Meet Our Team

Antonio Fernandez
Founder

Antonio Fernandez was the leader of the New York chapter of the Almighty Latin Kings. He has worked directly with organizations and government agencies in Washington, DC, New Jersey, New York City, Spain, and Ecuador to redirect their energies toward community building. Antonio uses his life story as both a cautionary tale and a message about self-transformation.

Tone has facilitated workshops for probation departments, schools, and communities to help them better serve young people. Antonio hopes Grow Up Grow Out (GUGO) will lead young people to find new paths towards social, personal growth and transformation.

GUGO's Credible Messengers lead by example. They share their life narratives to provide youth and families manifestations of transformation. Our goal is to help empower youth to live constructive lifestyles and reduce trauma.

Landon Starkey has always been very interested in the world around him and has spent several years exploring ways to help people overcome various challenges in their lives. He has valuable experience working directly with disadvantaged communities and discovered his passion while serving court-involved youth in New York City's five boroughs.

Following his time in New York, Landon's desire to help rebuild communities and change lives brought him to Washington, DC, where he took a college internship with the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). There he met Antonio Fernandez, the founder of Grow Up Grow Out (GUGO) and a key youth service provider to DYRS. Landon joined GUGO and quickly rose to the position of Program Director.

Landon continues to distinguish GUGO as a leading provider of support and guidance to court-involved youth, families, and communities.