As a businessman and communicator by education, Stokes has always had an interest in leadership and character development. Stokes has stayed a student in the martial arts for over 29 years, and has taught for over 13 years. Between 2007-2011, he created and led a program that helped over 800 children/youth (across seven cities) to focus on demand, improve low social skills, and increase self-esteem through a hybrid curriculum of martial arts and team-building. Starting in 2013, Stokes started learning all he could from Transformational Leadership (TL) with Ford Taylor. In April 2017, Ford Taylor asked Stokes to step into the role as the Carolinas Area Coordinator and host them through his first company, Life Harvest, LLC. Also, during this time, Stokes became a certified TL facilitator. Stokes has also been involved in several leadership development opportunities including roles with Christian Business Men's Connection (CBMC) Carolina's. Currently, Stokes is responsible for CBMC's relationship strategy for Young Professionals (YP's) across the Carolinas and as a board member since 2015. Stokes feels God literally gave him his opportunities in leadership co-producing different young professional projects with CBMC, The 3:15 Project, North Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce (NC-C3), PerspectivEdge, and Transformational Leadership Carolinas. Outside of using martial arts as a metaphor to develop leaders, Stokes loves spending time with his family, writing his next book, and enjoying his two puppies Charlie and Daisy as well as continuing in his learning of martial arts.
