This speaker is hidden and is only visible in a proposal

Featured

Damon West

Inspirational Change Agent, 3x Best Selling Author, Philanthropist and College Professor

Damon West, M.S. Criminal Justice, is a motivational speaker and best-selling co-author (with motivational speaker Jon Gordon) of The Coffee Bean: A simple Lesson to Create Positive Change. His first book was, The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World. 

Request Availability

Bio

Sentenced to sixty-five years in a Texas prison, Damon West once had it all.

Damon West, M.S. Criminal Justice, is a college professor, nationally known keynote speaker and best-selling author (with best-selling author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon) of The Coffee Bean: A simple Lesson to Create Positive Change. His first book and autobiography, The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World, was published just three years after his release from a Texas maximum-security prison.

At 20 years old, he was a Division 1 starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, when he suffered a career ending injury. He turned to hard core drugs to cope with disappointments of life. After graduation, he worked in the United States Congress, was a national fundraiser on a U.S. Presidential campaign and eventually trained to be a stock- broker for United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). One day at UBS, he was introduced to methamphetamines; he became instantly hooked—and the lives of so many innocent people would forever be changed by the choices he made in order to feed his insatiable meth habit.

After a fateful discussion during his incarceration with a seasoned convict, Damon had a spiritual awakening. He learned that, like a coffee bean changing with the application of heat and pressure, he was capable of changing the environment around him. Armed with a program of recovery, a renewed faith, and a miraculous second chance at life, Damon emerged from over seven years of prison a changed man. His story of redemption, grit and determination continues to inspire audiences today.

Today, Damon lives a life of recovery and service, going to meetings and sharing his story all over the country with schools, church's, athletic teams, corporations, conferences and inside correctional facilities. Over the past few years, he has been sharing the Coffee Bean lesson with dozens of college football teams such as Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas, and countless schools and businesses. His #BeACoffeeBean message has inspired thousands from Walmart to the US Army to the NBA.

Damon’s story has been featured both nationally and globally. His second book, The Coffee Bean, co-authored with best-selling author Jon Gordon, became an instant best-seller and a part of Forbes’ “Top Twenty Books You Need to Read to Crush 2020.” Damon is passionate about the Coffee Bean message and loves sharing how it changed his life and how it can change yours, too.

His latest book (with coauthor, Jon Gordon), The Coffee Bean for Kids, is the genesis for Coffee Bean Clubs being started by students at schools all over America.

Keynotes

Featured Keynote

  • Overcoming Adversity: The Damon West Story
  • Core Values of Your Team: Inspire to Your Full Potential
  • Convocations

People Magazine: Former 'Uptown Burglar' Damon West Found Redemption in Prison — and Became a Family Man Helping Others

The author and speaker — a former meth addict who was sentenced to 65 years in a Texas prison — is now determined to help inmates and their families.

The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change by Jon Gordan and Damon West

Jon Gordon and Damon West offer up a fable that provides lessons on how to live a happy, impactful life — and help others do the same. It's a quick, light read that you'll want to reference time and time again.

A Story of Redemption

The golf channel hightlights Damon.

Former University of North Texas quarterback is the Uptown Burglar

Mastermind of 2007-08 Uptown burglaries, out on parole, loses appeal for lighter sentence

How UNT quarterback Damon West became resilient like a coffee bean in prison

In the 1990s, Damon West was the star quarterback for the University of North Texas. As the decade closed, he was working in politics in Washington, D.C. In the early 2000s, he was training to be a stockbroker in Dallas.

  • 2022 The Locker Room: How Great Teams Heal Hurt, Overcome Adversity, and Build Unity
  • 2020 The Coffee Bean for Kids: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change
  • 2019 The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World
  • 2019 The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change
test

Similar Speakers

Featured
Kristina Wandzilak and Constance Curry

Mother-Daughter Duo; Addiction Recovery Specialists; Authors of "The Lost Years"

JJ Birden

Former NFL Pro & Motivational Keynote Speaker

Featured
Gian Paul Gonzalez

Youth Education & Wellness Expert; Founder & Director of Hope + Future Foundation

Jon Gordon

Bestselling Author of The Power of Positive Leadership

Let's find your perfect speaker!

Share your vision and let us curate the voices that bring it to life.

Get In Touch