John’s started his personal journey in the South Bronx. His parents were Irish Immigrants with only grade school educations. They worked as factory workers and meat cutters in the South Bronx. He watched his father die of pneumonia when he was just four years old.. His widowed mom raised his older brother and John on VA benefits and Social Security. He grew up in poverty in the South Bronx. He dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and went to work in a neighborhood grocery store. After being stuck up and having a gun put to his head he decided to quit the job. Unfortunately it wasn't’t the last time a gun was put to his head but fortunately he was never shot. Shortly after at the age of 16 he studied and later became a student teacher of Chinese Kung Fu Wu-Su. His Chinese name was “Flying High”.
John got caught up at an early age with the social upheaval that was sweeping inner cities. He saw up close and personal the urban riots that followed the killing of Martin Luther King Jr. He started to hang out with members of the Black Panther Party and a Puerto Rican version called the Young Lords Party. He joined a Bronx organization called “ The Spirit of Logos/White Lightning” that was dedicated to drug prevention, social change and revolution and went on a radical journey that lasted for 15 years. During those years he marched in Tupelo Miss. against the Klan, organized students against apartheid and protested way too much. While still a high school drop out he lead a delegation of youth and students to the People’s Republic of China and walked on the Great Wall shortly after President Nixon opened China up to US travelers.
On his return from China he obtained a GED diploma and went to college eventually receiving a BA and spending two years in a MA program. He eventually became disillusioned with the extremist politics of Marxism and revolution and he began a new search for meaning and purpose in his life. His new search led him to books on personal development and a period of introspection.
John’s pursuit of personal growth began in the late 80’s while working the midnight shift in the New York Post Office as a mail handler. He started reading as many self-help books as he could get his hands on and started to listen to tape programs from Nightgale Conant. The first program he listened to was “Seeds of Greatness”s by Dennis Waitley. He also began reading about Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP) and came across a flyer for a firewalk event with Anthony Robbins. The event was being held blocks away from his job at the 34th St. post office so he decided to attend.
That night he did a firewalk on hot coals on 34th street in Manhattan. That night he made a decision that would change his life. He decided to step up and to follow his dreams. He returned to the Post Office that night and realized he didn’t belong there. He would quit three months later throwing an early retirement party after working five years as a postal employeed.. He quickly realized that the road forward wasn't going to be an easy or a direct road.
The journey that took him from the Bronx to Hollywood was one of the darkest in his life. Yet it was during the darkest moment that he learned the most important lessons that propelled him forward to a new life. His ex/girlfriend and best friend was diagnosed with AIDS and he was with her when she died. He learned from her to appreciate everything he had even if at the time he was being evicted, had quit his job and was at the lowest point in his life. A week after she died he drove cross-country to Los Angleles to start a new life.
Within a couple of months he saw an ad for a play that wanted real life stories. He wrote a piece called “Goodbye My Friend” about her and performed it in a play called “Real Life”. Three nights a week he relieved the loss and the pain of his experience. He learned to turn a loss into a positive learning experience.
John has led a unique life. He has gone from “The Bronx to Hollywood”. He likes to say that he has lived at least five lives already. His eclectic job resume reflects some of those lives but always show a constant motion forward. He has worked as a: cashier, paint factory worker, taxi driver, postal worker, telemarketer, substitute teacher, tenant organizer, arson prevention specialist, aerobics instructor, health club salesman, oral history interviewer, counselor for runaway kids in Hollywood, an actor, acting teacher, research interviewer, mortgage salesman, seminar speaker, a film producer and author.
He has acted in theatre and movies. He has also produced over twenty feature films .His film resume can be viewed here. http://imdb.com/name/nm0240485/. He hosted and produced two cable shows on public Access TV called “ The Bronx to Hollywood” which was interviews with Bronx people in the entertainment industry and “Take Two” whch was a motivational interview show.
He has also written plays, movie scripts including one based on his life entitled “Waiting For Fidel” and is now working on a motivational book entitled “The Glass is 3/4 ‘s Full”.
John is passionate about sharing his personal growth lessons with anyone who desires to improve himself or herself. He has read over 500 books on personal development, growth, motivation, leadership and entrepreneurship. And he has attended many seminars on the same topics. John has also worked in the motivational field with Anthony Robbins and his motivational sales companies. He has conducted sales training and been involved in cutting edge marketing in the personal success field.
John’s mission and purpose in life are summed up by three quotes: “Make Your Life a Masterpiece”, “Never Quit” and “Commit to Daily Improvement”. He sees his life as an example of how it’s not where you start out that matters or how many obstacles you face that define your life but where you end up and how you choose to overcome all the obstacles.
He is a husband and parent with a young daughter. He considers being the best dad he can be one of the greatest successes of his life. He lives his life with daily gratitude for all the blessings he believes he has received. So the question he asks himself daily is “What have I done today to make myself proud?”
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