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

Tony, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

My favorite customer has been working with Dr. Diann Kitamura, a former superintendent and now Executive Director of CAAPLE (The Coalition of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Educators). She brought me onto multiple events to speak in front of Sonoma County Superintendents, as well as keynote CAAPLE Con (the annual CAAPLE convening).

It’s such a powerful experience when you work with someone who sees your magic. When I say “magic,” I mean the years one invests into cultivating one’s own gifts but often goes unseen because it is a slow and consistent cook. For Tony Rosa Speaks LLC, this means seeing the magic in my storytelling, research, and facilitative prowess.

Dr. Kitamura knows that I’ve primarily worked with teachers and principals, but she believed that I was valuable to superintendents in education and should be a voice to influence others to act on their promises for social justice. As the debut author of “Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in School,” I was able to not only inspire and educate educators across CA through my voice, but through my writing as participants left with a copy of my book.

I deeply appreciate CAAPLE’s investment in me, and broadly its investment in centering Asian American & Pasifika leaders in education who have been systemically marginalized in education spaces. Beyond these events, Dr. Kitamura even wrote a book review of my work in a prestigious education research journal called Urban Education.

All in all, the best customers I’ve experienced have worked with me for multiple years and projects. It allows for deeper relationship, knowledge, and skill building.

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

I founded Tony Rosa Speaks LLC, which is a national anti-racist education firm that provides: keynote speaking, research, strategy, and coaching with a Critical Filipino American lens. I emphasize “Filipino American,” because from this positionality and culture, I draw my authenticity, my indigenous wisdom, and competitive advantage. My clients come from P-20 education organizations and systems, but I also work with the private sector. I have a small team, and will hire consultants for different projects based on project scope. While I focus on strategy, research, and coaching, this interview will focus on my keynote speaking and research where I have spent most of my time.

Right now, I’m a PhD Candidate at UW-Madison Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis program where I’m building an oral history archive with the Wisconsin Historical Society for the policy advocacy of Hmong and Asian American leaders who helped pass Act 266. Act 266 mandates the teaching of Hmong and Asian American history across Wisconsin. Because of my PhD program, I’ve deepened my knowledge in Southeast Asian American studies and critical qualitative methodologies.

Outside of research, I’m building a new social innovation and health equity teacher fellowship for NYC Men Teach, which will induct 6-8 teachers in its pilot year to teach them community-engaged and entrepreneurship methods to help them solve a root issue in their communities. This will launch in the Fall.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing clientele has been recommendations through word of mouth and having a social media presence. I would say 50% goes to both word of mouth and 50% goes to social media.

To begin building my presence, I started doing targeted outreach to organizations that supported the work that I do around anti-racist design, coaching, facilitation, and keynote speaking.

While doing this work, I would share learnings and reflections on my Instagram page @TonyRosaSpeaks, which grew to about 23,000 over the last 7 years.

When I’m at a conference or speaking opportunity, I always have my clients refer me out to other businesses to help keep my name in the ether of keynote speakers. I’ve even had language in recent MOUs that requires my clients to refer me out or connect me with other businesses.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

While I’ve learned so much across multiple people and platforms to help build and sustain my own business, I want to elevate someone who inspires me. I’ve been following a Harvard-trained business owner named Dr. Erica Jordan Thomas journey to help me understand some of the mindsets of becoming a successful small business owner. She has a book coming up called 7-Figure Educator, which captures her lessons in designing a successful business, and how to launch it to scale.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://TonyRosaSpeaks.com
• Instagram: @TonyRosaSpeaks
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonydelarosa89/