2017 Keynote Speaker: Ryan Blair
We’re thrilled to have Ryan Blair joining us at the NAC this year. Ryan is a dynamic motivational speaker who will share with us how he has overcome extreme adversity and challenges in his life. Ryan has a young son with autism and will speak from his unique p0int of view as a single father of a child with special needs. He will empower and inspire us all with his speaking style – sharing his success and failures, emotions, and how we all have the ability to overcome the most challenging of obstacles.
Biography:
Ryan Blair is a New York Times bestselling author, self-made multimillionaire and serial entrepreneur who established his first company when he was twenty-one years old and has since created and actively invested in multiple start-ups. Now at age of 39, he has founded and sold numerous businesses for hundreds of millions of dollars, runs global healthy lifestyle company, ViSalus, and is a venture capitalist.
In March 2013, Blair released his paperback version of his #1 New York Times Best Seller, Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain: How I Went From Gang Member To Multimillionaire Entrepreneur. Uncensored and raw in his account of growing up in the face of adversity, Blair effectively imparts lessons learned from obstacles he faced and provides a road map for entrepreneurial success. Blair is no ordinary businessman: he’s a master of personal reinvention. His captivating story was also a USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine, bestseller amongst others. Through a candid and unfiltered voice, Nothing to Lose speaks to everyone, from struggling youth to thriving businessmen alike, illustrating how to turn failures into successes.
In April 2014, Blair debuted Nothing To Lose: The Documentary, which follows his inspirational story as he overcomes challenges and adversity as well as his personal hurdles while building ViSalus into a household brand. The documentary has won the “Best Producer” award at the Beverly Hills Film Festival and “Best Documentary” at the Los Angeles Art-House Film Festival.
His biggest endeavor yet has been the overhaul of ViSalus, the company behind the Body by Vi™ 90-Day Challenge, a weight and fitness transformation platform. In 2008, as CEO, Blair went all-in, personally investing his last million dollars on a new business model that would later revolutionize the 118 billion dollar direct selling industry. In just 21 months, ViSalus went from 600,000 to 30 million dollars in monthly sales, and in 2011, they increased sales seven-fold from 34 million to 231 million dollars. In September 2014, Blair, with his co-founders, announced ViSalus and former parent company, Blyth, had reached an agreement to sell back 90-percent of shares to the founders of the company.
Blair appears regularly on CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg TV, CNN, and Fox. He has also been featured in major publications including Inc Magazine, Fortune Magazine, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times. Blair took a turn in movie production serving as Executive Producer of Man in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story, an award-winning documentary about the legendary LSU Basketball Coach.
Blair currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his son, Reagan.