One of the beauties of Easton Training Center comes from the way dedicated students can rise from within the community and become leaders of it. Our President and CEO of the company, Mike Tousignant, shines as an example of this journey through the ranks and, even more importantly, helped implement a system where others can follow suit.
For Mike, who holds a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, finding martial arts signified turning a corner that allowed him to channel his emotion, competitive energy and insecurities into a solid foundation of discipline, self-discovery and progress. It gave him footing in a new home and space to develop not only as a human but as a leader both on the mats and within the business world.
Wrestling with restlessness
Growing up as a kid in Boston, Mike struggled with attention and impulse control, joking that starting in second grade, he spent most of his time in the principal’s office. Diagnosed with ADD but refusing medication, he found class frustrating and unengaging, and in middle school, the pink slips (remember those?) became in-school suspensions.
While he got good grades, he simply couldn’t pay attention – in high school acting out turned into falling asleep in class. His frustration had also begun boiling over into fights and reckless behavior, but wrestling and football provided a temporary outlet. His football coach recognized his aggression and gave him a position that could channel it productively — nose guard. Mike loved it, from the role itself to being part of a team and having a specific purpose.
Still, outside of sports, trouble would find him, often in the form of drinking and bar fights, leading to multiple arrests in his late teens and early 20s. Mike moved to Colorado after he got kicked out of his Division 3 Ohio college, where he was playing football, for fighting with a cop. Then, around 2003, he began paying attention to MMA. He had always been interested in martial arts, but as it wasn’t a thing in his family, had never tried it.
Finding martial arts
When he moved to Colorado, martial arts quickly found Mike. At the time, having just turned 21, alcohol was still an issue and, working on The Hill in Boulder, making friends with tattoo artists and other industry insiders meant more drinking and starting fights with anyone he could find.
Then one day, walking around at Boulder Creek Festival where Easton traditionally sets up a booth every year, Mike stumbled upon Amal Easton and Eliot Marshall. They had a video of Jiu Jitsu and had a mat down, offering people to pay a dollar to try to take them down. Mike remembers thinking he could do it, no problem, yet without alcohol backing him, he was secretly terrified.
It wasn’t until three years later, through a chance encounter with Ian Lieberman (who happened to share a mutual friend with Mike) at Abo’s Pizza, that he was reintroduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
He and Ian became best friends, and when Ian joined Easton, Mike – who had heard about the school for years now, a place that had taken on almost mythical status in his mind – followed shortly after. He finally stepped onto the mats in March 2007 and never looked back.
[Easton Black Belt and Director of GMs, Ian Lieberman: the Journey Towards Wholeness]
The competitive drive
Once immersed in BJJ, Mike’s competitive spirit took over. He trained six days a week, sometimes twice a day, to earn the three stripes on his white belt necessary to compete. His dedication paid off when he won his first competition, and his rapid progression led to a blue belt in less than a year.
Financial struggles forced him to quit nearly everything else to continue training, but gradually with Amal and Eliot’s blessing he found ways to contribute — marketing the academy with stickers around Boulder, opening the school on Sundays for Randori training, and eventually teaching fundamentals classes.
In 2008, Mike and Ian competed at No-Gi Worlds, closing out the blue belt division and earning gold medals. Shortly after returning, Amal Easton promoted him to purple belt, fast-tracking an achievement that usually took much longer.
Then, in 2010, Mike sought further immersion in the art and moved to Brazil, a rite of passage at the time, where he could embrace the birthplace of modern Jiu Jitsu for several months.
[Why Competitors and Hobbyists Must Coexist]
Nonlinear journey back
Upon returning from Brazil, Mike found himself at a crossroads. He planned to join the military and briefly moved back to Boston before heading to Michigan for a summer bartending job. However, the chaotic lifestyle he found in Michigan working at a high-volume, party-driven bar only reinforced his need for structure.
(Spoiler – the military wouldn’t take him! With cut backs at the time, they had to be more selective and Mike had too many misdemeanors on his record.)
