Despite Josh's setbacks in his youth, he didn't allow them to define him. Removing himself from the special education program during his Senior year of high school and thrived. Not only did Josh take courses that his IEP deemed challenging for him, but he got his first and only 4.0 GPA without taking any remedial classes. This experience echoed the counsel from his grandpa, "you can be anything you want to be, you can be as great as you want."
After graduating from Woods Cross High School in 2000, Josh served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Chicago, Illinois. Upon his return Josh from Chicago enrolled at Salt Lake Community College where he worked toward in an A.S. in Sociology while being heavily involved in student government, volunteerism and the school newspaper.
In August 2006 Josh transferred to Southern Utah University in Cedar City where he continued his involvement in student government, volunteerism, the school newspaper and other various programs. Josh graduated with his B.S. in Communications along with a minor emphasis in Sociology and a Service Learning certificate after logging over 1000+ service hours throughout his undergraduate studies.
Despite Josh's active involvement in school and extracurricular activities upon graduation he found himself grossly out of shape and dangerously unhealthy. Weighing over 400 lbs. he decided to make healthy changes to his diet and lifestyle which resulted in him losing 180 lbs. from his highest to lowest weight.
In the process of focusing on his health, Josh became an avid runner. Since 2010, Josh has completed over 250+ road and trail races including 100+ half marathons, a dozen marathons and a handful of ultra races including a 50 mile race he completed in October 2016. Josh's last lone goal in running is to one day run a 100 mile race.
Besides running, Josh's other hobbies include marketing, graphic design and podcasting, something he was able to do with his involvement with the Radio Ronin Podcast for six years as a social media manager and eventually co-host. Josh was able to be mentored by former morning radio host DJ Jimmy Chunga both in front and behind the microphone.
A special place in Josh's heart is Disneyland. Not only is it a place he visited nearly every summer as a kid, but as adult his love for the park became an obsession fueled by his love of Walt Disney biographies and history books. But, what cemented Disneyland in Josh's heart forever was when he met his wife, MaryAnn, in Disneyland in February 2022.
Currently, Josh works at the University of Utah and hosts 'The Party in the Back' Podcast and TV with friend Blu Robinson. He continues to run, plan his next trip to Disneyland and podcasting while living in South Jordan, Utah with his wife MaryAnn and two cats, Walt and Roy.
If you are interested in booking Josh for a speaking engagement you can contact him here.