CEO at PRAY.COM

Steve is an American Entrepreneur, NCAA Champion, and the youngest advisor to the President of the United States to be appointed to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. 

Currently, Gatena is the Founder and CEO of PRAY.COM, the world’s #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based mental health content. 

Under his leadership, PRAY.COM has achieved unprecedented heights, becoming the highest-grossing religious app in history and recognized as Los Angeles’ best workplace. The company’s remarkable growth and influence has garnered numerous accolades, including Inc Magazine’s “Best in Business,” Fast Company’s “World Changing Ideas,” and recognition by Inc 5000 as the fastest growing faith-based media company in the US.

Gatena’s entrepreneurial journey began early. At age 22, he founded REP Interactive, which rapidly became America’s fastest-growing video marketing agency. REP Interactive earned over 100 industry awards for its work with global corporations and was recognized as one of America’s best workplaces. Building on this success, Gatena launched VideoFort, Hollywood’s largest stock footage supplier, providing critical content for blockbuster films such as “Transformers” and renowned television series including Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth.”

In 2014, Gatena was honored at the United Nations as an “Entrepreneur of the Year.” Following this, he took the helm at Helinet in 2015, steering the global aerial surveillance and film production leader through challenging times, including the tragic loss of his mentor and business partner, Alan Purwin. This pivotal moment led Gatena to establish PRAY.COM, the digital destination for faith.

Recognized for his leadership, Steve has been awarded Los Angeles Times Executive of the Year, EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, and featured in CSQ Magazine’s 40 Under 40 Visionaries. The Healthcare Technology Report also honored him as one of the top 25 Consumer Health Tech Executives for his groundbreaking collaboration with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, bridging faith and mental health.

At just 34, Gatena was appointed by the 45th President of the United States to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, providing bipartisan guidance on critical economic and cybersecurity issues under both President Trump and President Biden.

Today, Gatena extends his influence through philanthropy, serving as a Board Member for Beyond the Brotherhood, a nonprofit committed to assisting Navy SEALs in their transition to meaningful civilian careers.

“He hadn't smiled in days, terrified of his upcoming 12-hour surgery. 

Then, two Navy SEALs walked into his room.

10-year-old Cody had been in the hospital for weeks, his body broken from a terrible car accident. 

To save his spine, doctors had to put him in a "halo brace," a metal ring bolted to a vest to keep him still. 

It was painful, scary, and he hadn't smiled in days.

He was facing another, even more dangerous 12-hour surgery. 

The night before, his Child Life Specialist, a woman whose job it was to help him cope, asked him what his one biggest wish was. 

"I want to meet a real soldier," he whispered. "A real hero."

That specialist had a brother. 

He was a Navy SEAL.

The next morning, the call went out. 

A SEAL team was in the middle of a 48-hour urban training exercise just miles away. 

When they heard the request, the team leader didn't hesitate. 

"We're going."

Two operators, still in full combat gear, faces covered in camo paint, night-vision goggles flipped up, walked into the pediatric ward. 

The hospital went silent.

They entered Cody's room. 

He'd been crying, but his eyes went wide.

"Hey, Cody," the first SEAL said, his voice gentle. "We heard we had a real fighter in here."

"You're... you're real," Cody whispered, his eyes locked on their gear.

"We sure are," the second SEAL said, smiling. "And we heard you were going into a tough fight today. We wanted to give you this." 

He unclipped a patch from his vest. 

"This is our team patch. We only give it to the toughest guys we know. And you? You're tougher than any of us."

For 10 minutes, Cody wasn't a sick kid. 

He was a new recruit, being visited by his brothers-in-arms.”

Credit - original owner

Steve Gatena

Steve is an American Entrepreneur, NCAA Champion, and the youngest advisor to the President of the United States to be appointed to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Presently, Steve serves as the Founder & CEO of PRAY.COM, the world's #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content.

Prior to becoming an American Entrepreneur, Steve was an NCAA Champion. In college, Gatena played football for the University of Southern California, where he won a Rose Bowl Championship, as well as UC Davis, where he won a Great West Conference Championship.

Steve started his first company, REP Interactive when he was 22. REP Interactive became the fastest-growing video agency in the United States and one of the best workplaces in America, according to Inc Magazine. Steve has won more than one hundred awards for his work in video marketing for global brands.

Steve's second company, VideoFort, was launched in 2012 and quickly became Hollywood's largest stock footage manufacturer supplying companies like Getty, Adobe, and Shutterstock. VideoFort content has been featured in blockbuster movies like Transformers, award-winning TV shows such as Discovery Planet Earth, and various television commercials.

In 2014, Steve was honored as an "Entrepreneur of the Year"​ at the United Nations, in the EMPACT showcase, a program sponsored by Dell and Intel. In 2015, Steve sold his first two businesses and became the CEO of Helinet, a global leader in aerial surveillance systems and film production.

