A bodybuilder based out of Leamington has set his sights on the Grand Slam Inspirational Speaking Finals.
Fresh off a second-place finish at his first Speaker Slam competition, Richie Keirouz, 48, booked his entry into the ninth annual Grand Slam later this year.
“I’ve done it so many times at home in front of my wife, my kids, in front of my camera, and it wasn’t until I was actually on stage with a live audience that I really was able to kind of like bring that out,” Keirouz said in an interview with CTV News.
A bodybuilder for more than 16 years, Keirouz’s first speaking competition focused on the theme of resilience.
Before his time in bodybuilding, the born and raised Leamington resident said he struggled both financially and mentally in his twenties.
“So I was struggling a lot back then, and I stopped training at that point. So, I was going through a lot. I was smoking, I was, you know, eating a lot of bad food. I was drinking, and I hadn’t been in the gym in a while and, went back to the gym as a way to kind of just cope with everything that was going on,” Keirouz said.
Through his time in the gym, he noticed improvements to his well-being mentally, and in his early thirties, Keirouz took to the stage as a bodybuilder for the first time.
In 2023 he won the Canadian National Championship, and he will compete in the North American Championships this summer.
While this month marked Keirouz’s first speaking competition, he has been enticed by the concept for years. About three years ago, Keirouz was prepared to enter a Speaker Slam event but ultimately backed out.
“It wasn’t out of fear or anything. It was just like, I didn’t feel like I was ready,” he said.
Last fall, Keirouz attended the Grand Slam, Speaker Slam’s marquee event, where he watched Windsor Paralympian Danielle Campo earn the title of Inspirational Speaker of the Year.
“So, I got in touch with Danielle right after the show. She agreed to work with me and helped me, you know, create a speech and work on my stage presence and everything,” he said.
Similar to his bodybuilding preparation, Keirouz practiced his speech daily to sharpen his skills.
“Once I had the speech memorized, then it’s starting to work on that stage presence, you know, doing the speech over and over and over again and making sure that you’re you’re highlighting the certain key points and you’re pausing at the right time”
In his first opportunity on the stage, Keirouz intended to be competitive, but entered with expectations he deemed, ‘a little bit low.’
However, after his early success, Keirouz said he intends to continue to work with Campo and bring the title of number one Inspirational Speaker of the Year back to Windsor-Essex County.
“This is now that I’ve gone on stage and got that feeling, and I know that I can do this and I can really deliver, I can only get better from here,” he said.
