Before he ever stood in front of a courtroom or a camera, Julio Laboy stood alone — in the jungle, in a prison block, in the chaos of a live SWAT raid, or on a satellite feed to millions. He’s the kind of man who isn’t defined by titles — attorney, journalist, survivalist, speaker — but by how he handles pressure. And pressure is where he thrives.

“I don’t think clearly until things fall apart,” Laboy says. “That’s when I get calm.”

Laboy is the rare person whose biography reads like a movie script: a New York City journalist who chased a mugger through traffic in a beige sports coat and still made it to cover Nelson Mandela’s first U.S. visit — sweat-drenched and bleeding, but seated within feet of the Mayor. A criminal defense attorney who once coached a teenage client through his mother during a SWAT standoff — mid-dream, in boxers, from his bedroom. A cast member on Netflix’s Outlast, who calls surviving in the Alaskan wild “the best time I’ve ever had being miserable.”

“I need discomfort,” he says. “I don’t feel alive without it.”

A Life of Intersections Laboy’s career isn’t linear — it’s layered. Born to working-class parents in New York, he stumbled into journalism after a gust of wind smacked a flyer against his chest in the quad at Brooklyn College. It offered free pizza. It also offered an invitation to the campus newsroom. He showed up for the pizza and stayed for the purpose.

From that moment on, he lived like doors weren’t meant to be knocked on — they were meant to be kicked open.

An early editorial about being held captive in a crack house while working for the electric company caught the attention of a professor. That professor helped him land an elite journalism internship in Washington, D.C., where Laboy spent nights bleeding at the keys while professional editors ripped his copy to shreds.

“I had to learn humility fast,” he says. “But that year changed everything.”

From there came New York Newsday; The New York Times Company; The Orange County Register; and The Wall Street Journal. Then law school. One chapter bled into the next.

Chaos as a Craft To watch Laboy speak — whether on television, in a courtroom, or on a conference stage — is to witness someone deeply in command of uncertainty. He’s not just articulate. He’s intentional. Measured. Dangerous, in the best way.

But this confidence wasn’t born overnight.

“You have to fail. You have to flinch. You have to bomb,” he says. “I tell people to pause. Take a breath before you answer. It feels like forever, but it isn’t. You reclaim control in the silence.”

It’s the kind of advice that only lands when it’s been lived. And Laboy has lived it — on national television with seconds to prepare, and in high-stakes criminal cases where one wrong word could mean life or death.

When he appeared on Hannity, he was given less than an hour’s notice. No briefing. No prep.

Just a mic, a camera, and a black TV screen that never turned on. He was debating law enforcement live, in front of millions. By the end of the segment, both of his opponents had agreed with him.

“That’s what Brooklyn does to you,” he laughs. “It makes you fast.”

A Different Kind of Warrior Laboy has also done something rare in American masculinity — he’s embraced vulnerability without apology. He talks about pressure, fear, and the internal voices that scream doubt just as clearly as he speaks about courtroom victories or survival milestones.

He doesn’t teach bravado. He teaches awareness. Mind-body readiness. Presence under pressure.

And the way he moves through a space — with gravity, humor, and a “don’t blink” energy — makes it clear: this is not a man who rehearses courage. He lives it.

What Comes Next Laboy is building a new platform — one that merges media, law, and transformation. He’s launching training for underrepresented speakers, working on a book, and continuing to speak to rooms that need more than motivation. They need a mirror.

He doesn’t want to be famous. He wants to be useful.

“The spotlight doesn’t define me,” Laboy says. “But if I’m in it, I’m going to use it to light someone else’s path.”

Though he hasn’t “led” expeditions, Laboy has undertaken a long list of extreme outdoor experiences — from primitive solo camping in the Arizona High Desert to swimming with sharks in the Caribbean, rappelling through Zion, surviving the Costa Rican jungle, and training others in wilderness skills. His adventures span deserts, forests, rivers, oceans, and mountain ranges from New York to the Mojave to Central America.

When he talks about resilience, it’s not metaphor. It’s muscle memory. Let the chaos come. He’ll be there breathing.

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Company Name: Xplorin Life
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