Tony A. Gaskins Jr. Motivational Speaker from Atlanta, GA

Tony A. Gaskins Jr. lived a troubled life by choice. Despite being raised in a loving two-parent home, Tony chose to settle into mediocrity at an early age. After being arrested at 15 for petty theft from the mall, his parents transferred him to a private school where his grades got better and he excelled in basketball and football. After three years at a private school he received a full scholarship to play football in college. Tony was injured in his first season and that led him to seeking affirmation in other ways. Tony returned to the ways of his childhood peers and began trying to fit-in by playing the tough-guy role. Three years into his five year scholarship, Tony was released from the team and sent packing. He traveled a thousand miles back to Florida from West Virginia. He enrolled in college but continued to struggle with his identity as a young man. Then he met his wife at 21 years of age and his life began to change. He ruined the relationship in two months but reunited with her 6 months later. That time around Tony got serious and he married in only 10 months. A month before getting married he'd become an author of a tell-all book from a young man's heart about love and relationships. He'd discovered his passion in writing and was hoping it would provide a new path for him. Success didn't come over night. Tony worked several low paying jobs while being a full-time college student, young husband and father. School was important but the need to provide for his wife and child were heavy burdens. Tony was committed to living life the right way because his wife wouldn't let him settle for mediocrity again. Tony set a goal to be on Oprah in two years. He learned how to write pitches and he pitched himself daily. Daily he would pitch to Oprah, Tyra Banks, and CNN. His goal was to land on television to tell a portion of his story filled with details from his troubled past being a toxic lover, lost soul, and confused young man lured into the street-life. Nearly two years to the date Tony received a call from the producers of Oprah to tell his story of being a toxic and controlling lover to his ex-girlfriend. That was just a portion of his story so he went on after that to tell other parts of his story when he was a low-level street guy with his cousins. Tony's goal was to turn his mess into his message so he could inspire others to learn, grow, and change. Between the ages of 23 and 25 Tony went through an intense growth process. He stopped listening to rap music and watching junk TV. Instead he replaced it with audio books, podcasts, and videos by the likes of Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, CS Lewis, Earl Nightingale, John Maxwell, Les Brown, and Tony Robbins. Tony consumed self-development for 10 or more hours a day. He worked as a counselor at a group home with troubled adult men. He was being paid $9.50/hr but had more bills than he did money. That fueled his desire to earn more for his gifts and provide a better life for his family. In 2009 after his globally televised appearances at age 25 he was encouraged by a friend to join twitter. He joined and created his own system to grow exponentially. He mastered twitter early and organically grew his following from 34 followers to hundreds of thousands. Then he moved to Facebook to build and inspire. In 2013 his page went viral from his daily quotes and from then and for the next two years his post reached 10Million-40Million people a week on Facebook alone. His FB is nearing 2M followers. Next he moved on to Instagram and created a formula for success there as well. His following grew to over 750,000 people in less than two years on the platform. In 2011 Tony's following had grown to a point that he could release products, teach seminars, and consult individuals one-on-one for a living. Tony grew his personal brand to well over 6-figures in earnings. Tony discovered limitless potential in his abilities and started rapidly building online assets. His reach online afforded him the opportunity to coach clients on 6 continents between the ages of 16-68. Speak on two other continents outside of the US and in 10 different countries. He became a speaker for organizations like the NBA and National Basketball Players Association, and also teams within the NBA and NFL. Next an NBA team hired him as a consultant for their players to help with life's trials and tribulations that young men face. That made Tony the first "life coach" who didn't play in the NBA to be on retainer with an NBA team. Today Tony runs several purpose-based companies. He helps individuals discover their purpose in life through a proprietary process called "The GaP Process." He also inspires individuals get more out of life by setting personal goals, making changes within, and taking relentless action. Tony works with the youth, adults, churches, and corporations. His story from trials to triumph, pain to purpose, and a mess to a message will inspire anyone!