Damon West Featured Diversity & Inclusion Activist; Recovery Expert; Bestselling Author of The Coffee Bean

This presentation is designed for businesses and corporations to realize their full potential and stay ahead of the competition. For maximum effectiveness, Damon will personalize his story with the core values and goals of your business or organization, splicing valuable lessons and life-changing realizations he learned along the way (both in maximum security prison and after he was paroled) with your organization’s story and mission statement. Damon will build a PowerPoint (subject to your approval) to deliver one of the most powerful stories of overcoming adversity against the most extreme odds. The themes of character, grit, goals, determination and winning the day are paramount in this presentation. Additionally, Damon will end with a Call To Action, to be like the coffeebean from his story. At the conclusion of the event, Damon will field questions from the audience on any and all topics he discussed.

In his book, The Change Agent, Damon West delivers a raw account of being very lost in his drug addiction. His own grandmother was living with him (after being displaced from Hurricane Rita). Damon used her credit card to pay for his drugs. Damon's raw account of a woman, his grandmother, who did so much for him; yet, he never took her out to dinner, bought her flowers, or even a new night gown while he was deep in his addiction.

A vulnerable and powerful story that is a cautionary tale of hitting rock-bottom and subsequent redemption. 

Audience: Family members of addicts, and addicts themselves, have gravitated to this story. It allows Damon to be vulnerable on a different level (vulnerability is a strength) and also tell others that if Damon is redeemable after all of that, then so is anyone. 

In this intimate and personal presentation, Damon shares his cautionary tale and message of hope in a brutally honest presentation with a microphone and PowerPoint playing behind him. This event begins with a two-minute video introducing Damon. The PowerPoint is controlled remotely by Damon, highlighting and narrating, with pictures and videos, the life-lessons (good and bad) he learned along the way. Damon takes his audience on an emotional journey from childhood sexual abuse, adolescent addiction and living with ADHD, playing Division 1 football, working in the United States Congress and ultimately working for one of the biggest Wall Street banks, UBS, before being introduced to meth. His nightmare life of meth-addicted crime and receiving the maximum punishment (Life) is vividly described. The survival stories on the life-sentence building inside a Texas maximum security prison and the lessons he learned while incarcerated, which ultimately delivered him into recovery, are spell-binding and riveting. Additionally, Damon will end with a Call To Action, to be like the coffeebean from his story. At the conclusion of the event, Damon will field questions from the audience on any and all topics he discussed.

The book, The Change Agent, was read by GDA Speaker Relations. The Synopsis: The Change Agent is a cautionary tale about an affable and very talented guy, Damon West, who had access to many high-ranking political and sports-related connections to bolster his professional life. This is a memoir of how escapism and addictions can overtake a life to harm everyone involved (Thyself and Others). This is a story about paying the ultimate price by going to prison and coming out truly changed. There is a powerful analogy of being a "coffee bean." Any coffee bean immersed in boiling water is changed for satisfaction and enjoyment. This book is a call to action to be high on life and a higher power instead of artificial substances. 

Through his position in life, Damon offers the students a unique perspective on life-balance, discipline, choices, and the consequences of decisions. Using his collegiate experience as both a student-athlete and a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Damon expands on misguided priorities, drug and alcohol abuse, and the forks-in-the-road he faced. This event begins with a two-minute video introducing Damon and a PowerPoint presentation plays behind him as speaks to his audience. At the conclusion of the event, Damon will field questions from the audience on any and all topics he discussed.

This is a story with our staff titled “Are You A Carrot, Egg or Coffee Bean”.  It is a story about perspective, adversity and how you view the things that are happening in your life. 

Three pots are filled with water.  In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and the last she placed ground coffee beans.

She let them sit and boil without saying a word. 

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting.  However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.  The egg had been fragile.  Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior.  But, after being through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.  The ground coffee beans were unique, however.  After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?  Did I have a fluid spirit, but after death, a break up, a financial hardship, or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?  Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean?  The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain.  When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor.  If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

How do you handle adversity?

ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?