D'Shawn Wright

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D'Shawn Wright
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Born (1978-09-16) September 16, 1978 (age 45)
Hampton, Virginia
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materBethel High School (Virginia)
Occupation
  • Businessperson
  • Fitness coach
  • Bodybuilding
  • Fundraiser
  • Motivational speaker

D’Shawn Wright (born Larry D’Shawn Wright; September 16, 1978) is an American businessperson, fitness coach, Bodybuilding, fundraiser and motivational speaker. Wright became the National Physique Committee (NPC) Classic Overall Bodybuilding Champion for the state of Virginia in 2019[1] , was awarded the York County, Virginia small business of the year award for his gym Body By D in 2019[2] , and received commendation from the Virginia House of Delegates in 2021 for his fundraising and community work.[3] Wright is the author of Life Treats You The Way You Treat It: Motivation the “d” Way (2014) with Jim McGrath[4], and his fitness coach and motivation skills became the focus of a documentary film, directed by Timothy Blackwood.[5]

Early Life

Wright was raised in Hampton,Virginia by his father Larry Bernard Wright and mother Earline Wright and graduated from Bethel High School (Virginia). [6] Wright’s early high school career, he was more interested in soccer and weighed only 160 pounds, but eventually began pursuing weightlifting as a junior, transforming a previously “skinny” frame.[6] A babysitter sexually abused Wright beginning when he was seven years old, which he did not disclose to his parents for nearly thirty years.[7] Wright’s two older brothers—Antwan “Chucky” Vaughn and Jeff Holland—were born to his mother Earline before marrying the elder Wright, and although not biologically his, Wright’s father raised all three boys. [8]

Fitness Career

Wright followed in the footsteps of his father to become a competitive bodybuilder, while also working as a personal trainer.[9] He entered his first bodybuilding competition in 2000 and by 2002 had won five titles.[6] The Peninsula Sports Club honored him for the National Open Championships in Bodybuilding in 2003. [10] In 2012, he won Best Poser at the Virginia state championships, and in 2013 he was the overall champion at the NPC Lenda Murray bodybuilding competition.[11] By 2019, Wright had clenched the NPC title for Classic Overall Bodybuilding Champion for the state of Virginia.[1]

As a fitness coach, Wright has trained several athletes who went onto college and even professional sports careers-- most notably Chad Pinder who played baseball first for the Virginia Tech Hokies and then went onto the Oakland Athletics, as well as Desi Williams (Survivor contestant), a 2013 Miss Virginia winner and a Season 35 Survivor (American TV series).[12] In 2017, Wright traveled Cuba’s Joint Task Force Guantanamo to conduct training as well as motivational work with the US military troops stationed there.[13] Wright began a unique partnership in 2020 with the York County Fire Department as “Fitness Ambassador” to train new cadets[14] and by 2021, the National Association of Counties recognized this Hampton Roads Fire Academy program with Wright as its ambassador for its achievement award. [15]

Business Ownership

The first business Wright owned was Body By D gym, in Yorktown, Virginia opened on April 1, 2009, and expanded significantly to Body By D fitness center, from 3,400 to nearly 13,000 square feet of space, in 2013.[16] Wright opened a second location for Body by D in 2015 located in Hayes, Virginia which is an unincorporated community in Gloucester County, Virginia. In order to maintain ownership of these businesses while they were getting started, at one point Wright was homeless living in the gym with his two children.[17] Wright’s sacrifice paid off and the fitness centers gained recognition, including multiple years of winning Coastal Virginia Magazine’s Best of Reader’s Choice awards[18] as well as the small business of the year award for York County, Virginia in 2019. [19]

Wright’s two additional businesses are barber shops—one located in Gloucester Point, Virginia that opened in 2018 and the other located in Newport News, Virginia that opened in 2019.[20] Both are named “Wright Cuts Family Barber Shop and Salon” and the businesses are co-owned by Wright and his brother Jeffrey Holland.[21] Wright’s venture into barber shops emerged from a partnership with another local entrepreneur and restauranteur Juan Carillo, who bought the vacant shopping center, as both men were concerned about a surge of drug arrests in the area, and thus the two sought to transform the empty storefront into more of a community gathering space.[22]

Community Fundraising and Civic Engagement

Wright’s businesses have steadily also been used as community platforms for fundraising to benefit various nonprofit agencies and individuals, such as Alzheimer's Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Society. Wright partnered with local businesses and community leaders to broaden his impact—for example, in 2015 he co-hosted a boot camp with Philips Energy of Gloucester County matching all entry fee donations 100% going to Alzheimer’s Association.[23] Wright’s Body by D gym has collected coats and supplies for victims of various natural disasters, including those impacted by the Great Smoky Mountain fires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 2016 and those affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2013.[24] Wright also collected close to 1,000 cases of water for those affected by the Flint water crisis and was named Citizen Hero in his community for these and other efforts.[25] His largest contribution to date was $40,000 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), in partnership with two others from York County, Virginia —Toni Chavis and Jenny Joyner.[26] Wright was drawn to the organization’s cancer research mission as his own father, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer at the age of only 59.[27] Having a history of community volunteering—including efforts like Read Across America and Drug Abuse Resistance Education with schoolchildren, among others[28] -- the LLS also selected Wright for their Volunteerism Award in 2021.[26]

