Speaker Biography
Charles Fleisher is an author, inspirational speaker, mentor, coach, and entrepreneur who has spoken to thousands of individuals in hundreds of venues in the US and abroad. Since having a spinal cord injury at 18 in 1988 Mr. Fleisher has continued to use his difficult situations as opportunities. Within the first year of his injury he traveled to Colorado for rehab. While still in the hospital the recreational therapy department helped him to go whitewater rafting, hot air ballooning, and adaptive waterskiing. This experience infused Mr. Fleisher with a high level of confidence that even with a limiting disability, he could continue to engage in a vast array of activities. Upon returning to New Jersey from Colorado, Mr. Fleisher continued his studies and graduated from Rutgers University in 1995.
Within a year of graduation, he used the difficulties of his own spinal cord injury care to start a small business which he is still involved with today. In 2000 he was inspired to start a nonprofit organization to help people with disabilities become aware of the vast amount of sports and recreational activities available to them. Understanding that his nonprofit organization would require him to overcome his fear of public speaking, he unknowingly began a new chapter in his career.
Since 2004, he has been actively involved in becoming a more effective communicator, speaker and leader. The confidence he received through his community involvement led him to begin speaking to youth as a representative of the Think First spinal cord and head trauma injury prevention program as well as other groups. Since then, he has spoken to hundreds of groups and thousands of people. In addition, he now uses his speaking experience to help organizations raise funds and is currently working on writing his second book.
