The Youth Movement Leading the Mushroom Renaissance: Five Self-Educated Eco-entrepreneurs Under 30 are Changing the Fungi Game

By Robert Johnson

For elder Millennials and Generation X, a youthful infatuation with shrooms was practically a rite of passage. But where past generations’ fungi phase typically involved tripping at concerts or watching The Wizard of Oz while playing Dark Side of the Moon, the modern youth mushroom movement has more laudable goals and far broader aspirations.

• They’re excited about all varieties of mushrooms, not just psychedelic ones, and about fungi’s potential for improving physical and mental health, sustainable agriculture and the planet

• They’re eagerly tapping into ancient wisdom that uses mushrooms for illness, medicinal foods, and doorways to other dimensions

• They’re digital natives, building communities and teaching themselves mycology, cultivation and permaculture online

• They’re entrepreneurs, but they’re also educators, committed to the “each one, teach one” ethos to pass these skills on pro bono to the next generation

With mushrooms, this new flush of movers and shakers is combining entrepreneurship with health, education and environmentalism. These young folks are building businesses, but they are also building community and generating a movement that has room for everyone.

Here are some of the most exciting new leaders in the American mycological space:

Aixarret Hernandez and Maximilian Esparza of Myceliumatters. Both Texas natives, Aixarret and Max founded Myceliumatters in 2022. It’s a nonprofit committed to educating the public about all the applications of fungi, from myco-remediation (mushrooms’ ability to absorb toxins from contaminated soils) and myco-materials (biodegradable, sustainable bricks and insulation) to gourmet cooking with mushrooms and the latest psilocybin research.

There’s a strong service angle to Myceliumatters: the organization provides free educational workshops to schools aimed at furthering fungal knowledge to children and teens.

Myceliumatters has produced an astonishing array of well-run events that convene a who’s who of the myco-community: from the first-ever Texas Mushroom Conference in Austin to the Humboldt County Fungi Fest and the Long Beach Mushroom Festival. While the psychedelic element isn’t ignored, these events center local mushroom farms, educational speakers, vendors providing mushroom-based drinks, food and supplements, and family-friendly workshops on cultivation, wild foraging and building with myco-materials. Alcohol is rarely served at these events—who needs booze when you’re high on your passion for the mycoverse?

William Padilla-Brown of MycoSymbiotics and MycoFest, Outside Magazine called Padilla-Brown “a rising star in the mycological movement” and ​the “face of young, diverse eco-entrepreneurship,” with good reason. This Pennsylvania prodigy has already accomplished more in the mushroom space than wealthy Ivy Leaguers three times his age—all without formal technical training or a science degree. (He taught himself mushroom genetics and breeding using YouTube and calls himself a “graduate of Google Scholar.”)

Padilla-Brown published the acclaimed Cordyceps Cultivation Handbook (the first English-language book on the notoriously difficult-to-grow species) before he was old enough to drink. His work was covered in the seminal mushroom documentary Fantastic Fungi as well as in VICE, Wired, Buzzfeed and The Verge.

The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?

His company, MycoSymbiotics, is an education, research and cultivation facility that retails cultures, spawn and fruiting bodies, plus consultations and classes on foraging, growing and extraction. He also founded MycoFest, an annual mushroom and arts festival now in its tenth year.

Padilla-Brown’s love for mushrooms is absolutely contagious, as proven by his devoted TikTok following. Who wouldn’t want to follow a farming, rapping, mushroom-foraging self-taught permaculturist?

Tomas Garrett of The Mycozine. Garret was the principal scientist at Oakland Hyphae, the pioneering lab for psilocybin mushroom potency testing and research. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry and an executive MBA, and he helped produce the influential Oakland Psychedelic and California Psychedelic Conferences, which assemble the grassroots leaders of the mushroom and psychedelic communities.

He’s also the founder of The Mycozine, a print zine that tracks mushroom entrepreneurs, activists, and happenings in the American mycoverse. Garrett says his publication “is entirely based on building community.” He describes himself as an entrepreneur, but like his fellow young leaders, he doesn’t see his venture as a ladder-climbing, zero-sum “us vs. them” game: “The intention is that people from different cities will uplift their own communities while tapping into others.”

Jacob DeVecchio of Oklahoma Fungi. When it comes to mushrooms and their uses, Jacob DeVecchio is Oklahoma’s top teacher. A microbiology class at Oklahoma City Community College sparked his interest in the fungal kingdom. Cultivation was just a hobby until the pandemic struck; since then, his business and his teaching have become his full-time work and passion (he’s described his study of and fascination with mushrooms as “endless…like the ocean”).

As proprietor of Oklahoma Fungi (the top supplier of mycology products in the state) the Oklahoma City Mycology Club and the Oklahoma Mushroom Festival, this self-taught mushroom specialist has taught more than 2,000 students and facilitated more than 70 mushroom education classes in just the last three years. He’s shown Girl Scouts of Oklahoma troops how to grow pink oyster mushrooms and Oklahoma State undergrads how to hunt for morels.

Oklahoma remains a deep red state, so DeVecchio works hard to destigmatize mushrooms. His first-ever Oklahoma Mushroom Festival brought out an impressive 1,700 attendees. The October 2024 event features vendors, workshops, and educational seminars, all aimed at promoting mushroom culture in Oklahoma. It’s family-friendly: Children 13 or younger receive free admission to the fest.

There’s a quote often ascribed to Winston Churchill, “If you’re not liberal when you are young, you have no heart. If you’re not conservative when you’re old, you have no brain.” (In an article about the youth, I realize quoting Churchill may date me.) Our society often seems politically binary: you’re either a conservative demanding tax breaks for billionaires or a Marxist screaming for the downfall of America. What I love about these young leaders is how they’re showing us a different, more humane and more inclusive way—and they’re not waiting for someone else to give them permission to do it. They embody the Adam Abraham Bwiru quote4: “Youthful enthusiasm is the spark that ignites innovation.” These young myco-pioneers give me hope for the future of the mushroom industry as well as the planet.