Antonio is currently working, on a film project “In Shanland,” documenting human rights abuses of the Burmese government against ethnic
minority people. To see the videos or donate money to the project click here

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Motivational Speaking

As a professional, keynote and motivational speaker, Antonio imparts a message of empowerment, encouraging people to harness their inner strength, and make their dreams into realities. Antonio is an active member of Toastmasters International (an Advanced Toastmaster, Silver) and is available to speak at corporations, schools, and universities.

I don’t want walk out on stage accompanied by cheerleaders shouting “Ra! Ra, You can do it.” But I would like to tell people, honestly, and from my heart. “You CAN do it.” In my life I have had to overcome a lot of adversity. But I am not unique. Every person has to battle his own demons and negotiate his own obstacles. Often the problems that we perceive turn out to be the opportunities that we need.

Sometimes hearing about how someone else overcame adversity we can be inspired to try ourselves. Often, just knowing it is possible is enough.

Growing up, I was diagnosed with a learning disability. I was told I would never attend university. I would never be able to do any sort of work with my brains. I would never excel at sports. I would never be able to study languages. And, I would never read, much less, write a book.

After a very long process of trial and error, failing, and recovering, hitting rock bottom again and again, I eventually earned a BA and won the award for most outstanding graduate in my department. I learned ten languages and published widely in the field of language learning. I spent years working as a teacher and earned an advanced degree in teaching English. I have dedicated a lifetime to my pursuit of martial arts and in addition to earning numerous black belts from masters in several countries, I have appeared in movies and TV shows demonstrating my art. As for my writing, my stories appear in hundreds of magazines and websites around the world, and I have published numerous books.

It wasn’t easy. For every success that I achieved, I experienced a number of failings. I flunked out of three universities and one military college before finally finding my way and graduating. And although I won an award for outstanding achievement in my major, my overall GPA was 2.7, which was quite a bit higher than my high school GPA. To get my first job in the financial industry in New York I went through over 80 interviews. All doors slammed in my face. The best job anyone offered along the way was working as a secretary at a stockbroker firm. Eventually, I got myself into a training program and went from trainee to Assistant Head of Private wealth management, in about three years. My first book, “The Monk from Brooklyn,” was rejected 3,000 times. I sent out 3,000 queries to agents and publishers, all of whom rejected me. There aren’t 3,000 agents and publishers in USA, so that means when I reached the bottom of the list I started again from the top, till I was finally accepted by a very small publisher. I made no money on my first book, or my second, or my third, or my fourth, but I kept going.

I consulted on numerous TV shows before “Digging for the Truth,” finally gave me a big break and about ten minutes of on screen dialogue.

The biggest lessons I have learned are: You are who you are. You can’t change that. And you shouldn’t. You were born with all of the tools to make it. Find a way to exploit your personal talents and abilities. There is a niche, a genre, a place where your exact skill set will fit perfectly and be appreciated. In high school no one would talk to me. Now, I receive mail every day from people I don’t know. I found a way, a place. The warning I will give you, however is that achieving anything is going to mean a lot of hard work and a lot of rejection. Your skill set, your soul, the YOU who you are is fine, and there is a place for you to thrive, but finding it means getting knocked down and getting up and trying again.

To inquire about having Antonio speak at your next function, contact Antonio@speakingadventure.com