Gatena left Helinet to start PRAY.COM in 2016, shortly after his late mentor and business partner Alan Purwin died in a tragic plane crash outside Medellín, Colombia.

In 2019, Steve was honored with CSQ Magazine's 40 Under 40 Visionary Award, and the following year, PRAY.COM became the highest-grossing subscription media app in religious history. 

In 2021, Steve was named one of the top 25 Consumer Health Tech Executives by the Healthcare Technology Report after working with the US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy at the intersection of faith, mental health, and the covid-19 pandemic. 

In 2022, Steve and the team at PRAY.COM were Awarded honorable mention for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas and “Best in Business” by Inc Magazine.

At 34 years old, the 45th President of the United States appointed Steve as a non-partisan advisor to the White House on economic and cybersecurity matters. Steve had the honor and privilege of serving under both President Trump and President Biden as the youngest member ever appointed to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.

Dan Peck

There was a 12-year-old boy whose temper ran hotter than he could control.

Trying to teach him, his father handed him a bag of nails and said, “Every time you lose your temper, hammer one nail into the fence.”

The boy shrugged… until a few days later when he had hammered 37 nails.

Each strike echoed his anger through the backyard.

But as days passed, something shifted.

The number dropped… twenty… ten… three…

And finally, a day came when he didn’t lose his temper at all.

Proud of himself, he ran to tell his father.

His father smiled and said, “Good. Now, for every day you hold your temper, pull out one nail.”

It took time, but eventually the boy returned and said, “Dad, they’re all gone.”

His father walked him to the fence, pointed, and said:

“You did well. But look at the holes.
These scars will never fully disappear.
That’s what angry words do.
You can say sorry, you can try to fix it but the mark remains.”

The boy stared at the fence.

And in that moment, he understood:
Harsh words don’t just hurt, they scar.

We’ve all heard,
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

But that’s not true.
Broken bones heal.
Words can linger, fester, and keep wounding long after they were spoken.

Scripture reminds us,
“The tongue has the power of life and death.” Proverbs 18:21

Every sentence you speak is a seed.
It grows something, either healing or hurt.

Let your words be grace, not nails.

Today, someone needs encouragement.

Someone needs gentleness.
Someone needs patience.
Someone needs to know you care.

And you have the power to give it.

So before you speak, pause and ask:

“Am I about to leave a scar…
or plant something that heals?”

You can’t remove every nail you’ve hammered in the past.

But you can choose that from this day forward, your words will build, not break.

Choose gentleness.
Choose patience.
Choose words that bless.

No alternative text description for this image

God sees what you don’t.

There was a painting in the Louvre that most visitors walked right past.

Not as famous as the Mona Lisa. Not as grand as The Wedding Feast at Cana. But it carried one of the most powerful lessons you will ever hear.

The painting was called Checkmate.

One man sits at a chessboard, face pale, defeated, trapped.

Across from him sits the devil, smiling in victory.

The message seems clear:
The game is over.
Checkmate.

Or so it looks.

Years ago, a chess grandmaster visited the Louvre while the painting was still on display.

He stopped and studied the board.

Everyone else moved on, but he didn’t.

He kept analyzing every piece, every angle.

Finally, he called out to the guide and said,
“Either modify the painting, or change the title.”

“Why?” the guide asked.

The grandmaster pointed to the board.
“Because the King has one more move.”

Maybe you know that feeling.

Trapped.
Out of options.
Convinced your story has reached the end.

You’ve done everything you know how to do. And defeat feels inevitable.

But just because it looks like the game is over doesn’t mean that it is.

God still has a move left, even when you cannot see it.

Think about Joseph, betrayed by his brothers and forgotten in prison.

Think about Daniel, lowered into a den of lions with no way out.

Think about Lazarus, four days in the tomb while everyone else had already started mourning.

Every one of their stories looked like checkmate.

But the King wasn’t finished.

God was still moving the pieces.

Maybe that’s where you are right now… standing in front of a scene that feels like defeat, convinced your story has ended.

You might not see the move yet.

You might not understand the strategy.

But you can trust the King who is still at the table.

So don’t walk away.
Don’t give up.
Don’t close the story before He’s done writing it.

Because no matter how hopeless the board looks, one truth remains:

The King always has one more move.

“He's on Death Row, waiting for his execution. 

Today, he's in handcuffs at a hospital, about to give a 6-year-old girl the one thing that can save her life...

Marcus hasn't been called by his name in 20 years. 

On Death Row, he's just a number, a man waiting for an execution date. 

The world sees him as a monster, a man who took a life and is now waiting to forfeit his own.

Then there's 6-year-old Maya. 

Her kidneys have failed. For nine months, she's been on the transplant list, her small body growing weaker, with no matches found.

Marcus has one thing left from his old life: a faded, folded picture of his own daughter, who died from a sudden illness when she was Maya's age. 

It was 25 years ago, before his life spiraled into the violence that landed him here.

The prison chaplain, the only man who still talks to him, mentioned the case. 

