We recently connected with Tony DelaRosa and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tony thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
Although I have been speaking at many events in the last 10 years, my first paid keynote opportunity only happened in 2018. I was asked to keynote the Middle School Students of Color Conference hosted by the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE). AISNE was looking for a youth worker, and at that time I was running a youth spoken word poetry organization called Pulse Poetry with the mission to teach youth public storytelling through the mode of spoken word poetry. I have always been known to be a coach and hype man for youth, but this was one of the first times I was asked to be the hype man for myself. AISNE wanted an educator of color to teach youth how to “Live and Finesse in Color,” inspired by the song “Finesse” by Bruno Mars’ ft. Cardi B’. I took that as an opportunity to teach youth about building their social capital through cultivating their cabinet of mentors, cheerleaders, and coaches. Youth of color don’t always have access to this knowledge and access to strong mentors in fields that they are entering in, which can make the process of economic and social mobility more difficult than it needs to be.
The AISNE paid me $1,250 for the speech. Getting paid for your unique labor that you’ve been cultivating for years feels so good. This set the tone for the type of speaking that I continue to do today for students in the US and out.
Tony, 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?
Tony Rosa Speaks LLC is a national anti-bias+anti-racist strategy, keynote speaking, and education organization. I am a one man show, but will hire consultants for different projects that intersect my work from time to time. To be honest, my organization was born out of cafes where I used to write and perform slam poetry, as well as the Racial Awareness Pilot Program (RAPP) at the University of Cincinnati. These two spaces help me form the foundations of diversity, equity, and inclusion work, which helped me become a strong educator in 2012 when I joined Teach for America and started Pulse Poetry youth organization. From there, I took everything I knew about liberatory pedagogies and artivism, and applied that with youth. Putting myself in the coaching seat helped me better understand my skills and my opportunities for growth in speaking. Having served as a youth worker from 2012 – 2018, I’m proud to say i’ve made an impact on thousands of youth across the country.
I made the pivot to speaking and consulting because I know that youth and adults across the world need guidance and motivation on how to take up an anti-bias and anti-racist lens in their every day life and work. Founding Tony Rosa Speaks LLC made me more agile, and helped me expand my impact across generations and job sectors. Having my roots in liberatory education practice and praxis, allows me to always engage my clients in a holistic way. I understand the importance of the bottom line, as well as what it means to combat white supremacy, anti-blackness, colonialism, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression that hinder our society from moving forward.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Most of my business has been generated off of Instagram (IG). I originally used IG as a personal digital album. But the power of IG is that it allows you to connect with others that align with your values. The most empowering thing was to connect with other Asian American and Pacific Islanders who wrote or spoke about anti-oppression work both in and out of education. My network on IG was started by me creating values-aligned content, being consistent, sharpening the clarity of my work, improving SEO through accessibility of content, and of course collaborating with others. These components of my practice have helped me cultivate trust with my viewers. Some viewers have transformed into clients, collaborators, or others who simply share my work.
If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?
My business is multifaceted, as I am a multifaceted human being. I come from spoken word poetry, from youth work in Indy and Boston, from APIDA organizing, from DEI strategy, from leadership coaching, and the alchemy of writing. From all of the skills that I have, I solidified my brand to offer education services, anti-oppression strategy, and keynote speaking. My largest stream of income comes from anti-oppression strategy because this allows me to act as a consultant or coach to both non-profit and private organizations looking to strengthen their anti-oppressive lens, practices, and policies. The strategy aspect of my work is often more longer term (ie: 1-2 year projects). My education and speaking business is usually one-off, so I tend to charge per the hour I spend curating the speech or education service.
Tony DelaRosa is now based in Madison, WI although his work is global in scope. He is currently writing a book called “Teaching the Invisible Race” under Jossey Bass Publishing a Wiley Brand aimed at helping schools embody a Pro-Asian American lens while combating anti-Asian American racism, violence, and hate.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tonyrosaspeaks.com
- Instagram: @TonyRosaSpeaks
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tonydelarosa89
- Twitter: @TonyRosaSpeaks
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