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.
Join Dr. Michelle and Damon as they talk about:
- Damon’s background story and his health journey of letting go of addiction for greater wellbeing.
- Why the world is a pot of boiling water and you have three choices: be a carrot, be an egg, or be a coffee bean and why you should choose to be a coffee bean.
- His childhood and the impact of being sexually abused by his babysitter.
- Takeaways Damon took away from his experience with drugs and going to prison for it.
- Damon and his wife, Kendell's foundation, Be A Coffee Bean.
- The impact of COVID-19 on Damon’s career as a speaker and how he had to work through the struggles of events being canceled.
- Why Damon began to give free presentations during the pandemic to give back to others.
- The differences between racism and prejudice plus what change we can make happen.
- Why Damon and his wife, Kendall, launched the program, Mister Coffee Bean, to help people get back on their feet after prison and teach in schools.
- How their program, Coffee Bean CARES, is financially helping incarcerated parents provide for their children’s extracurricular activities.
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