At the end of the summer, Mike needed to go back to Boulder to tie up some loose ends. Still not knowing what his next step held, he decided to sync his return with a month-long backpacking trip – from Yellowstone and Yosemite to the Badlands, Black Mountain and Zion.
The trip turned out to be exactly what he needed, and in November 2010 Mike returned to Colorado where Amal was hiring a general manager for the Boulder academy. Mike’s name got thrown in the hat and ultimately leadership selected him to be Boulder’s GM.
[Muay Thai Coach Terence Cheah: the Sanctuary of Structure]
From General Manager to CEO
At Easton Boulder, Mike approached the GM role as an internship, determined to learn every aspect of running a business. His experience managing a pizza shop for seven years gave him a foundation, but he wanted to refine his skills. While previous GMs had lasted two years or less, Mike thrived, immersing himself in business studies and applying his newfound knowledge to Easton’s operations.
In 2017, Mike was still serving as GM, but he had the opportunity to buy into Easton’s Arvada location. At this point, he had realized that he no longer wanted to fight, and he didn’t want to open up his own school (this had been a thought for a while.)
“This intellectual work is credible,” Mike remembers thinking, “I don’t have to open my own business – I can help Easton with what I’m learning.”
With his leadership, the Arvada location tripled its revenue in its first year, a remarkable turnaround after a decade of stagnation. All the while, Mike continued to teach, manage payroll, and oversee merchandising across the company.
Determined to take Easton to the next level, Mike set his sights on becoming CEO. In 2018, he presented a plan for transforming the company, and Amal and Eliot saw the value in his vision. He officially stepped into the role, bringing operational structure to the organization while allowing Easton’s founders to focus on their strengths as visionaries. He also maintains a deep gratitude for the trust that Eliot and Amal had in him to carry out his plans.
“It wouldn’t have happened without their ability to let go of the vine,” Mike says. “They gave me that trust to take their baby and run with it, and make it part of my family too.”
[The Power of Core Values in Life and Business]
Personal drive towards growth
Martial arts didn’t just shape Mike as an athlete — it completely transformed his life. Training gave him discipline, community, and a sense of purpose that helped him break away from self-destructive habits and mindsets. Leadership allowed him to take what he’d learned and turn it outward to help others as well.
He went from believing his only capability was hurting people to recognizing how he can not only create a better world for others but letting others come to the same discovery. Now, he wakes up eager to read and consume knowledge, with curiosity fueling his discipline. Whereas once he would sleep through class, now learning has become a lifelong pursuit.
[We’re Defined by What We’re Willing to Struggle For]
Mike’s biggest piece of advice is to go after what you want without waiting for permission. Nothing is simply given — you have to take initiative, prove your value, and trust yourself to rise to the challenge.
When he wanted a leadership role, he didn’t wait to be promoted; he stepped up, took ownership, and showed what he could do. It took Mike 10 years to earn a piece of ownership in the company, but his relentless drive to learn and grow kept him pushing forward. Looking back, he sees that the key is being willing to take risks and to trust yourself to succeed.
What I’ve learned along the way, and maybe always knew, but has become much more clear with age, is that nothing we do is accomplished on our own. The people we surround ourselves with are what matters — our loved ones, our friends, and our coworkers.
We spend so many hours working, and if you are at a job you hate or surrounded by people you can’t stand, showing up is brutal. I am lucky that I love everything about my job, even the hard shit, because without the challenges, life would be easy and we would be weak. I don’t and will never accept weakness in my life. I won’t accept shitty effort either. At Easton, we are forged through our time on the mats and through our struggles. There is a pressure cooker that will push us out on the other side, and if we can withstand the challenges and difficulties, we will always be better for it.
The team I get to work with at Easton creates our incredible culture. The HQ team, the GMS, and the Program Directors, as well as everyone else that pushes us all to be better makes us successful. I don’t want easy. I want hard. Thank you for making that possible.
-Mike Tousignant
If you want something, don’t wait.
