When most people hear the name Daniel Puder, two things immediately come to mind. First is the man who won the $1,000,000 Tough Enough challenge competition during the show’s fourth run in 2004. Second is a mixed martial artist who trained at American Kickboxing Academy and boasted an impressive 8-0 record before retiring in 2011. If being a reality TV star, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist weren’t enough, you can now add humanitarian to that list. These days the 33-year old is giving back with his non-profit organization “My Life, My Power.” “Over the last few years what we’ve done with [My Life, My Power] is create a peer mentor curriculum and training course for mentors, law enforcement, educators and parents.” Puder told MMAOddsBreaker on Episode 109 of “The Parting Shot Podcast” “We have some amazing partnerships that we’ve done all the way up to training from FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, ATF, Federal Agencies and now we just became evidenced based two years ago. But now we’re a University three credit course at Nova Southeastern University starting in the fall.” The organization came to fruition after Puder appeared on national television in October 2010 to discuss anti-bullying and anti-suicide initiatives. Following the broadcast, the Florida native received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. “I got on national TV because somebody asked me four years ago about what I thought about kids committing suicide from being bullied. When I was a kid, I was in special education. They said I had a learning disabilities. I felt that because I became a pro athlete, I might not be as good at reading and school-work and a lot other kids, but I was very good with my hands. I was very good with finding mentors in my life and working very hard. I got on national TV and said ‘I’ll will come to your school if you’re being bullied.'” Part of his foundations’ mandate is to change the way our education system works. Part of the problem as Puder reveals is the mindset that many students when they’re learning at school. “The biggest challenge I see is number one, people don’t look at the future of their market. If you want to be a doctor [for example], kids don’t understand for instance where the medical industry is going – either insurance or if it’s a private practice or hospital. They don’t understand different markets and what will happen in the future in 10, 20, 30 years. The second is most people don’t know how to learn as effectively and efficiently as they can because either a lot of fear gets in the way or they run into challenges and they don’t have the right mentors to give to be able to give them the right advice and wisdom long-term. Really third is putting together your game plan. So once you have the right mentors and you know where you’re going and you know what’s going on in that market or have an idea. How do you get from where you’re at, to where you want to go fast as possible? It’s so hard for a lot of people and it was hard for me. But surrounding myself with key components and really thinking and it figuring out and picking other peoples brains, we’re really helping a lot of kids of striving towards their dreams and goals.” Having a vision of this magnitude, Puder has enlisted the help of some corporate sponsors and key mentors in the program. One of the mentors in the program is former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Randal Hill. “So Randal Hill, seven year NFL player, he’s a homeland security special agent now. The special agents in charge of homeland security in South Florida, we ask all the federal agencies to send some special agents. We’ve gotten to know each other and we’re going to be launching such an awesome program this year in South Florida. We’re going to put it together; I don’t know all the details yet so I can’t be very specific. But I’ll say this, Men’s Warehouse just approved us as a partner, the kids that go through the My Life, My Power program will now be able to get a free suit, shoes and a shirt. So we partnered with them so that we can not only help these kids in life, but one of the biggest things in life that I always speak about is personal branding. When you want to get an intern ship for a job or just look professional, you need to have the clothing. If you can’t afford it, how do you get that? So we’re bringing in some really cool partners that are able to provide the things that we need to help our future generation.” With his background in combat sports, Puder also revealed there will be a MMA component involved. In the near future, Puder plans to add a MMA after-school program. “We haven’t done it yet, we’ve designed it, test marketed it a little bit, but we have a really awesome program. We haven’t officially launched it to the public. It’s going to be really one of the keys to getting these kids that are high energy – like I was as a kid– and really hone in on their skills on something that’s positive. So they know how to play the game instead of hurting people just to hurt them. They can really get their aggression or energy out in a positive way. We’ve been doing really well with building this. I’m going to be really stoked to see how it works this next year.” My Life, My Power is not just regulated to North America, the program has already spread it’s message abroad. Some of the countries involved include Kenya, UK, Japan, Mexico and even as far as Burundi. “We had a couple guys that emailed us from [Burundi] and they’re connected.” Puder explained. “They just looked at what we’re doing, watched our videos and [mentioned their country] had such a bad heroin and drug problem – on top of rebels, gunfights and just craziness. The worst thing that happens [to us in North America] is if there was an accident or maybe a shooting in the hood. These guys have it around them on top of that schooling is challenging, they’re not being taught at the level we are of course and they don’t have clothing and shoes. Running water is a challenge sometimes, toilets and bathrooms. So these kids are so much more challenged and they work so hard to get what they want. So I said you know what? We’ll sponsor you guys there; we got them a video camera so they can start documenting what they’re doing. We got them some of our programming and they’re teaching the kids how to read English. I mean it’s awesome. I really want to go there, that’s one of my goals in the next couple of years. To be able to do kind of like a world speaking tour. So once we build a few more countries, maybe 10-15 countries, then we’ll put together a speaking tour. We’re also looking at doing something India right now too, which is awesome so I’m pretty stoked about.” In addition, the foundation has also filmed a television pilot, with the hopes of getting picked up by a major U.S. television network. The focus of the show would be primarily on after school programs. “I can’t say the format yet, we actually just registered it and did all that stuff. But I’ll tell you this; we’re going to be able to go into school systems as a goal. You have a group of students who, the biggest challenge is they don’t know what they’re real purpose in life or a vision of where they’re going. They have this stop pattern ‘I’m going to be this, and I’m going to be [that]’. But they don’t know why there are in school. There a lot of challenges with teachers because the kids aren’t on really on track. We go in and are able to help the educators learn how to change mindset. We want to create more value and fulfilment within the students. So we do that through our programming, coaching and teaching. From there every student gets our program [throughout] the whole school. What we’re going to be doing is giving a three to five year grant per school that we film the TV shows at once we get picked up. Not just one year we’re in we’re out. We’re not only going to help provide the programming for free in the beginning as long as we get the buy in. But we’re going to provide the suit, shoes, and help them do one fundraiser a year that’s going to make sure that their school will be able to get the My Life My Power program for as long as they continue to putting the effort into it. It has to be self-sustainable right? With the amount of success this organization has had so far in it’s short tenure, educators are finally coming on board. Puder belives this is only the beginning of something much bigger. “From the university standpoint, Doctors and PhD’s are looking at what we’ve been doing around the country and internationally. We want to create our next generation of educators [Nova Southeastern University] of the best educators in the world. We’ve really gone from anti-bullying to really solving major challenges in the school, after school and prison systems across the country. It’s amazing to see the difference and to see people continue to help promote what we’re doing and how making an impact on our next generation.” You can follow Daniel on Twitter @DanielPuder. You can visting his foundation at mylifemypower.org and you can visit his personal website at DanielPuder.com You can listen to the full audio version of this interview (57 mins in) on the latest episode of The Parting Shot Podcast below
