In this motivational talk, Roberto Corona, known as the "Smile Collector," shares the story of how a small doll named Robby sparked a decade‑long global journey that transformed his life and the lives of many others. He begins by describing his humble upbringing in Iquique, Chile, and his early dream of traveling despite geographic isolation. After becoming a successful wedding photographer and building a thriving production company, a robbery in 2012 wiped out his equipment and forced him to confront what truly mattered to him. Reconnecting with his passion for photography, he decided to travel the world documenting love stories, carrying Robby as a reminder of his niece’s gift and as a symbol of his inner child. Along the way, he collected smiles instead of coins, turning spontaneous encounters into a worldwide "smile collection" that grew into a social media movement. This momentum led to the creation of the nonprofit ROBI (Respect, Optimism, Blissfulness, Inspiration) and the Corona School, which together provide free emotional‑education to over 800 students annually. A later personal tragedy—the suicide of his niece Maciel—deepened his mission, prompting him to focus on youth suicide prevention. Throughout, Roberto emphasizes themes of gratitude, authenticity, resilience, and the power of kindness, urging the audience to pursue purpose, embrace differences, and light up the world one smile at a time.
Chapters
Who wants to be happy here? Raise your hand if you want to be happy. Hi, my name is Roberto Corona, the Smile Collector. And this, this is Robby. Robby smiles all the time. Have you ever felt lost? I did, and that's how my journey to happiness started. Right, let's welcome Robbie Smokey the Seeker. So after thousands of miles, hundreds of destinations. 85 countries in a journey of 10 years. I discovered that I didn't need to get to the end of this world to find happiness. My name is Roberto Corona, and some of you know me as Robby the Smile Collector. I grew up in a small town in northern Chile, Iquique. This is close to Peru and Bolivia in the Atacama Desert. And I was a little shy boy with big dreams. And people in my hometown couldn't afford to dream big because, you know, we were so far away from everywhere. It's like the only international airport in my country is 24-hour driving distance from my hometown. So dreaming about traveling the world was not even a possibility. But here I am today in Singapore, sharing a little bit of this journey with you guys. So I feel. So before we start, I would like to ask you: What makes you happy? What brings you joy? Can you bring back a memory that makes you smile? For me, is. This beautiful day at the beach with family. I remember that day perfectly. I was maybe around 5 years old. It was the perfect sunset, and it was time to come back home. My father was driving, and my mom was trying to make me sleep in her arms. But I couldn't close my eyes because I was so distracted by the beautiful lights that were reflected in the window of the car. And I asked my mom, Do we come from the stars? She smiled at me and says, yes, my darling, we come from the stars. So never forget that you can shine bright. And from that moment on, I didn't have any doubts that the origin of our existence can be that magical. So I grew up following my dreams, and I decided to become a photographer, to paint with light. At 20 years old, I was working as a wedding photographer, and somehow I become really successful, and I opened my own production company. Everything was working really well for me. It's like I was making money, and, and I have a lot of business, and, and then I decided to hire a big team behind to, to cover all the services I was providing. But then I felt lost. I thought, if this is success, I'm not sure if that's what I really want. It's like I was so stressed, I didn't have time for anything, and, you know, one day things changed. So in 2012, a group of Finns entered my business. And they took all the equipment, cameras, computers. 8 years of hard work vanished that night. And I felt so sad and frustrated. I asked myself, was it even worth it? I was working so hard for nothing. But at the end of my photography studio, I realized there was just one camera left behind. And I remember I took that camera in my hands and I realized that was a sign to reconnect with my passion. Because when I become successful, I stopped doing what I love the most. I stopped doing photography. And I decided for the first time To do something more meaningful with my life. Even I lost all that material stuff, I recovered my time, and with that, the freedom to follow my dreams. And I asked myself what I really want. And I remember that kid that was dreaming to travel the world. And I thought, what if I become a wedding destination photographer, and I traveled the world doing weddings. And for the first time, I realized that all that time that I was as a wedding photographer, I wanted to be closer to love, but I was so afraid to be open to love that I was hiding myself behind my business. And I took this decision, I will write a book about love stories. And I will travel the whole world connecting different couples that represent the ethnic diversity and cultural richness of the world. And the last chapter of this book I will write is my own love story. So I said to my family, I have to go. I don't know when I will come back. And my sister says, before you go, Roberto, please take this gift. This is my sister, Sujin. She gave me Robbie. And I thought, I was a little ashamed to carry a doll with me. And I said, I'm sorry, I don't have space. in my luggage. And she says, Roberto, please, every time you get to a new destination or get connected with someone new, take a picture so we know that you are okay. And then she revealed that this doll used to be from my niece, Martina. And she asked, do you think my Uncle Roberto will forget about me? when he starts traveling the world. And that touched my heart so deeply that I said, okay, I will take Robby with me. But I didn't have any clue that this adventure was about to change my life and the life of so many. So I decided to start traveling with this idea of love without boundaries, writing a book and doing photography. about those love stories. I found my first couple in New York, and that's the hope that I had to make a difference. So we, we coordinated our first photo session in Times Square, and I show up, but they never came. And I felt like a failure. It's like I flew all the way from Chile To do this first wedding, and now I feel lost again. It's like I'm just invisible. I can just disappear, and nobody will ever