Today we’d like to introduce you to Andre Johnson.
Hi Andre, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m originally from Rochester, New York, where I spent 10 years serving as a police officer with the Rochester Police Department. During that time, I saw life at its worst on a regular basis—homicides, serious assaults, domestic violence, and countless difficult situations. While I was proud to serve, over time I became disenchanted because I felt like I was constantly responding to problems after the damage had already been done. I wanted to make more of a positive impact on people’s lives before they reached those difficult crossroads.
At that point in my life, I was preparing to go to law school and studying for the LSAT. Then one conversation completely changed the trajectory of my future.
In the early 2000s, I traveled to Irvine, California for a weekend Kung Fu training. One Friday evening after training, my Kung Fu brother, the late John Cheng, and I were having dinner at a beautiful restaurant in Laguna Beach overlooking the ocean when he asked me a question I’ll never forget:
“Andre, why do you want to become an attorney?”
I answered honestly: “To make more money and have a better quality of life.”
His response changed my life. He said, “What if I could show you a way to make as much money—or more—than an attorney, have less stress and debt, enjoy a much better quality of life, and become a positive role model in your community? Would you be interested?”
My answer was immediate: “Absolutely.”
John then suggested something I had never seriously considered before—becoming a professional martial arts instructor. He told me that with my law enforcement background and my ability to connect with people, I could make a tremendous impact helping families and mentoring children through martial arts.
That conversation planted a seed that completely expanded my vision for my future. At the time, John owned several successful martial arts schools in Southern California, and as I watched the life he had built, I began to realize there were other ways to create success, freedom, and meaningful impact while doing something I genuinely loved.
I started flying from New York to California to learn from John how to professionally operate a martial arts school. During that period, I realized I wanted a completely different lifestyle than the one I was living in Rochester. I loved palm trees, warm weather, and the ocean—but I also knew I was still an East Coast guy at heart.
Then came another defining moment.
In January of 2003, I visited South Florida for the first time after a friend had moved there. I remember leaving Rochester that morning and it was -2 degrees outside. I was wearing a turtleneck sweater, leather jacket, jeans, and Timberland boots. A few hours later, I landed in Fort Lauderdale to 80-degree weather, blue skies, and palm trees everywhere. I remember thinking to myself immediately: “That’s it. I’m moving to South Florida.”
From that moment forward, I started putting together a plan to completely change my life.
On March 6, 2005, I officially resigned from the Rochester Police Department. Then, on March 29, 2005 at 7:00 a.m., I began the drive to my new home in South Florida.
A few months later, on August 15, 2005, I opened what was then called South Florida Kung Fu & Fitness, which today is Quest Martial Arts Coral Springs.
More than 20 years later, we are still proudly serving families in Coral Springs and the surrounding communities. Along the journey, we’ve overcome some major challenges. Just three months after opening, Hurricane Wilma hit South Florida. Three years later came the 2008 recession. Then, like many small businesses, we had to navigate the uncertainty of COVID-19. Statistically, many small businesses—and martial arts schools specifically—don’t survive long term, yet we are still here decades later continuing to grow and serve our community.
None of this happened alone. I’ve been blessed to have incredible people help guide and support me throughout this journey. My incredible late wife, Cecilia, was a tremendous source of strength and support through much of Quest Martial Arts’ growth and development. Mentors and friends including the late John Cheng, my Kung Fu Sifu Raymond Fogg, Derrick Wright, Brett Rigdon, Paul Gruschow, Stephen Oliver, Ethan Lingl, Ben & Jane Tu, Michelle Farias and many others including my family back in Rochester and my daughter Angelisse who lives here with me all played important roles in helping shape my path.
Most importantly, my students and the families we serve continue to inspire me every day.
What started as a search for a different career and better quality of life ultimately became my life’s passion: helping children build confidence, discipline, focus, and leadership skills while making a positive difference in families and in the community.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, but I believe many of the greatest lessons and growth opportunities come through challenges.
One of the biggest obstacles early on was simply the leap of faith itself. I left behind a stable career as a police officer, moved away from my family and my hometown of Rochester, New York, and started over in South Florida with a vision and a dream—but no guarantees. Starting a business from scratch in a completely new state was both exciting and intimidating.
Then, just three months after opening my school in 2005, Hurricane Wilma hit South Florida. Like many small business owners, we suddenly faced uncertainty, financial pressure, and the challenge of simply trying to survive. A few years later came the 2008 recession, which affected families financially across the country. Then years later, COVID-19 created another major challenge for small businesses everywhere, especially businesses built around in-person interaction and community.
Through all of those moments, I had to learn resilience, adaptability, and how to keep moving forward even during uncertain times.
Another major challenge was realizing that being passionate about martial arts and being able to teach martial arts well was not enough by itself to build a truly great academy. Early on, I recognized that if I wanted to provide the kind of high-quality program and experience I envisioned for families, I needed to continue growing professionally as a business owner, leader, educator, and communicator.
I was never someone who thought I knew everything. In fact, one of the best decisions I made was acknowledging early on that I still had a lot to learn. I invested heavily in mentorship, personal development, leadership training, marketing education, business systems, and learning from other successful martial arts school owners and entrepreneurs.
