Dennis Nafte - The World Needs More Of... Self Love

Guest: Dennis Nafte

Age: 36 years

Location: East Islip, NY

Bio: My ultimate goal in life and my main why has always been to be the best family man I could be, which is why I am a first a husband and a father. I’m married 13 years and have 2 kids ages 5 and 2. I was also an accomplished division 1 student athlete at Stony Brook University. I have a masters degree in education and was also selected to the 2003 division 1 college lacrosse all star team. I was one of the top 5 faceoff men in the country. After feeling frustrated with our current education system and looking for a way to make a bigger impact, I became an entrepreneur and CEO. I started my first company shortly after college and am now the founder and CEO of 4 privately held companies. I believe in giving back and currently support organizations like New York City relief, Easter seals, Bww charities, stony brook lacrosse, Long Beach sports programs, and beauty cares. I truly believes that to who much is given much is expected. My main passion today is mentoring and coaching others to find and develop their purpose in life. What brings me the greatest joy is helping people to identify their talents and abilities and use them in a positive way to better others lives.

The World Needs More: I believe the world needs more of self love because it’s hard to love others until You love yourself. I would love the opportunity to gain your insight on the subject and help people know they are great and we all have magic in us. Especially in a world with social media where people are always comparing themselves to others. I want to help them grow their self image and truly find themselves and help overcome the growing epidemic of depression. One statement that I heard recently that changed my life and meant so much to me was “I’d rather people hate me for who I am then love me for who I’m not”.

Wow Factor:  I guess my wow would be my heart and passion for others and to give as much value as I can. I also have a decent sense of humor and seem to be able to make people laugh a lot, which brings me a lot of joy to see people happy. There have been many moments that have shaped my life. Dislocating my elbow my senior year of college only 4 games into the season and having my whole life’s purpose up until that point almost ended made me start to really think about my future. Overcoming the depression and fighting my way back into the season even when all the doctors told me I was done showed me the power of the human mind and soul.

Probably the second was even more recently after accomplishing so many goals of having our dream house, dream cars, and financial goals realizing that it doesn’t really make you happy and fulfilled. That it can also leave you feeling very empty and also create more fear then having nothing which is having everything and losing it. Really realizing that happiness comes from the pursuit of fulfilling our potential on a daily basis and being able to help others do the same. This may seem a little corny but I was watching the movie cool runnings which I had seen dozens of times but this time I heard something that changed my life and it was when the coach said to the driver. “If your not enough without the gold you won’t be enough with it” it hit me so hard because the real win in life is not what we get from it but who we become through it. I believe so many people think they’ll be happy after they do this or they do that without realizing that happiness is a choice that comes from within.

Favorite Color: Blue