Robert Douthat

I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to a family of four spirited and music and theater kids and my ambitious, supportive mother and father. Everyone on both sides of the family was a musician for at least 3 generations. That includes my dad, who was first chair trumpet in his all-state band, under the direction of his father who was his high school band director, and my mother who was the first female drum major at her high school in Plaquemines, LA. My early role models included my music & math teachers, the Thundercats, my 15 year "baby sitter", Thelma, and most of all, Mom and Dad.

The Douthat family started a sewing machine business in 1976, where I often helped out through college, including sitting & laying on piles of boxes en route to delivering sewing machines, imagining I was in a space craft in Star Wars. and not simply a station wagon. The family and business instilled a spirit of work ethic and service, and a love of machinery and technology, which translated into a love of computer engineering, math, and camera tech work. The family donated hundreds of sewing machines to families in turmoil in Russia and Haiti, as well as schools and colleges and initiatives in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Robert also donated several weeks reuniting families through the communications department of the Red Cross shelter in Baton Rouge.

I play 14 instruments, played football and basketball, was a personal trainer for 12 years wherein I trained several Olympic athletes, I was in Army R.O.T.C. for four years and got so many medals that I earned the nicknames "Private Ryan" and "The General." I am a badged sharpshooter, study Krav Maga and Wing Tsun martial arts, and my favorite kind of dog is a Boxer. I live in New York City.

My dream is to portray the small heroism in everyday life, to truthfully convey human struggle, and to be a voice for social progress.