While preparing to attend the Manhattan School of Music, Pacheco said he heard a speaker at BYU challenge his audience to chase their dreams. Pacheco called the school and told them he had decided not to come and instead went to Los Angeles to pursue a performance career. There he met Ric Wake, who introduced him to Yanni (Mormon Times). Currently, Nathan eats, drinks, and sleeps music while living at the Yanni-Wake Entertainment compound in West Palm Beach, Florida. Nathan writes his own music, and he has added lyrics and more music to some of Yanni's best-known instrumentals.