Leaders: Ken

Life Experience:

Ken has had a few major life changes and life shifts in his very exciting professional career. Having received a bachelor's degree in marketing, he set off to conquer the corporate world as a buyer for a major high-end retail firm in the Midwest. One month in, he realized that the 9-to-5 suit-wearing, office-dwelling routine did not support his soul. He set off to travel America, combining his passion and love for outdoor sports with a way to establish a career in sports marketing and event management. He set up, executed and managed large-scale marketing and event promotions. Ken was on the court in Atlanta in 1996 for the inaugural playing of beach volleyball in the Summer Olympics. He "settled" down in Denver for a few years running on-site sports marketing and promotional events. This fast-paced life of running high-profile events, although exciting, lacked a depth of meaning. He didn't even know anything was missing until he met Rich and Yvonne three days after that fateful day of the Columbine shooting in Colorado. Once he met them, his life completely changed. Ken moved to California, began working for Challenge Day, and became a Leader. Seven years later, he tried to venture out and tackle some new challenges in a familiar setting heading back to the topsy-turvy world of sales and marketing. It only took a year before his heart pulled him back to the circles of Challenge Day and the healing that happens in those rooms. He is back and even more open and inspired to creating change in the lives of young people.

If you really knew me, you would know ...

If you really knew me, you would know that everything in my life has brought me to this point where I am the most dynamic, heartfelt, authentic Challenge Day Leader I could be. If you really knew me you would know that I can still struggle with a lot of the demons that haunt many youth I work with everyday. If you really knew me, you would know that I am aware it is a choice everyday to let those demons in and run my life or to keep them at arm's length, giving them the respect they deserve, but not letting them dictate me. If you really knew me you would know that my personal relationship with loneliness, self doubt, isolation, dependency and judgment is one of the reasons I can stand in the center of a circle and authentically connect with young people. If you really knew me you would know that it is the deep inner faith and strength I received from my family and friends that allows me to be a beacon for youth, showing that if I have made it past the teen years, they certainly have the hope of doing so as well. If you really knew me you would know that I bring all of myself - the love, the laughter, the hope, the joy of possibility and the remnants of those demons - to every single Challenge Day I lead. If you really knew me you would know that I am continually creating and re-creating the life of my dreams in every moment.