I’m Paul Mascetta — communication strategist, persuasion expert, and the founder of Influence Academy.

I’m Paul Mascetta — communication strategist, persuasion expert, and the founder of Influence Academy.

For two decades, I’ve studied what actually moves people — in sales conversations, on stages, in negotiation rooms, and on the mats of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy where I drill and teach. The principle that runs through all of it: leverage beats force. The right pressure applied to the right point gets you the outcome you want without a fight. That’s how grappling works. It’s also how persuasion works.

What started as personal curiosity became a 20-year deep dive into NLP, hypnotic language, behavioral psychology, vocal command, story architecture, framing, and the practical mechanics of getting a yes when the stakes are real. I’ve worked with executives, coaches, consultants, sales teams, founders, speakers, and creators — all of whom hit the same wall: they have something valuable to say, and the message isn’t landing.

That’s the problem Influence Academy was built to solve. Over 10,000 students have come through the platform. The work has been endorsed by Dr. Joe Vitale (star of The Secret) and by students who’ve used it to close more deals, command more authority, and rebuild careers and businesses on the back of better communication.

Outside of the work, I’m a Christian, a husband, and a father — in that order. My faith is the foundation everything else gets built on; it’s the standard I try to teach, lead, and write from. I drill and teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I write copy. I build digital offers. I record training in my home studio because I’d rather show up in front of a camera than ghostwrite a polished version of myself someone else would deliver. Everything I teach has been pressure-tested in my own businesses and life first — I don’t teach the theory of influence, I teach what continues to work in 2026.