Steven Snyder

STEVEN SNYDER was a most unusual child, growing up to be a most unusual man, who has literally changed the lives of tens of thousands of people. For starters: By the time he was three, Steve was reading at least one book a day. In first grade, his teacher asked the class if anyone already knew how to read. He was the only one who raised his hand. "How many books have you read, Steven?" she quizzed. "About 1,400," Steven answered quite innocently. Did she believe him? Only after he named about a...See more

STEVEN SNYDER was a most unusual child, growing up to be a most unusual man, who has literally changed the lives of tens of thousands of people. For starters: By the time he was three, Steve was reading at least one book a day. In first grade, his teacher asked the class if anyone already knew how to read. He was the only one who raised his hand. "How many books have you read, Steven?" she quizzed. "About 1,400," Steven answered quite innocently. Did she believe him? Only after he named about a dozen titles and their plotlines. Did the woman faint? Her knees probably went a bit weak. What would she do with him while she taught her class to read? Guess what. She literally put him in the corner. He was punished for knowing how to read. This happened in the Los Angeles area where he was born and lived with his mother, father, and his grandmother and uncle. "Four parents instead of two," he smiles. When he was almost three, they moved to the San Fernando Valley and his only sibling, a brother, was born. When Steve was eight, he learned about self-hypnosis, meditation and was introduced to the concept of altered states of consciousness. He was instantly fascinated, and it quickly became his hobby. He began to read everything that he could find on any related topic. When Steve was 12, he woke up from a dream that suggested he take his two hobbies, reading and self-hypnosis, and do them at the same time. Over the following three years he created and developed a unique teaching program, "AlphaLearning," which transformed his life. He started by teaching his friends and then the day after his fifteenth birthday, on January 6, 1967 he began teaching his first class for money. He has been teaching professionally ever since. In 1978, Steven co-founded Live and Learn, a non-profit (501C3) Educational Foundation in Sherman Oaks, California. Staffed by 15 to 20 employees, the Foundation's focus was to teach enhanced living and accelerated learning skills through counseling, workshops, and seminars to people (especially school teachers) interested in maximizing their potential. Successful fundraising allowed them to provide scholarships. "Live and Learn's corporate mission," Steve explains, "was to help facilitate the gentle overthrow of the school system and to assist society's transition into a system of 21st Century Information Age Education." In 1987, Steven began doing corporate seminars and by 1991 was in such great demand that he closed Live and Learn to focus on his corporate work. In 1988, he began working with the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), and in 1990 he began his association with TEC: The Executive Committee. A highly valued speaker for TEC, now Vistage International, the word's largest CEO organization, Steve has presented to over 2,100 groups and was chosen in 2003 as their International Speaker of the Year. In 2014, he was presented with the Millennium Award and in 2019 with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Along with Michael Benner he hosted the Breakthrough Radio Show, created a series of Breakthrough Audio Journeys on CD, and conducted the life-enhancing Breakthrough Seminars. Steve and Michael's personal empowerment audio programs are available for free at PEN.Tools. Steve sits on the Board of Directors of Learning Forum International, who along with QLN and SuperCamp have integrated Steve's accelerated reading and learning methods into the programs and trainings that they present to students and teachers world-wide. Steven was married (in 1999 for the first and only time) to Teresa Allred. A beautiful and accomplished woman, Teresa was the co-owner and CEO of Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing Inc., the nation's largest licensed... See less