notice that I was here. And then this random guy come to me and ask, "Where are you from?" He noticed I wasn't from here, of course. And I says, "I'm from Chile." Chileno! And she come to me and he give me this big hug. And then I was confused, but I was happy because I thought, huh, I'm making a new friend. But the first thing he asked after knowing that I was from Chile was, do you have a coin? And I was again confused, like, I thought you were a friend and you're asking for money. He laughed. I don't need money. I'm just collecting coins, and Chibi is one of the coins that is missing in my collection. And then I have this revelation. I want to start my own collection here in the middle of Times Square, New York. There are people from everywhere, but I will not be collecting coins. I will be collecting smiles. So that fall, fast rhythm of life stopped for a second to give me the first smile of my collection. And then I realized I was able to make a difference because all those people were not only giving me a picture, they were sharing their stories. And, and we are made of stories. So I realized that we can represent that ethnic diversity, that cultural richness in the stories of the people that inspire us to believe in the beauty of our dreams. So everything is possible when you believe, and there is no limits anymore. So because of, of this, I post this first gallery in social media, and I start to receive messages of different people that want to be part of this collection. And I realize This is not my collection anymore. It's a collection of the world that wants to be represented here. And I received this beautiful invitation to a positive cancer organization in Emirates. I never dreamed about getting that far, but I accepted this invitation with love. And then for the first time, I realized I was able to serve a higher purpose. I was bringing a smile of hope to those kids. I take Robbie with me to share stories of my journey. I was sharing quality time with them, and I was nurturing my soul to the point that I realized that it's so needed. Like, so many times we are not aware how fragile life is. And that's what I want to do. That's the impact I want to do. I want to put myself in service. I want to make that difference through what I love the most, through my photography, painting with light. And And I discovered this beautiful gift, the present moment. Life is now, and I want to live to the fullest. I realized that more than a photography project, that was my soul calling, my mission in life. I want to make that difference, like just sharing those beautiful stories and connecting people that is so different from each other, but at the end, everyone is so unique and everybody smiles in the same language. So I want to inspire you to believe. We love you, Robbie! Thanks so much. This is my life purpose, and today I'm sharing it with you because I realize that everybody has their own story, and if you are open to accept our difference, Kindness is the way to live. And I learned so much. I learned to be more resilient. I learned about freedom, that gratitude is the key to happiness. I learned about friendship. Everybody is connected. And that my biggest source of wealth is purpose. So When I had the money to travel the world, I didn't have the time to do it. But now that freedom is put in service. It has been 10 years traveling to so many different places that now I feel I'm a world citizen with this clear vision. I want everybody to recognize, enjoy, our end goal. If you're not happy with what you're doing, why are you doing that? I start to choose what's natural to my soul. I learn about authenticity, about the celebration of different cultures, and that one smile can make a change. So that's the reason I decided to start A new movement of light ambassadors, of people that want to make a difference one smile at a time. And I opened a nonprofit organization named ROBI— Respect, Optimism, Blissfulness, and Inspiration— to promote well-being and happiness through emotional education. So I want to inspire the kids to believe that everything is possible. And back in my hometown, I realized we can make a difference. So with my family, we started Corona School to teach about emotions. And today we are proudly announcing that we are able to provide free education for more than 800 students each year. And the most beautiful thing about this journey is like you just need to put your heart in something that you love to bright up the world. And that's my biggest joy, my family. These are my nieces. and nephews, and the real reason of my smile. But at the same time, you know, so many times in this journey I felt lost. I felt like, how come the Smile Collector, the ambassador of happiness, can be down or sad? I felt in conflict with my identity, and I discovered that sometimes in order to do big things, we have to find a deep reason to fight for. And recently, I had to go through the most difficult part of my journey. I lost one of my nieces, my niece Maciel, to suicide, and I felt like I was I felt like a fraud. Like, how come I was trying to spread positivity and joy and I wasn't there for her? How come I wasn't able to help her? But you know what? She became my reason. I remember that night when I was so sad, I went to bed. And she showed up in my dream. She was smiling at me. And when she smiled, she showed me the way. She says, come with me. And she starts to run, and I follow her. And she jumps into the sky, and she becomes this beautiful light, another star in the sky. She's my angel. So now my mission is to prevent other kids to take their lives. And I want to invite you to live your life to the fullest because that's the way to do it. So my parents were right. We come from the stars and it's time to To make the change that we want to see in this world. A change that happens within you. Whether you travel the world or you go to an internal journey.
And I'm free, free like a bird, gliding on the sky so high upward, traveling the heavens, my heart I was never alone. Robbie was with me.
I learned that it's when you get lost that if you pay attention, life will show you the way.
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Robby must defeat his own fears to make a positive impact. in his journey, to show to the people that from the moment you perceive life as a gift, you will find in gratitude the key to happiness. Happiness was always there within me. The only thing that I had to do was to find myself and reconnect With my inner child. And this is what Robbie represents— our inner child. Let's light up the world one smile at a time, starting with the most important smile of all.
