Follow What Makes You Curious

We will look back on this conversation about UNESCO as the spark that lit Hazel on a log journey…

Robert Painter and Taunya Painter host President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj and his wife, Khajidsuren Bolor along with recent UN Ambassador Sichan Siv and friends.

A few articles ago, I introduced you to EB.

Then I took you along when I visited the Obama Presidential Center with him.

International leaders / Obama Presidential Center opening ceremony.

At the time, I didn't know exactly where any of that would lead. I just knew I had met someone interesting, I was curious, and I wanted to keep following the conversation.

Leadership is often less about speaking and more about listening / Obama, Elbegdorj, Angela Merkel and Justin Trudeau post ceremony.

Now that curiosity has led me somewhere I certainly wasn't expecting.

Mongolia.

And to Hazel.

Hazel is the new president of the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts' Youth Art Council, something we're re-designing to give young people more than a seat in the audience.

Hazel Painter, speaks at the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts Gala in May 2026 on behalf of the Youth Art Council

We want to give them a voice.

Real responsibility. Real relationships. Real opportunities to take an idea somewhere.

And Hazel has already started doing exactly that.

Hazel Painter and past YAC president Melina Wu present a year end report to the Pearl Board of Directors.

Hazel Painter and Melinda Wu present the YAC’s vision for the upcoming year to the Pearl BOD.

Curiosity has a way of leading somewhere.

This summer, Hazel traveled to Mongolia.

She came home with extraordinary photographs: museums and ancient artifacts, enormous landscapes and even bigger skies, gers, camels, horses, art, food and traditions completely different from those she knows at home.

But when I called Hazel, I wasn't particularly interested in a travel report.

I wanted to know what made her curious.

What did you see that made you want to know more?

Who did you meet?

What surprised you?

What deserves a closer look?

And, maybe most importantly:

What could you do with what you learned?

Those questions are beginning to shape Hazel's first capstone project with the Youth Art Council.

And suddenly Mongolia isn't just somewhere Hazel visited.

It's becoming somewhere her curiosity may take all of us.

That's how I think curiosity works.

One experience creates a question.

The question creates a conversation.

The conversation introduces another person.

That person opens another door.

And eventually you look backward and realize something that seemed completely unrelated at the time has become part of a much larger story.

That's happening right now.

Hazel Painter shares her vision for UNESCO World Heritage sites.

We're re-imagining the Youth Art Council. Hazel will speak at the Pearl's Fall Luncheon. We're beginning to explore what her Mongolia experience could become as a capstone project, how UNESCO might fit into that work, and even what a future exhibition could look like.

What business leaders will join us? (not pictured) Heather Stead, Creative Director at KPMG proudly serves on the Production Committee at the Pearl.

And somewhere further down the road is another possibility: actually going to Mongolia together.

We don't know where all of this will lead yet.

That's part of the fun.

YAC members Sallie Stewart, Hazel Painter, Mariam Faruqi, with The Pearls’ Director of Education, Olivia Hackney at the May Pearls of Art Gala.

And I want Hazel—and eventually all of the students on the Youth Art Council—to understand that there is tremendous value in letting people see that process.

Because curiosity is also a pretty great PR strategy.

I think young people hear the words personal brand and understandably assume they're being told to market themselves.

Post more.

Build an audience.

Polish the résumé.

Make yourself look accomplished.

I'm interested in teaching them almost the opposite.

Be interesting because you're interested.

Follow things.

Ask questions.

Meet people.

Go places.

Learn enough to have a point of view.

Share what you're discovering while you're still discovering it.

And occasionally tell people what you're thinking about doing next.

Good personal PR doesn't always have to say:

Look what I did.

Sometimes it's much more powerful to say:

Look what I'm learning.

Or:

Here's something I'm thinking about.

Or even:

I wonder what would happen if...

Because now you've given people a reason to come back.

You've made them part of the journey instead of presenting them with the finished product.

More importantly, you've given them an opportunity to participate.

Someone reading might know someone you should meet.

Food has always been one of civilization’s oldest forms of trust-building. EB dines with, Jonathan Yaffe, of Empire Tours and Productions hosted by chef, Stephan Sandoval

They might know something you don't.

They might have been to the place you're curious about.

They might ask the question that changes your thinking.

They might even open the next door.

Deeply curious to learn more about my possible Jewish heritage, this image of Ivanka Trump visiting the Western Wall in Israel sparks my curiosity. As I’ve learned, one spark is all you need.

That's what I see in Hazel's photographs.

I don't just see travel pictures.

I see raw material.

A museum.

A portrait of Chinggis Khaan.

An eagle on a gloved hand.

Camels against an enormous blue sky.

A ger filled with people sharing a meal.

Wool being worked by hand.

Sheep clustered against a landscape that seems to go forever.

And Hazel in the middle of it—not just looking, but participating.

That's where this gets interesting for me.

2026 Pearls of Art Gala honoree Pam Hughes, encourages YAC members Sallie Stewart and Mariam Faruqi to stay curious.

Because the Pearl's work with young people shouldn't end when they leave the museum.

Art can be the beginning.

It can make you curious about history.

History can make you curious about another culture.

Emma Lyon’s guides curious students at the Pearl.

Culture can make you curious about another part of the world.

And that curiosity can lead to relationships, leadership, travel, research, an exhibition, a civic project—or something we haven't thought of yet.

That's the kind of possibility I want young people to experience.

And I'm curious about what happens next.

A few articles ago, I was writing about EB.

Then the Obama Presidential Center.

Now I'm writing about Hazel and Mongolia.

Soon, perhaps, it will be the Youth Art Council. A UNESCO project. An exhibition. A trip halfway around the world.

Standing here with EB, I felt the weight of history and the possibility of what comes next.

I don't know yet.

That's why I'm telling you now.

Because I don't think the most interesting stories begin when everything is figured out.

Christina Garza helps connect business and civic values through her leadership at Luby’s and volunteerism on the Pearl’s Production Committee.

Sometimes the interesting part is letting people come along while you're still figuring out where you're going.

And if I've learned anything from following my own curiosity, it's this:

One good question rarely gives you an answer.

It usually gives you a better question.

YAC members support the spring exhibit opening and Hazel giving a powerful message on volunteerism.