Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

If we want a more respectful world, it starts with us!

10 Aug 2023 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, the host asks Mike Domitrz how he became a speaker on respect. Domitrz recounts that at age 19 he learned his younger sister had been raped, an event that profoundly affected him for months. While in college, after hearing another speaker, he realized he could use his voice to address such issues. He began public speaking on respect in 2021, noting that growing up in the 1970s‑80s era, the concept of a 'respect speaker' was unimaginable. The segment highlights his personal catalyst, the shift from private grief to public advocacy, and the cultural context of his generation.

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But let's go back to your original question because you started to ask, hey, Mike, how did you get into this? And sort of where has it gotten to today? Yes. And how relevant it is today. Look, nobody grows up in the 1970s and '80s thinking, I'm going to be a speaker on respect. That wasn't even a concept that could come to my brain. And at 19, I received a phone call that the youngest of my older sisters was raped. And that rocked my world, not for days, not for weeks. It rocked it for months. And then I finally realized after I heard a speaker, I was in college at the time, wait, I can do something about this. I can use my voice. And so in 2021, I started speaking out. So that's when I started doing this work.