Alex Banayan

Alex Banayan is an author, blogger, speaker, and a full-time student at the University of Southern California.

Sugar Ray Leonard, six-time world champion boxer, has declared that, “Banayan’s book will change people’s lives. Never before has there been a collaboration, in this format, of some of the world’s most successful people. This is exactly what the new generation needs.”

Alex’s upcoming book will feature twenty-five of the nation’s most successful people and will focus on what little things they were doing, early on in their careers, to get to where they are today. The book has been called both a practical career guide, as well as an inspirational compass for an entire generation.

Grateful for the teachers who have shaped his life, Alex has passionately decided to “pay it forward” and donate his author royalties from the book to DonorsChoose.org—an online charity connecting classrooms in need with people who want to help. As Oprah Winfrey playfully puts it, “DonorsChoose is a fantastic organization, and they’re a supercool way to give.”

In 2010, Alex won the “Showcase Showdown” on the iconic game show, “The Price is Right.” Included in Alex’s grand prize was a sailboat, which he sold so he could personally finance the startup costs of writing his book.

As an undergraduate student, Alex is a Renaissance Scholar Candidate studying at USC’s Marshall School of Business. On campus he is a leader in the Undergraduate Student Government and is a sitting member of the USC Committee on Curriculum (UCOC), which advises the Provost on academic policy for the Social Sciences, Communication & Business departments. Alex is an avid reader, a fervent racquetball player, a wannabe triathlete, and he increasingly looks forward to bingeing on his favorite foods every Sunday (à la Tim Ferriss’ slow-carb diet).