In 2020, Wright partnered with another local business owner, Jenny Joyner to create a nonprofit organization entitled HoneyJam productions, and their achievement was recognized in a Special Session of the Virginia House of Delegates in 2021 under House Resolution No. 581. The resolution states “Honey Jam Productions has raised more than $10,000 to support the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula, the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank, 4 Paws Animal Rescue, and other worthy causes.” [29]

Entertainment

Wright has applied his on-camera motivational persona to a variety of entertainment outlets, including hosting talk shows on both radio and television, and acting in community theater. During 2013, he was co-host with his then-company Vice President Peter Costaldo of a radio show called “Man in the Mirror” that aired on WYRM 1110AM in Virginia.[30] Beginning in 2016, he co-hosted another talk radio show with Chris Jones on WKQA entitled “Convocation Radio”[31] and then branched out to late-night TV talk in 2019 with co-host and business partner Juan Carillo for a show on Sky4 called “In the Ring.”[32] Each show aimed to inspire viewers by inviting guests such as politicians, athletes, authors, business owners and community leaders, and the co-hosts interviewed them about their life journeys and areas of expertise. In 2017, Wright ventured into community theater playing the character Eddie in the musical Sister Act (musical), and alongside fellow cast member Katrina Brown, became a “first” African American actor in the Gloucester County, Virginia|Gloucester County Virginia community’s theater history.[33]

Wright became an author in 2014, teaming up with a Daily Press (Virginia) sports writer Jim McGrath, to write an inspirational book in the motivational literature genre entitled Life Treats You The Way You Treat It: Motivation the “d” Way . The book includes profiles of athletes who have trained at the Body By D gym and went onto be successful in life, as well as an accounting of Wright’s own personal influences and behaviors and mindsets for success.[8] In 2021, Los Angeles-based director Timothy Blackwood directed a short documentary film about Wright as part of the Ignite Storytelling Project of Windrider Institute. The film focuses on Wright’s work empowering other members of the Body By D community.[34]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Center, Work/place at E.-Commerce. "Champion Bodybuilder D'Shawn Wright on Staying Motivated - 2019-09-19 September 2019". Evensi. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  2. ↑ Noel, Jim (2019-02-07). "York County Honors Two Businesses at Annual Distinguished Business Affair". www.yesyorkcounty.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ "Bill Tracking - 2021 session > Legislation". lis.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  4. ↑ Reyes, Josh. "York County wrestling show to raise money for humane society". dailypress.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  5. ↑ "Yorktown gym owner featured in new documentary". WTKR. 2021-04-30. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Miller, Skip (2002). "TEAMING UP". Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ "Pain to Triumph: A Bodybuilder's Tale of Survival". CBN News. 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wright, L. D'Shawn; McGrath, Jim (2014). Life Treats You the Way You Treat It: Motivation the 'd' Way. ISBN 978-0692304839.
  9. ↑ Miller, Skip (2002). "TITLE IS A WEIGHT OFF HIS SHOULDERS". Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ "Peninsula Sports Club History" (PDF). 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ Gallagher, Marty (2014). "D'Shawn Wright: Why we love big bodybuilders" (PDF). John Parillo's Performance Press. September: 4–9.
  12. ↑ "BBD Athletes | Body By Dee". Body by D. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  13. ↑ Haile, Haley E. (2017). "Everything Great Has a Small Beginning". www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil. Retrieved 2021-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ Cunningham, Lucretia (2020-02-05). "York County firefighters are getting better fit, thanks to their 'Fitness Ambassador'". Williamsburg Yorktown Daily. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  15. ↑ "York County Awards | York County, VA". www.yorkcounty.gov. 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ↑ "Body By D expands in business and community involvement". Daily Press. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  17. ↑ Graham, Efrem (2015-07-29). "Pain to Triumph: A Bodybuilder's Tale of Survival". CBN News. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ Hornsby, Elizabeth (2015-08-01). "Coastal Virginia Magazine Recognizes Local Businesses". Williamsburg Yorktown Daily. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  19. ↑ "York County Honors Two Businesses at Annual Distinguished Business Affair". www.yesyorkcounty.com. 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ "Brothers open Wright Cuts Family Barber Shop – Gazette Journal". 2018. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ↑ Heinatz, Stephanie (2018). "Juan Carrillo Purchases Vacant Commercial Property". Middle Peninsula. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ↑ Clemmons, Niko (2018). "Business owners try to revitalize, inspire change in Gloucester Point". 13newsnow.com. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ↑ "Phillips Energy and Body By D To Co-Host Fundraising Bootcamp Workout - Gloucester Village". Gloucester Village. 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  24. ↑ Clemmons, Niko (2016). "Two York Co. men collect coats for victims of Gatlinburg wildfires". 13newsnow.com. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ↑ Alfarone, Debra (2016). "Virginia man needs your help to get bottled water to Flint". wusa9.com. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Miller, Erin (2021-06-24). "York County activists raise $40K for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society". WTKR. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ↑ Miller, Erin (2021-04-15). "Locals nominated for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man & Woman of the Year Campaign". WTKR. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ↑ "Body By D expands in business and community involvement". Daily Press. 2013. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ↑ "Bill Tracking - 2021 session > Legislation". lis.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  30. ↑ "Body By D expands in business and community involvement". Daily Press. 2013. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ↑ "Convocation Talk". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ↑ "Carrillo, Wright land late-night talk show gig – Gazette Journal". 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ↑ "New, veteran actors take stage in 'Sister Act' – Gazette Journal". 2017. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  34. ↑ Miller, Erin (2021-04-30). "Yorktown gym owner featured in new documentary". WTKR. Retrieved 2021-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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