Honorary Mayor Delivers Impassioned Speech at JNET Chapter Meeting at KI

“I almost feel like I don’t need this mic, but I’ll use it anyway,” said Pacific Palisades Honorary Mayor Jake Steinfeld at the Pacific Palisades chapter meeting of The Jewish Business Networking Organization.

More than 100 JNET members and guests met at Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 19 for a motivational, entertaining and often humorous dialogue with Steinfeld entitled “You Don’t Know What You Got Until You Take A Shot!”

Anthony Marguleas, owner of the Palisades-based independent real estate company Amalfi Estates, is president of the Palisades JNET chapter, which has been in operation for two years.

“He’s a great speaker,” Marguleas said of Steinfeld, a fellow JNET member, prior to giving him an introduction and being challenged to demonstrate the perfect push-up – a feat he performed without even breaking a sweat.

As the crowd enjoyed tasty food and drinks, Steinfeld talked about his life and career as a fitness icon, entrepreneur, bodybuilder and personal trainer to some of the entertainment industry’s most legendary talents, including Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Hugh Hefner and Barbra Streisand.

Steinfeld is often credited with creating the personal training industry in the early 1980s after transforming from a self-described overweight kid into a fitness fiend.

“That was where the sickness began,” Steinfeld said of the moment when, as a child, he queued his music to play applause from a Frank Sinatra album as he did bicep curls in front of his bedroom mirror.

“Life is about moments,” he said.

Steinfeld began to exercise daily and would go on to leave college his freshman year in pursuit of his dream to become a bodybuilder in Los Angeles. He would later produce and star in Body by Jake on ESPN, create FiT TV and create and star in the sitcom Big Brother Jake. The enthusiastic entrepreneur also founded Major League Lacrosse and became Chairman of the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils.

According to Steinfeld, life is all about persistence, believing in yourself and following your dreams. He encouraged attendees to dig deep to find their passion.

“Passion leads and everything else follows,” Steinfeld said. “Are you doing what you want to be doing? Are you fulfilling that dream? That passion?”