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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.
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
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Servant Leadership: The Secret To Life
Designed for any group, this presentation is focused and personalized for audiences who are working to positively change their culture. Before coming in to speak to your group, Damon will learn your most serious issues and address them as part of his presentation. Damon emphasizes the need to become servant leaders in their teams, schools, communities, organizations and families. Additionally, Damon will end with a Call To Action, to be like the coffee bean from his story. At the conclusion of the event, Damon will field questions from the audience on any and all topics he discussed.
*(A PowerPoint presentation can be created upon request, which plays behind him as he speaks to his audience.)
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