| Aleksey Vayner is unanimously described by his friends as warm-hearted, personable, loyal friend, competitive athlete, and a passionate humanitarian.
Aleksey, the athlete who inspired Adidas’ Impossible is Nothing campaign, is also a founder of numerous startups, a non-profit, and the author of several e-books and software products under his company’s brand.
Aleksey’s extraordinary athletic accomplishments came to light when a video he shot in the summer of 2006 was leaked to the public. Video was created as a tribute to Aleksey’s late martial arts instructor Radomir Kovacevic, titled Impossible is Nothing, and encompassed Radomir’s philosophy on life.
Taken out of context, bloggers called it ‘video resume,’ and mocked around the web for Aleksey’s over-the-top acting and supposedly-exaggerated athletic feats. In numerous interviews Aleksey said that he acted to reflect Radomir’s philosophy and over-the-top personality, but video segments which showed him playing sports were genuine; most were shot at back-to-back practices, on the same day, and reflected Aleksey’s athletic ability at that time.
Quoting from interview in 2006, Aleksey said – “I made a big mistake by adding a link to the video, to my resume. It was immature, and reflected a poor judgment of my greater, albeit unintentional audience. Taken out of context, the video made me appear superior and self-centered—a stark contrast to the sentiments of humility and gratitude to my late martial arts master, that inspired me to create it. I was extremely disappointed with my poor judgment, but grateful for the lessons learned, and for the strong network of friends, family, and many members of Yale administration who supported me during a difficult time period.”
Aleksey’s video also inspired Adidas to launch/re-launch the Impossible Is Nothing campaign, depicting world-renowned athletes rising above their impossible challenges on their way to greatness. When we looked beyond internet gossip, we found Aleksey’s athletic abilities to be verifiable, transparent, and inspiring!
- Aleksey’s began playing tennis, skiing and doing martial arts at age 5
- He competed nationally and internationally in tennis as a junior. Aleksey served a US junior record 143 mph serve in 2002 at nationals. Played Professionally on USTA Pro Circuit.
- Was in several skiing videos
- In 2006-2007 trained by Ryan Kennelly’s routine, & recoded a maximum bench press of 516lbs.
- Attained grandmaster degrees in his respective martial arts styles
- Nominated into Hall of Honor, & received Instructor of the Year award from a Martial Arts Federation
- Founded a NY-based Center of Internal Martial Art, & has taught self defense classes to Yale and NYU students
- Wrote Self Defense Solution – 100 Best Self Defense Techniques to Defeat Any Attacker
- Retired from martial arts after his late master, Radomir Kovacevic, died of cancer in 2006.
Professional
Since making athletics a secondary priority, Aleksey founded a NY-based tech company, and authored several productivity software, courses and whitepapers. Aleksey’s idea to develop commercial application products which helped streamline business operations has evolved into an umbrella of specialized consulting businesses which develop strategies to help small and medium-size companies mitigate risk, streamline operations, enhance profitability, and ensure sustainable growth.
Philanthropic
Aleksey Vayner’s zealous community service efforts are focused on improving literacy levels, helping eradicate child sex exploitation, and returning freedom to Tibetans in their homeland.
Since high school Aleksey Vayner has been involved in educational programs about human rights abuse of Buddhists by Peoples Republic of China in Tibet. He has helped put Students for Free Tibet on a world wide web, and received numerous letters of merit from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Aleskey is active with Redlight Children, a nonprofit seeking to generate conscious concern and inspire immediate action against child sexploitation and trafficking worldwide. He created the Redlight Children Yale Chapter and, together with RC founder, works on developing effective solutions to the problem.
In 2006 Aleksey Vayner his philanthropic efforts one step further and founded Empower a Child Inc, a NY-based grassroots non-profit organization devoted to improving reading skills and learning opportunities for children in a public school system. To that end Aleksey developed Ivy Reader software suite composed of speed reading and speed typing software, an ebook library, goal-setting and time-management modules. Aleksey hopes that NY Department of Education will approve his proposal to incorporate Ivy Reader into their core curriculum of computer classes in public schools thereby allowing children across the country to benefit from Ivy Reader’s full array of personal development features.
Education
Aleksey was a scholarship student throughout high school and his BA from Yale University, and is currently pursuing a graduate degree from London School of Economics’. |
