Euphoria by Ricardo de Leao

Ricardo de Leão was born in 1973, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. When he was 3 years old, his family moved to the United States. At the early age, Ricardo became an avid sports enthusiast. He loved to participate in sports as much as he loved watching and following them. Whether it was an ice hockey, judo, swimming, tennis or wrestling, de Leão always strived to be the best. His nature of a fearless leader propelled him to work hard and excel in everything he took on. In fact, his first memory from an early childhood in Brazil involved the very prediction about Ricardo being a natural leader. That happened when his mother took her young son to a spirituality center where Ricardo went through a ritual of cleansing from all the negative energy surrounding the society at that period time. That's where the prediction about Ricardo's inborn leadership was made. Among all the sports he participated in, surfing was his truest passion, the love of his life. It was through surfing and his incredible connection with the ocean and nature that Ricardo started developing his awareness of spirituality and deep connection with nature and people. Ricardo de Leao attributes his ambitious nature and commitment to never quitting or giving up to sports in general and surfing in particular. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in Finance, Ricardo pursued further and went on to obtain an MBA in International Business. After forming a considerable educational portfolio, one of Ricardo's professors urged him to become a management consultant. The career that guaranteed extensive traveling and a great salary. At first, de Leão enjoyed the high life and the travels, but at the same time, he felt something was missing, something he couldn't figure out at the time. After ten years in consulting, a personal and shocking crisis forced Ricardo to change his entire life. He couldn't travel any more, thus, he had to look for a new career path. After meeting the love of his life and marrying her, Ricardo de Leão settled down and turned to property management in South Florida. While working at the ultra-luxury resort in Bal Harbour, under the Ritz-Carlton umbrella, he started thinking about writing. He was initially stunned by the urge because he never thought of writing or dreamt of becoming a writer. At the same time, he felt God himself was whispering to him the importance of this first book. He had to start writing or he was destined to lose his mind. After Ricardo figured out his true passion, everything became clear. His purpose was set. His goal was real. His writing would not only fix himself, but he truly believed through his writing he could help the people of the world find everlasting peace and true love for oneself and others. De Leão conceptually envisioned his novel for over a decade. He had a title and the idea, but the actual writing happened at the hospital bedside, on the night when his daughter Victoria was born. Ever since he started writing, he had never looked back. Today, Ricardo de Leao is a happily married father of two. He enjoys nature, sports and the simplicity of universal constants such as love, truth, joy and spiritual enrichment through kindness and writing. Euphoria is his first novel. It has an auto-biographical nature and through it, Ricardo wants to reveal his life, its ups and downs, and teach the readers some valuable life lessons in acceptance, spirituality and self-awareness.