Theology #Philosophy #FaithAndCulture #NonprofitFounder #SanAntonio #Entrepreneurship #Leadership

00:00 Introduction to Neotopia and Personal Connections
02:09 The Journey to San Antonio and Founding Neotopia
05:19 Transitioning from a Bookstore to a Nonprofit
07:34 Building Community and Overcoming Isolation
09:36 Teaching and Challenging Students' Perspectives
12:47 The Role of Technology in Education
16:04 Navigating Life as a Professor and Entrepreneur
20:04 Embracing the Entrepreneurial Journey
23:38 Navigating Authenticity in Business
28:27 The Weight of Spirituality and Personal Beliefs
33:00 Reframing Religion and Spirituality
37:00 Future Aspirations and Global Experiences
39:36 Introduction to the Podcast