Anthony Owens served 20 years on active duty in the United States Navy, earning numerous military decorations, commendations, and awards throughout his distinguished career.

Following his military retirement, Owens spent 10 years with a major defense contractor, serving as a Lead Network Engineer and Technical Trainer at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia. For more than 15 years, he has served with the federal government as an Information Technology Specialist (Network), a position he continues to hold today.

Owens holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a master’s degree in Business with a concentration in Information Security from Saint Leo University.

Born in Dawson, Georgia, and raised largely in Brooklyn, New York, Owens endured a tumultuous childhood marked by poverty, fatherlessness, bullying, and adversity while being raised by a single mother. Drawing inspiration from those experiences, he turned to writing to share stories of resilience, perseverance, fatherhood, and the power of choice.

His acclaimed memoir, Syrup Sandwiches: Choose Not to Give Up!, chronicles his journey from the hardships of his childhood in Brooklyn to a 20-year U.S. Navy career, higher education, fatherhood, and professional success. The memoir received the 2026 Africa Laureate Award for Best Biography Book, was named #1 BIPOC Book of the Year at the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and received an International Impact Book Award.

His book Fatherhood Matters! is also an International Impact Book Award winner. Owens’s other published works include the novels Reasons and Reasons II: The Aftermath; the short-story collection The Day We Forgot to Smile; the children’s book Raw Power and its companion, Raw Power Coloring Book; and the Syrup Sandwiches: Choose Not to Give Up! Workbook.

His newest memoir, Syrup Sandwiches: The Man I Chose to Become, continues his story beyond survival, reflecting on the husband, father, grandfather, veteran, and man he chose to become.

Through his books, speaking engagements, and community involvement, Owens shares a message shaped by his own journey: Your circumstances do not define your future—your choices do.