Many people ask how I came to be a speaker, trainer, and coach. Well I’m sure there are many reasons, but mostly it has to do more with a process that took place during my formative years. Once you understand more about my past, you may have a greater insight into why I do what I do.

I was born and raised within a middle class family in Montreal Canada. My mother Claire was a beautiful woman inside and out. My father Moe was a hard working man, who immigrated from Romania in the early 1900's, and was completely dedicated to the care of the family.

My brother Larry was a tough act to follow. He graduated at the top of his medical class, was a great athlete, king of his high school, and if that was not enough, he was nicknamed  "Dean" by some of his friends, because he looked so much like the very handsome Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin.  As for me, aside from being a pretty good athlete, I was a very average student, was insecure around girls, and felt the brunt of repeatedly being compared to my brother. However, because I was always a believer in turning lemon into lemonade, these challenges only motivated me to overcome them, and in fact set the stage of a life-long commitment to grow as a person and be the best I could be both on a personal and professional level.

My first big life changing experience came when I was to give a speech as the 'best man' at my brothers' wedding. Keep in mind, that as a teenager, I was pretty well a jock who found it challenging to communicate articulately and coherently. My solution at the time was to down as many screw drivers as possible and voila… I was able to find a great deal of confidence (albeit temporary) as I addressed over 300 people who attended the wedding. When it was over, I was totally taken aback when people flocked up to me encouraging me to pursue being a professional best man at weddings. They seemed to be touched by my message and ability to communicate. Their response had quite an impact on me and to some degree, confused me especially when I sobered up.

I truly believe that experience planted a seed in my brain that would eventually motivate me to pursue a career in public speaking. I knew I had a gift, but it would take some time for it to truly blossom. I spent the next few years in mediocrity and lacking in purpose, and like many others who suffer from self doubt, that of course led to procrastination. I saw first-hand how the impact of our past can play a major role in sabotaging the present and future aspirations and dreams. It actually took another life changing experience to shake me out of the doldrums.

My father passed away when I was 19 while my mother was battling life threatening cancer. When I was 13 she was told by doctors that she had 6 months to live. She defied the odds and went on to live for 15 years, and clearly was my first role model, teaching me about the power of the human spirit. Following the death of my father I decided to take a year off from university. My goal was to spread my wings and travel around the world in order to get some life experience. Six months later, I came face to face with my mortality, coming within a whisker of actually dying from a heat stroke near the Mediterranean Sea. I had spent the day alone by the sea in 120 degree farenheit heat. I had walked about 10 miles to get there, with no hat and a tomato and piece of bread. Very smart man LOL. As I began to walk back along the desert, my heart stated to beat fast, I fell down and was resigned to the fact that I would be left to die.The next thing I knew was that I woke up on the balcony of a Yemenite family who miraculously found me and transported me to their house. They told me later that I had suffered a heat stroke which many soldiers die of in that part of the world.

My fear of death was so intense, that for the first time in my life, I was motivated to explore the spiritual side of myself. I wanted to know if there was more than this physical body. Up until that time, I was quite resistant to anything religious or spiritual. It is truly interesting how the experience of coming close to death can get you out of your rational mind, humble you and give you an openness to explore yourself more deeply. I was truly ready for a spiritual awakening, however it needed to be real, it needed to be from actual experience and not just blind belief.