Winner Takes It All

L'Officiel Arabia Hommes: When did you decide to be a bodybuilder?

Armand Peri: I decided to become a bodybuider when I was a scrawny teenager wanting to improve my physical appearance; I began weight training at the age of 17.

 

LOH: Who inspired you the most in your career and life?

AP: Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a mentor of mine in the sport of bodybuilding, business and personal development.

LOH: You have millions of followers on Instagram, how and when did you decide to become a digital influencer?  

AP: I have always been an influencer, but I decided in 2017 to utilize several social media platforms to communicate, influence and inspire my followers, compared to the promotional methods of the past few decades, social media is truly transformative. Imagine building a name for yourself before Instagram. You could take out magazine ads, write a personal blog, or run TV commercials. For TV you were constrained by a producer. There are limits to what you can say and the visuals and written content you use.

With social, there are no limits. You can showcase your El Capitan hike one week to give people a way to connect with you personally, and then share posts about the awesome fruit smoothie stand in your neighborhood so they can see life through the story of your life as it happens.

LOH: What will be your message to aspiring bodybuilders?

AP: My message to aspiring bodybuilders is to just be original, persistent and stay the course, never give up! Never Quit on yourself and your dreams.

 

LOH: What advice would you give to a newbie Entrepreneur setting up their first business?

AP: Bring value and originality to the marketplace and your success will be undeniable.

LOH :Your personal story is truly inspirational. There is no wonder that you have a passion to share it through motivational speeches and your book “Unparalleled Success”. We do believe that your persistence is the key to everything. Do you think one can learn to be persistent in pursuing the goals?

AP: Absolutely, the purpose of my book and my motivational speaking engagements is to give back to society and inspire someone to pursue his or her dream like I did! Throughout my journey of becoming successful, I made a lot of mistakes but learned a lot with each set back and I am trying to prevent my followers and readers to avoid these same mistakes I made!

LOH: Tell us more about Hunk-O-Mania.

AP: Hunk-O-Mania is a high energy, audience participation show. I created the company in 1998 and grew it slowly at first but it eventually ballooned into a successful venture with shows in over 30 cities and national and international tours throughout the year. The show has been seen by millions of audience and has received praise and accolades from various high authority media outlets.

LOH: How has the current pandemic affected you?

AP: The current pandemic has really affected us and the toughest decision I had to make in the last few months is to lay off people due to Covid-19.

 

LOH: Have you ever been to the UAE?

AP: I have never been to UAE but I do have friends who reside there and I am looking forward to visiting them there in the near future.