We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robert Ingram. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robert below.

Robert, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I was born with a cleft lip/palate and because of this I had to undergo a lot of surgeries when I was a child. This left me with scars on my face, making school a very difficult experience for me. Everyday attending school felt more like attending a prison that I would go for the majority of my day. I was constantly teased and beaten on daily with no true end in sight.

One day this came to a head after my 8th grade gym class in which a group of boys jumped me. I was beaten for five minutes straight, from the bell for class to end until the bell for the next class to begin. During this “fight” i was beaten quite badly from the boys who punched and kicked me in the face, hit me with backpack and one even stabbed me with a pencil in the hand. I remember at one point looking up during the attack and seeing two teachers standing there and doing nothing to stop it.

When the second bell rand the boys all ran in separate directions leaving be a bleeding mess on the concrete. MY glasses had broken making it hard to see but I could make out a single figure walking towards me. It was the only friend I had in school and he was showing up late for the class. He walked over to me, picked me up and helped me get to the school nurses office. During that walk we did not really say much but he did hand me a card and said, “you need this”. It was a free trial martial arts card for the martial arts academy that he trained at. When i got home that day I asked my mom if i could attend classes and she said maybe.

The following month was my 12th birthday and waiting for me when I got home from school was a card, a cake and a box. I opened the box to find a contracted for the martial arts school paid in full for an entire year. My first class was that night and since that day I have been involved in the martial arts. I never got into another fight in school after that day.

27 years later and now i currently run McDojoLife which is a business dedicated to keeping martial arts legitimate by exposing fakes, frauds, con-artists, sex offenders and cults in the martial arts industry. I am also the Vice President of Academy Safe which is a non profit which accredits martial arts academies who go above and beyond to keep their students safe.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am extremely proud to be on the front lines of an industry that has zero regulations. With martial arts being so important to so many peoples lives, you would imagine there would be some type of requirements to start a school in the united states but unfortunately there are none. By making the public more aware of the people in the industry that look to take advantage of that I am able to help people get money back from con artist, help victims of sexual abuse have their voices heard and help get martial arts school get shut down who have harmed students. It is very rewarding and I am grateful to have the job that i do.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Creativity thrives within a person when they are allowed to be 100% themselves, so do not try to change people. They are who they are which is probably what drew you to them in the first place so let them continue to be just that, themselves. Just like putting feathers up your butt will not make you a chicken but will leave you uncomfortable, trying to change an artist into someone they are not will leave them simply uncomfortable.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Never heard of her.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mcdojolife.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/McDojoLife
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/TheMcDojo
• Twitter: https://x.com/McDojoLife
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/McDojoLife

Image Credits

Robert Ingram