Damon West on Lessons Learned from Prison

Damon West is someone who believes in inside-out transformation. Today, Damon is a college professor who is nationally known keynote speaker and best-selling author. He travels the country sharing his message. But, it wasn’t always as bright for Damon as it is today. At 20 years old, he was a division one starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, when he then suffered a career ending injury, turning to hardcore drugs to cope with the disappointments of his life. After graduation, he worked in the US Congress where he was a national fundraiser on a US presidential campaign. He eventually trained to be a stockbroker for UBS, one of the premier financial institutions in the world. It was at UBS where he was introduced to meth, becoming instantly hooked. While you hear these highs and these bright spots and what society often deems a success, Damon looked the part. And yet, he actually battled demons and battled severe substance abuse. As a result, he impacted lives of many innocent people from choices that he made in order to feed his meth habit. He robbed a lot of people, he became a burglar, and he ran an organized crime ring, ultimately leading to his incarceration. Damon went to jail for 7+ years, but he was actually convicted for 65 years, basically a life-sentence considering the time of his conviction. Damon’s story, in the end, is one of redemption, grit, and determination. In this episode, we discuss Call me MISTER and how it’s changing the world (7:14), what he learned about race while in prison (12:55), race outside of prison (16:33), cancel culture (24:19), being labeled as gifted and talented as a young man and how it both helped and hurt him (28:32), substance abuse (31:19), what allowed him to persevere in prison (35:01), what he does today to make sure he stays clean (37:35), good and evil (42:33), and why he has decided to pour his heart and soul into speaking (49:02). Make sure to check out Damon on both Twitter and Instagram @DamonWest7. Additionally, I would encourage you to check out Damon’s website here. Lastly, Damon’s foundation website can be found here as well. Thank you so much to Damon for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening. -Brian