Part of that growth journey included becoming a member of Toastmasters International to strengthen my communication and leadership skills. Through Toastmasters, I experienced tremendous personal and professional growth, winning local and district-level speech contests and eventually being voted President of my club. That experience helped me become a more effective communicator, instructor, and mentor.
I also completed several leadership development courses through the John Maxwell organization because I wanted to continue growing as a leader myself in order to better develop young leaders within my academy. Those experiences reinforced my belief that leadership is not just taught—it is modeled through continual growth, humility, and service to others.
That growth mindset helped transform both me and the academy over time. I learned that running a professional martial arts school is about much more than teaching techniques—it’s about leadership, communication, culture, mentorship, and creating an environment where families genuinely feel supported.
Of course, there were also personal challenges along the way. Losing my late wife Cecilia was incredibly difficult. She was a tremendous source of support during much of Quest Martial Arts’ journey and growth. Experiences like that remind you how important faith, family, perseverance, and purpose really are.
We’ve been impressed with Quest Martial Arts Coral Springs , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Quest Martial Arts Coral Springs is much more than a martial arts school—we are a martial arts leadership academy focused on helping children and families grow stronger mentally, emotionally, and physically.
For more than 20 years, we’ve proudly served families in Coral Springs and surrounding communities by using martial arts as a vehicle to teach confidence, discipline, focus, leadership, respect, perseverance, and self-control. While students certainly learn practical self-defense skills and martial arts techniques, our deeper mission is helping young people develop the life skills and mindset needed to succeed both on and off the mat.
One of the things that sets us apart is our emphasis on leadership development and personal growth. We believe martial arts should go beyond physical training. Our programs are designed to help students become better leaders at home, in school, and eventually in life. We work closely with parents to reinforce important character traits such as accountability, responsibility, positive attitude, resilience, and strong communication skills.
Our academy specializes primarily in children’s martial arts and leadership development, although we also work with teens and adults. Many families initially come to us because they want their child to build confidence, improve focus, learn discipline, become more active, or learn self-defense. Over time, they often realize the benefits go much deeper than they expected.
What I’m probably most proud of is the impact we’ve had on families over the years. Watching shy children become confident leaders, seeing students improve academically and socially, and hearing parents tell us how martial arts positively changed their child’s behavior, mindset, and self-esteem is incredibly rewarding.
I’m also proud that we’ve been able to build a long-standing, resilient business that has continued serving the community through major challenges including Hurricane Wilma, the 2008 recession, and COVID-19. After more than two decades, we’re still here growing, evolving, and continuing our mission of making a positive impact.
At our core, Quest Martial Arts is built around one simple idea: helping people become the best version of themselves.
We strive to create an environment where students feel encouraged, challenged, supported, and empowered. We want every child who walks through our doors to leave stronger, more confident, and better prepared for life than when they first started.
For us, martial arts has never just been about punches and kicks—it’s about building future leaders and making a lasting positive difference in our community.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I believe the martial arts industry is going to continue evolving far beyond simply teaching self-defense and physical techniques. Over the next 5–10 years, I think the schools that thrive will be the ones that understand parents are looking for much more than just an extracurricular activity for their children.
Today’s parents are increasingly concerned about issues like confidence, focus, mental health, bullying, excessive screen time, lack of discipline, and social development. Because of that, I believe martial arts schools will continue shifting toward becoming leadership and personal development centers that help children build important life skills in addition to physical ability.
I also believe we’ll continue seeing greater emphasis on mentorship, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and character development. In many ways, martial arts instructors are becoming modern-day mentors and role models for young people, especially at a time when many children are craving structure, accountability, confidence, and positive guidance.
Technology and AI will also continue changing the industry. Families are researching businesses differently than they did even a few years ago. Online reputation, reviews, social media presence, video content, and digital communication are becoming increasingly important. Schools that adapt and embrace technology while still maintaining authentic human connection will have a major advantage.
At the same time, I think the industry will continue becoming more professional overall. Years ago, many martial arts schools operated more informally. Today, successful schools increasingly focus on leadership systems, curriculum development, communication, customer experience, child development, and professional business practices. I believe that trend will continue growing.
Personally, I also think there will be an increased demand for programs that help children develop resilience, confidence, discipline, and strong social skills. Many kids today are growing up in a world filled with distractions, instant gratification, and high levels of anxiety and stress. Martial arts provides something many young people desperately need: structure, accountability, mentorship, goal setting, perseverance, and belief in themselves.
At Quest Martial Arts Coral Springs, we’ve intentionally positioned ourselves around those principles for many years. While we absolutely value the martial arts and self-defense side of training, we also strongly believe our responsibility is to help students become successful leaders in life.
Ultimately, I think the future of the martial arts industry belongs to schools that genuinely focus on transformation—not just teaching techniques, but helping people become stronger, more confident, and more capable human beings.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.questmartialartscoralsprings.com
- Instagram: Instagram – Quest Martial Arts Coral Springs
- Facebook: Facebook – Quest Martial Arts Coral Springs
