by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Monica Argandona is no stranger to life’s curveballs.

She’s 55, has experienced highs and lows and explored a variety of professions. Some she had a passion for, others she grew to love.

“I have a film degree, that’s my bachelor’s. Also, I worked in the film industry for a little bit,” said the Claremont resident. “I’ve taught high school and middle school and third grade. I worked for a United States Senator in Washington, D.C. I studied cattle ranchers up in Northern California, which led to my interest in public lands policy, and then that in turn turned into a job for a nonprofit environmental group [the California Wilderness Coalition] that worked on public lands protections.”

Argandona earned a master’s degree from California State University Long Beach and a Ph.D. in anthropology from UC Riverside. She has taught at CSU Long Beach since 2012 and serves as an academic advisor and program director for the university’s Master of Science in sustainability management and policy program.

Claremont resident Monica Argandona is the host of the podcast, “Path Found,” a college professor, and is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Keystone Network, which provides mentorship to underprivileged students across the Inland Empire. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Students often ask about her academic journey. Her answer isn’t linear, she said, but her past helps students.

“All of a sudden the light goes on and you’re like, this is what they need. This is what they want,” she said. “Yes, I still teach the material … But universities don’t always do a great job of [showing students] how to get the job when you graduate.”

With connections in a range of industries, Argandona set up networking groups between students and former colleagues in hopes of helping students land work after graduation. It quickly caught on.

“A couple students said to me, ‘I wish I had known this sooner … I would have done a different path,’” she said. “I always tell them it’s never too late. But then it hit me as I’ve been talking to people that maybe we need to start younger, especially first-generation students who don’t have the resources.”

That idea spurred her to found Keystone Network, a nonprofit that provides mentorship, academic support, and a multi-year college and career readiness program for underprivileged students across the Inland Empire.

Argandona will pitch her idea for an after-school mentorship program for local students to Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education at its January 15, 2026 meeting.

The program would pair underserved CUSD students with mentors with similar interests and help them evaluate big future forming questions such as next steps after high school and how to design a path to achieve a student’s career ambitions, Argandona said.

She has worked to normalize nonlinear choices on her weekly podcast, “Path Found,” where she talks with professionals about how they reached success and the challenges they overcame along the way. Thus far, she’s released 14 episodes, some featuring Claremont voices such as City Council member Sal Medina, Claremont Club Aquatics Director Christian Watts, entrepreneur Kristina Marler, and CUSD clinical therapist Renee Kavanagh. “I’ve tried to get a variety of people in different industries,” Argandona said.

Themes include self-discovery, passion vs. skill set, how to figure out what you’re good at, and mental health care.

“I always start with, ‘What were you like when you were a kid in high school?’” Argandona said. “And I always end with, ‘What advice would you give your college self, your 21-year-old self, knowing what you know now?’”

It’s helpful for people to hear how others persevered through their darkest moments, she said.

“People have failed. They’ve got fired. They’ve been rejected,” Argandona said. “I say it in I think my intro or maybe the outro, ‘You’re not alone. There’s somebody out there who’s done this and is going through it, and you know, you are not alone. This is normal.’ That’s what I want people to get out of it. I want people to see that … it’s okay not to know what you want to do at 18, 19, 20, even 24 or 25. That it’s not this rush.”

The number one takeaway is that it takes hard work to succeed, she said.

“Everybody worked hard,” Argandona said. “And again, if you’re good at it and you like it, you’ll work hard because then it doesn’t feel like work.”

Her podcast studio is inside her children’s backyard playhouse, offering a balance of professionalism and whimsy. Recording equipment lines one side, children’s toys the other. Early episodes are still all audio, but Argandona is working to have future interviews filmed. She’s released an episode every Thursday since October 2, 2025 at keystonenetwork.org/path-found-podcast. Its free to listen there and on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

For more information about Keystone Network, including how to become a mentor or guest on “Path Found,” visit keystonenetwork.org.