Antoinette Tuff
- A Hero Helping Individuals, Organizations, and Corporations with Safer Workplace and School Environments
- Accidental Hostage Negotiator
Travels From
Georgia
Antoinette Tuff Speaker Biography
On August 19, 2013, Antoinette Tuff was a school bookkeeper, severely depressed that her husband of 33 years had recently left and faced the daunting challenges of raising a son with multiple disabilities and a daughter in law school as a single Mom. Never did she think that she would become a hero saving more than 1,000 lives, a best-selling author, an international celebrity, an expert on community safety, the Founder and CEO of a non-profit, Kids On the Move for Success or a guest of Michelle Obama’s at the State of the Union Address.
The next day, her life changed forever, Antoinette, an accidental hostage negotiator, used her experiences with challenging life issues to successfully convince an armed gunman who entered the Ronal E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy to give her his AK-47. This is the only school active shooter situation in the US that ended without death or injury to school students, faculty, parents or shooter himself. Experience hostage negotiators, law enforcement and community leaders praised her intuitive, yet textbook, hostage negotiations on August 20, 2013.
As a speaker, Antoinette shares how her everyday crisis management techniques with Tuff Tactics apply to a wide variety of situations, both large and small. Audience members will learn how stressful incidents in their everyday life can be leveraged as an asset when dealing with difficult interpersonal relationships, heated customer interactions or if they find a gun pointed in their direction. Her crisis management presentation with Conversation in the Crosshairs is designed to complement structured crisis situation and relationship training utilized by security, human resource, and legal teams.
Seven-time Grammy® Award winner, Toni Braxton, stars as Antoinette Tuff, in “Faith Under Fire” for Lifetime TV. “Faith Under Fire” premiered on Saturday, January 27, 2018. “Faith Under Fire” was produced by Sony Pictures Television and based on the book “PREPARED for a PURPOSE: An Inspiring True Story of Faith, Courage and Compassion in Crisis” by Antoinette Tuff and Alex Tresniowski, Executive Producers are T. D. Jakes (Heaven is for Real), Judith Verno (Masters of Sex), Derrick Williams (Miracles from Heaven), Toni Braxton and Craig Baumgarten (Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart). Emmy nominee Vondie Curtis Hall (Abducted: The Carlina White Story) directs from a script written by Laura Harrington and Stephen Kay. Additional, her real-life story was documented by the Biography Channel, which was also shown on Lifetime TV.
After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018, Antoinette Tuff became a recognized an expert and community leader for student safety. Antoinette believes that compassion, confidence, and control are the best options when dealing with student safety, which includes the prevention of bullying, suicide and deescalating an active shooter situation. She is frequently asked to participate in the conversations in the media and on Town Hall panels, including:
- WGCL-TV CBS46 – Arming Teacher Panelist – February
- DeKalb Community Safety Town Hall – March 17, 2018
- March for Our Lives Speaker – March 24, 2018
- March for Our Lives – Town Hall – April 7, 2018
- GPB – On Second Thought – Arming Teacher Interview – April 13, 2018
- Georgia Students for Change – Rally and Town Hall – April 20, 2018
Kids on the Move for Success believes that there are many issues that contribute to the success of children. For children to succeed, they must feel safe, must be transported to a world beyond their everyday life, learn that STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) fields are available to all and that giving back to the community is important in learning acceptance and developing leadership skills. Kids on the Move for Success believes compassion, confidence, and control are foundational elements in the success of children now and in the future. Our programs are designed to be mobile and dynamic allowing us to impact communities at the local, state and national level.
Tuff Tactics, Action, Game Plan (T-TAG)….Bring Collaboration into the Workplace
Do your departments, divisions, employees and management collaborate to make sure your productivity and your organization are wining during this season? If not, T-TAG workshops and, or keynote presentations will give your team techniques and strategies to work together in a safe, diverse and interconnected work environment.
Antoinette's Tuff Tactics can be applied to the following situations:
- Bring management and everyone together to create a safe environment where everyone feels valued, respected, accepted and encouraged to fully participate in the organization
- Bring “Compassion, Confidence and Control” in the workplace to increase productivity, communication goals and to measure progress
- “Hi, My Name Is” techniques to know your colleagues
- Bring diversity, inclusion and safety within the workplace to create an inclusive environment for everyone in the organization, nonprofit or school
- The management team will learn how to de-escalate situations in the workplace by using Compassion, Confidence and Control (“Tuff Tactics”)
Psychologically Safe Environments: Workplace and School Unsafe
Preparation is the key to success in a hostile or life-threatening situation whether in person or virtually. Psychologically Safe Environments will teach your management team and employees how to have the conversation in the crosshairs with each other, and with your customers or audiences in a safe and authentic way. This will enhance creativity, bring fresh ideas and spontaneous breakthroughs in the organization simply by using Antoinette’s Tuff Tactics (Compassion, Confidence and Control).
Antoinette's Tuff Tactics can be applied to the following situations:
- Fuller understanding of your team
- How to deal with Hostile or Disgruntle employees or customers
- Bring interpersonal relationships with manager, supervisor, employee or colleague
- Violence in the workplace or school
- How to handle an active shooter in the workplace or school
- Interpersonal relationships (manager, supervisor, employee or colleague)
- Creating safe environments within the workplace in person or virtually
How to Disarm Your Toughest Customers and Employees
The ability to disarm an aggressor goes beyond the surrendering of a firearm, which Antoinette Tuff did with an active shooter at an elementary school on August 20, 2013.
In a global climate of political unrest and polarizing disagreements, there is a tremendous need for collaboration and personal connection. Whether you are leading or making global sales, Antoinette can show you how to apply her Tuff Tactics to your Sales and Leadership challenges and inspire your team with her story of courage and conviction.
Whether leading a work team or sales group being a leader starts with learning three basic core competencies: how to be Strategic, Influential, and Innovative so you can increase business opportunities, create accountable and productive teams.
Antoinette engages leaders in a conversation that will enable them to find common ground for connecting and listening to their peers, customers, and employees.
From everyday occurrences to high stakes risks, we are all experiencing threats that need to be neutralized and turned into Win-Win outcomes. Antoinette will share her easy and straight-forward methods with your team.
Antoinette's Tuff Tactics can be applied to the following situations:
- Defensive customers and employees
- Heated or threatening situations
- Disengaged employees
- Vengeful personalities (customers, employees or strangers)
- Sales technique and productive results
PREPARED for a PURPOSE: School Under Siege
Antoinette knows that her personal challenges, including financial struggles, a broken marriage, raising a disabled child, and her triumphs prepared her to handle the gunman that walked into the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy. Her calling is to help individuals reach their potential. While she believes that everyone is prepared for purpose in life, Antoinette also helps individuals and organizations find their unique purpose.
Antoinette's Tuff Tactics can be applied to the following situations:
- Building teams within the organization
- Creating a road map for the organization for growth
- Goal setting with the organization to increase productivity and retention
