City Voices Interview with Mike Veny

What do you get when you mix mental health challenges with a passion for drumming? A dynamic speaker and musician who delivers engaging presentations with raw energy and a fresh perspective on Diversity & Inclusion!

Mike Veny is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, corporate drumming event facilitator, author, and luggage enthusiast. Seriously, you’d get it if you did all the traveling he did!

He’s the author of the book Transforming Stigma: How to Become a Mental Wellness Superhero & The Transforming Stigma Workbook. As a 2017 PM360 ELITE Award Winner, Mike is recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in the healthcare industry for his work as a patient advocate.

He loves working with leaders who are tired of bringing the same old textbook presentations on mental health or diversity and inclusion to their events. If you are looking for a proven speaker who will connect with, entertain, and engage your audience—all while educating and uniting them around improving wellness—you’ve come to the right place. Mike’s presentations move past simply educating an audience to provide them with actionable steps they can take to change their lives and work environments.

You can feel confident having Mike as your keynote speaker or workshop facilitator. Over the years, his expertise has been honored with remarkable and notable accolades. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Fender Music Foundation, Rural & Migrant Ministry and the Rotary Club of Wall Street New York; he is an ambassador for Self-Employment in the Arts. Mike’s path to becoming a public speaker became evident early.

He convinced the staff at psychiatric hospitals to discharge him three times during his childhood. In addition to being hospitalized as a child, he was expelled from three schools, attempted suicide, and was medicated in an effort to reduce his emotional instability and behavioral outbursts.

By the fifth grade, Mike was put in a special education class. Aside from getting more individualized attention from the teacher, he learned that pencil erasers make great sounds when tapped on a desk. He had no idea that drumming would become his career or his path to recovery.

As an adult, Mike spent many years facilitating drum workshops for children with special needs, teaching them to channel their energy by banging a drum and, at the same time, learning how to listen, focus, work together and succeed through teamwork. The project was such a hit that he continued to expand his drumming program, first to adults in recovery and eventually into the corporate setting.

Diversity and Inclusion have been an important part of Mike’s life since childhood. He attended schools where students came from ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds. This inspired him to build his company team from a diverse group of people. Embracing Diversity & Inclusion sets a team up to deliver better results, a message he loves to share.

Whether the focus of your event is leadership, motivation, Diversity & Inclusion, or suicide prevention, Mike draws on his personal and painful experiences to deliver keynotes and workshops that take your event to the next level.

With more than fifteen years of experience making meeting planners look good, Mike is committed to:

• Providing an abundance of helpful information along with actionable steps to audiences.
• Creating innovative drumming workshops to empower teamwork and inclusion.
• Delivering epic live events that inspire action.

Mike’s perspectives have been featured on ABC, NBC, and CBS News. He was a former guest on The Fresh Outlook TV news show and a writer for Corporate Wellness Magazine and HealthCentral.com. Mental Illness is An Asset; his compelling TEDx talk has been used in college classrooms and gotten sensational reviews.

He was a keynote speaker at the 2014 YAI Network’s International Conference on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He regularly works with chapters of the Arc, the largest national community-based organization advocating for and with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Mike’s authenticity, straightforward approach, and easy-to-understand takeaways set him apart from other speakers. The audience will walk away with the knowledge they can use immediately in their lives, with their loved ones, or in the workplace. It’s not just about sharing knowledge, it’s about teaching people how to take action to improve wellness and inclusion.

It’s that simple!

Mike’s vision for events aligns with your vision—hold a powerful and unforgettable experience that provides real value to your attendees. Want to get to know Mike a little more?