We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Antonio Beard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Antonio below.
Alright, Antonio thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
The ground work started in 2012 and we established the organization in 2017. Prayer and belief in God is imperative. We had to have Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed. Lead By Example Foundation started based off a conversation that happened between family members (William Craig, Antonio Beard, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera ). We praised our brother D’Vauntes for how he handled himself during his college basketball career at Georgetown University through the ups and downs. He always did things the right way with his work ethic and positive energy surrounding the game of basketball. With the inspiration from D’Vauntes and our surroundings, love for the community and trying to inspire people to make better decisions we knew we wanted to make a change. So we figured in order to get people to follow you have to lead them by your actions.
Antonio , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Lead By Example “Since we don’t talk a lot ,we let our actions speak instead #LBE. In our mission statement we state “Lead By Example Foundation was created to inspire the community to make smart, healthy and life changing decisions through sport, mentorship and charity.”
We are a DC based non-profit with ties to Indiana, New York, California and Paris. We believe in preventive maintenance. That means reaching the youth early and instilling important values. Positive decision making is key. We want to be the positive influence that can lead the youth to a bright future. We want the youth to be active and eat healthy. Obesity amongst youth is high, according to the CDC approximately 1 in 5 U.S. children and adolescents have obesity.
At any time your life can change. We all can suffer from homelessness. To get the youth to understand the importance of giving back is key. Helping those in need, helps you understand that we all are human beings and life at times hits you hard. Giving back is a matter of the heart.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met the Founder and CEO William Craig in High School back in 2004 so if you do math I’ve know this gentleman for 21 years. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera I met him in 2013. I’ve know this gentleman for 12 years now. At that Time Mr. Craig was working at Nike Georgetown, Mr. Rivera was starting point guard for Georgetown University and I was a security guard for Securitas Security Services.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Engagement is key on Social Media. Authenticity plays a huge role as well. The content must match your mission and goals. Understand that all your posts won’t be liked or shared. Pay attention to the algorithm. Last but not least have someone who wants to run the social media pages across your business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.leadbyexampledc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadbyexamplefoundation?igsh=MW1tdWozeWtmN2NjZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19q87tWnC6/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-beard-611602338?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Twitter: https://x.com/lbefoundation?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@leadbyexamplefoundationlbe3215?si=qq_ibePVMYFbCzGQ
Image Credits
National Action Network
Richard England Club House 14
Leo Bakinn