Sean Yazbeck
Sean Yazbeck | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 |
| Education | (Southampton Solent University) with first-class honours |
| Occupation | Director of Sales |
| Website | SeanYazbeck.com |
Sean Yazbeck (born 1972 in London, England) is a businessman, actor, and the winner of the fifth season (2006) of the reality show, The Apprentice, where candidates compete in several tasks on a 15-week "job interview" for a position in one of billionaire Donald Trump's companies. He is the first non-American to be selected during the run of The Apprentice.
As winner of The Apprentice, Yazbeck was selected by Donald Trump to oversee development of the 5 star hotel condominium, Trump International Hotel and Tower (SoHo), in New York City’s SoHo district. Since taking over the project in mid-2006, Yazbeck’s role has included overseeing negotiations on all acquisitions and purchases for this $500 million project.
As the national TV and Radio Spokesperson for the Trump Institute, Yazbeck worked with the Trump Institute in 2007 on a project to set-up WAVSYS, a national technical recruitment company. As Founder and CEO, WAVSYS leverages Yazbeck’s 12-years of technical recruitment experience, for which he was awarded the EB1 Green Card for "persons of extraordinary ability" in 2005.
Yazbeck currently lives in New York and keeps a home in Miami Beach, Florida.[1]
Childhood
Yazbeck was born and raised in London, England. His mother is Irish and his father is Lebanese. Yazbeck's secondary education was at William Ellis School, a comprehensive school for boys in Highgate. He later graduated top of his class at Southampton Solent University, with a first-class honours degree in Media with Cultural Studies.
Yazbeck has credited the diversity of cultures in his home town of Camden Town, London with giving him much of the ability to mirror and adapt to differing people and personalities in business, as on the Apprentice [2]
Acting
In addition to his other work, Yazbeck has acted since he was a child and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. It was whilst attending Sylvia Young's Theatre School in London that he made his acting debut at the age of 14 on the BBC soap opera, EastEnders (1985). He later played the lead role in the film Night Shift (2002) which won awards at The Made in Miami Film Festival (2002) and The Palm Beach International Film Festival (2002). His appearance on The Apprentice led to Jeffrey Katzenberg casting Yazbeck in the role of BBQ Barry in the Dreamworks film Over the Hedge.
Since appearing on The Apprentice, Yazbeck has hosted his own show "Reality Trailblazers" on the TV Guide Channel and has appeared on numerous shows such as Miss Universe, MTV Video Music Awards, Live with Regis and Kelly, 1 vs. 100, Soap Talk, Identity and From G's to Gents.
Career
In 2005, Yazbeck was awarded the title of "Person of Extraordinary Ability" by the US government for "international acclaim for extraordinary ability" in technical recruitment.
The "exceptional delivery" of staffing solutions was to the following projects:
Ericsson (1996-2002) USA, UK, Russia, China, Mexico, USA, South Korea, Italy, Puerto Rico, Canada
Nokia (1996-2002) UK, USA, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel Venezuela, Colombia, Ireland
Orange SA (1997-1999) UK, Switzerland
Viag Interkom (Telefónica O2)(1997-1999) Germany
Nortel Networks (1997-2002) USA, Germany, Brazil
Lucent Technologies (1997-2002) USA, UK, Mexico, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan
Sony Mobile R&D (Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications)(1997-1999) Germany
Siemens AG (1998-2002) USA, Germany, Lebanon
Qualcomm (1999-2001) USA, Russia, China, Mexico, USA, South Korea, Brazil
France Telecom Mobile (1998-1999) France, Egypt, Portugal
Motorola (1999-2006) USA, Brazil
Cingular Wireless (2003-2006) USA
T-Mobile (2003-2006) USA
Verizon Wireless (2003-2006) USA
Apprentice Season 5
Yazbeck was unbeaten as Project Manager and was chosen by Donald Trump to be the next Apprentice during the show's live finale in Los Angeles. According to Trump, Sean overwhelmingly won the national vote, the first ever conducted for an Apprentice finale.
In Week 1 (Sam's Club), Yazbeck's salesmanship amazed his teammates. This was an important contribution to the team's win, as the opposing team lost by just 3 memberships.
In many tasks, Yazbeck was hard-working and often involved in late night work. This strategy played a major role in the win for Week 10’s Hair Cuttery event, where a major factor in the win was the attendance of Synergy’s event as compared to that of the opposing team.
In Week 13 (Embassy Suites), Yazbeck's opponent in the finale of the Apprentice, Lee Bienstock, served as the project manager. Bienstock's win in this task was partially attributed to Bienstock heeding Yazbeck’s fashion sense. One of the judges, Ivanka Trump, a former fashion model, stated that even she learned things about fashion from Sean.
In the final task, Yazbeck was chosen to oversee a Barenaked Ladies charity concert, sponsored by Pontiac, to benefit the World Wildlife Fund. The judges felt that his choice of teammates and amount of pre-planning was impressive. In a touch that was appreciated by Trump when contrasted with this opponent's failure to do the same in his task, Yazbeck was able to meet Trump’s helicopter, a difficult feat in the context of the overwhelming nature of these final tasks.
For winning the final task and being "hired" as Trump's Apprentice, Sean chose to oversee the Trump International Hotel and Tower (SoHo), with a starting contract time of one year and a yearly salary exceeding $250,000. He is currently their Director of Sales. He was also given an immediate reward for being hired by Trump--a new Pontiac G6 Hardtop Convertible, mirroring Kendra Todd's reward of a Pontiac Solstice.
Post-Apprentice
In reference to his charity work with Voices for Children, on January 9, 2008 the Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear, bestowed the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel” on Sean Yazbeck “in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to the nation”
On June 20, 2006, the Mayor of Miami Dade County, Carlos Alvarez, proclaimed that day as "Sean Yazbeck Day" in Miami-Dade County.
Since winning The Apprentice, Yazbeck has returned as boardroom judge on The Apprentice 6 (2007) and has hosted his own show "Reality Trailblazers" on the TV Guide Channel. He has also appeared on numerous shows such as Miss Universe (as a judge), Live with Regis and Kelly, 1 vs. 100, Soap Talk, Identity and MTV's From G's to Gents.
He is currently the national TV and Radio Spokesperson for the Trump Institute and he is also a lecturer at the Trump University.
He is also working on building his own company named "Wavsys"
See also
Footnotes
- ^ NBC staff (2006). Candidates:Sean - Bio NBC.com (accessed May 22, 2006).
- ^ Sunday Times (2006). (accessed June 12, 2006)
External links
- The Apprentice 5 candidates
- Living people
- Reality show winners
- 1972 births
- People from London
- British businesspeople
- People from Miami, Florida
- Alumni of Southampton Solent University
- Participants in American reality television series
- British expatriates in the United States
- The Apprentice US contestants
- British people of Lebanese descent
- British people of Irish descent