We recently had the chance to connect with Nate Webb and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Nate, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
We recently moved into a new home, and there have been lots of projects to do around the house. I have never felt super handy in my life, so with this new house, I’ve taken it upon myself to learn more. With my brother in laws help we’ve put in a fence and sprinkler system, laid sod, and landscaped our yard. I’ve installed a dog door for our dog, and installed all our blinds and anything else I would have asked for help with in the past. It just felt really good to do these things on my own. I know the number of people who know and pass down practical handy skills to their children is dwindling. So it makes me happy to be finally acquiring some of these handy skills I can pass down to my kids.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Nate Webb. I am a professional school counselor, national speaker, husband and father. As a kid, I got bullied relentlessly. In fact, bullies and social media almost ended my life. Thankfully, I was able to turn things around and lead a happy life. My experiences as a kid gave me a passion to help other kids who have no voice or power. This passion led me to become a school counselor. Then I started to share my story and studies on stage. Students connect so much with what I went through, and the research I show is so eye opening for parents. I’ve spoken in multiple states, Canada, and have even given a Ted Talk. My goal? To help YOU raise resilient kids in a tech heavy world. To use my stories and studies to inspire kids to get over their bullies, look past social media, and face life’s challenges with kindness and grit. From speeches to sports teams and student body assemblies, to community night and parent Q&A, I try to reach as ;many people as I can to spread this message.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
My wrestling coaches. Shout out to Coach Mussleman and Coach Squires. I wasn’t the strongest kid. I wasn’t the fastest kid. I was just about the most average kid in almost every way. I fell in love with wrestling when I was 10 years old. I just didn’t hardly ever win. I was a bigger kid, so I wrestled bigger kids who had much more muscle, strength, and know how than I did. I had only won a handful of matches before high school. When I got to 9th grade, I expressed how I wanted to qualify for state. So my coaches laid out a plan of how to get there. There were lots of late nights doing extra drills after practices, early morning sprints, blood, sweat, and tears. Every day my coaches would remind me “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”.
Fast forward to my 11th grade year. I was in my final match of the regional tournament. If I won, I went to state. If I lost, I was done for the season. The match was fairly even. We went back and forth scoring points, taking each other down, scrambling to try and gain the advantage over the other. Early in the 3rd and final round, my opponent locked my arms behind my back in a double arm bar and started to circle around to manipulate my body to flip on my back’. As I turned, I looked at my coaches. Coach Squires tapped his heart, gave me a nod, as if to say, “fight kid, fight”. In a moment of pure luck and physics timing, I sat up at the perfect time and took my opponent straight to his back. the ref slapped the mat, signifying my victory. My hard work paid off.
The ethic I learned from my coaches has carried me through a bachelors degree, two masters degrees, a marriage to a beautiful woman, having 4 wonderful kids with her, and everything life throws us. I would not be the strong person I am without the help those amazing men gave me.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
Like I mentioned before, I got bullied relentlessly as a kid. I got stabbed, beat up, thrown in trash cans, stuffed in lockers, and was even pinned down my my football teammates so the popular bullies could take turns kicking me in the groin. I was in so much emotional pain and turmoil. Constantly wondering why I wasn’t enough and why no one cared about me. Then in high school, 15 classmates spammed my FB inbox with the same message every 30 minutes: “Go kill yourself”. I came so close to listening to their cruel words. Thankfully my Dad was able to help me work through these challenges and create a sense of self worth.
In 2018, as I was prepping for grad school, I noticed while volunteering with the youth that they they were struggling with the same self worth obstacles I had to overcome. So many kids still listening to much to the unkind opinions of people who don’t value them. So I started a little Instagram page to talk about bullying and online safety in hopes of helping those kids. That page, @realnatewebb, now has almost 60k people following and benefiting from the content I share trying to help parents raise resilient kids in this tech heavy world.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
For sure Tom Holland. For a few reasons. First, he played an amazing Peter Parker in all the new spiderman movies, Spiderman is my favorite Marvel Hero of all time, Peter Parker, the nerd, becoming one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe?! Spidey is my dude. But even off the screen, Tom Holland is a man of integrity and character. He started a non-alcoholic beer brand to help former addicts like himself to stay sober. His relationship with Zendaya is one that shows true masculinity in a way that embraces emotions and empathy while fostering strength and being a protector. He is so kind to everyone, and stands up for himself and his loved ones with a fierce love. The last few years, Tom has become one of my idols and heroes and I really hope I can meet him one day to thank him for the example he has set.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I am not perfect by a long shot. But when I am gone, I hope people can say that I was the type of person who loved and accepted everyone for who they were. That I never pushed someone to be a person who they didn’t want to be. That I saw people for who they were, and who they could be, and never for what their mistakes were. I want people to fault me for my kindness, and know that I would help wherever I could. I want people to be able to say “Man, that guy made me want to be a better person, and inspired me to make it happen”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.natewebbspeaker.com
- Instagram: @realnatewebb (https://www.instagram.com/realnatewebb/)
- Linkedin: Nathan Webb (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-webb-3a4968190/)
- Facebook: Nate Webb Speaker (https://www.facebook.com/bulliesbe.gon/)