A public plea for a rare blood type. A little girl at the city hospital, fading fast.

He knew it wouldn't change his sentence. 

He was going to die. 

But he saw a chance. 

Not for parole, not for redemption in the eyes of the law, but to do one right thing before his time ran out. 

To save the little girl he couldn't save all those years ago.

He volunteered to be tested. 

The prison board thought it was a manipulative stunt. 

It wasn't. 

Against all odds, he was a perfect match.

After weeks of legal battles, the donation was approved as his "final act." 

Today, the day before the surgery, they brought him to the hospital. 

He was in his green jumpsuit, hands cuffed, flanked by two armed guards. 

He knelt by her bed. 

Maya, who only knew this man was "her helper," looked at him with wide, grateful eyes.

"I... I want to give him a hug," she whispered to her mom.

The guards tensed. 

"Ma'am, that's not possible," one started to say, his hand moving. 

But Maya, weak as she was, slipped off her bed and walked right up to the kneeling inmate. 

Before the guards could stop her, she wrapped her small arms around his neck.

Marcus, the man who hadn't felt a kind touch in decades, felt his entire world break. 

He closed his eyes, his cuffed hands lifting to gently hold her. 

"You don't gotta thank me, little one," he choked out, his voice thick. 

"Just get better, alright?"

Credit goes to the respective owner

James McQuade

That moment someone told you to “tone it down” … was the moment you realized you were never meant to fit in.

You weren’t born to blend. You were born to burn.

God didn’t give you that fire so you could play small, hide in the shadows, or edit yourself for people too afraid of heat.

He gave it to you to light up rooms that have been dark for way too long.

Matthew 5:14 doesn’t negotiate: “You ARE the light of the world.”
 Not “you might be.” Not “if they let you.” You ARE.

So stop dimming. Stop shrinking. Stop apologizing for the intensity that makes mediocre people uncomfortable.

The traits they called “too much”?
 That’s the exact voltage God wired into you to change lives.

You’re not in the wrong for shining. You’ve just been shining in the wrong rooms.

Find the people who lean in when you turn it up.
 The ones who don’t flinch at your brightness, they celebrate it.

Because in the right room, your light doesn’t blind.
 It feels like sunrise.

Your difference isn’t a glitch. It’s your assignment.

The world already has enough copies.
 It’s starving for the original light only YOU carry.

So turn it up.
 The dark has had its turn long enough.

Stop hiding and start shining.

👇🏻comment AMEN if you agree.

Jacob T.

“In Chandler, Arizona, Doug is a loyal customer at Arby’s restaurant. 

Actually, he’s the most loyal customer they have there. 

Doug is a 97-year-old World War II veteran, and has long loved the famous roast beef sandwiches on which the chain has built its reputation. 

Doug comes in every single day to enjoy a meal with his favorite sandwich. 

He almost always orders a Swiss cheese filled roast beef slider and a Coke with no ice.

All the staff members there have memorized that as his “usual.” 

After quite a while, one of the employees, Travis Coye, wanted to know more about this elderly man, and why he had such a fascination with the food they serve there. 

So he asked him why he keeps coming there; why that location? 

Doug replied, saying: “This is the only place I can get a sandwich or get anything else to eat that doesn’t hurt my stomach.”

Actually, it may be closer to the truth that he likes the sandwich so much that he stopped looking for alternatives. 

Doug lives in a nearby retirement home, but always makes sure to get his daily meal at Arby’s. 

And he has his own favorite table where he enjoys it.

The staff there treats him as much like family as possible and staff members go out of their way to make him comfortable. 

Says the manager there, Christina Gamage: 

“He comes in with a walker, as soon as we see him come to the doors, we try [to] grab the doors for him. He’s gone through a lot being a veteran, coming in, being in a retirement home, but he doesn’t have family.”

Doug is such a loyal customer and really good guy that one day the staff pitched in and got him a $200 gift card. 

He thought at first they were joking, but it was definitely real, and Doug told them: 

“Thank you. I never know if I’ll be here the next day, but thank you so much for this.” 

But what might be even more important than that... at least, more meaningful... is that many of the staffers gave Doug their phone numbers in case he needed anything.

And they all offered to bring him his favorite meal to the retirement home in case he could not make it there. 

Then, after Doug’s story made national news, Arby’s gave him another gift... free food for the rest of his life. 

Now he never has to worry about where his next meal is coming from, giving him more time to make more friendships.”

Credit: Daniel Moloney

taplio

Steve Gatena's Linkedin Analytics

Steve Gatena

Performance ScoreSteve Gatena's LinkedIn Performance

What is Steve talking about?

Steve Gatena's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Steve Gatena's Linkedin Analytics

Steve Gatena

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Steve Gatena's LinkedIn Performance

What is Steve talking about?

Steve Gatena's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Steve Gatena's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreSteve Gatena's LinkedIn Performance

Steve Gatena's Best Posts (last 30 days)