Anthony Fiorin

Having spent his formative years in San Francisco, Anthony knew that staying in one place would never be enough to satiate his curiosities about the world. While studying history at San Francisco State University, he'd become fascinated with how history was portrayed and this fascination led him on a journey around the world that has yet to end. In the spirit of the philosophy by which he passionately adheres, he "burned the ships," picked up and moved to Vietnam for two years. There, he honed his skills as a photographer, with a particular focus on portraiture leading him to develop his philanthropic organization Time For Grace, to which he is passionately devoted. While in Vietnam, Anthony traveled extensively, ultimately leading him to Los Angeles where he started his company B&R Holdings, Inc. The success of his company afforded him the ability to devote 3 months a year to travel. Whether going on spiritual quests of sorts: visiting the Killings Fields, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau in hopes of better understanding all he had learned in school or on curiosity quests: to Sumatra, Cuba or to East Timor during Ramadan, for example, his priority is deftly combining these journeys with Time For Grace missions. A true believer that the more he has in life, the greater the duty he has to give back, Time For Grace serves as a vehicle by which Anthony can deliver aid & support to the people he encounters and photographs. He is particularly drawn to countries on the verge of political unrest: his hope being to break down barriers and to inspire others to view the world as a whole, rather than as a division of peoples, each occupying their own cubbyhole. Time For Grace also teams up with other charitable foundations to offer additional support: most recently going on a mission to Ethiopia with the Fayye Foundation and the Awassa Children's Project to lend support and aid to the orphan crisis. Having climbed in the Himalayas, the Argentine Andes (and in training to climb Alaska's Denali, the highest peak in the United States), Anthony's adventure travels and charitable visits total 60 countries thus far. Born into a family of artists, Anthony was essentially pre-destined to live a colorful life. His artistic heritage dates back to the turn of the 20th century: his paternal great-grandfather, Frank Jack Billings, married into the Christensens, long recognized as America's one and only dance dynasty. Their contribution to the ballet in America was generous and lasting: they created the San Francisco Ballet (at its inception, known as San Francisco Opera Ballet) as well as the program out of which Ballet West was formed--both companies considered among the top in the nation. On the other side of the family, were the Billings who have also had a hand on the world of dance for over 60 years: his grandfather, Richard Billings, with his wife, Mary opened the Billings School of Dance in Oregon in 1932. The school is still in existence (though now called Billings Dance Center) and is regarded as the top school in the state, having trained hundreds of thousands of children.