Middle & High Schools
An age-appropriate educational program about identity, belonging, choices, asking for help and believing that change is possible.
Youth Motivational Speaker · Original Freedom Writer
A real story for
young people.
Darrius Garrett connects with young people through lived experience, honest conversation and practical hope. His age-appropriate presentations help students—including at-risk youth and young African American males navigating labels, adversity or limited expectations—understand that their circumstances do not have to decide the rest of their story.
ORIGINAL FREEDOM WRITERREAL STORY.
LASTING IMPACT.
LASTING IMPACT.
01 YOUTH & STUDENT AUDIENCES
A message designed to reach young people.
Each program is customized for the students' ages, setting, needs and the outcomes educators, mentors or youth leaders want to create.
At-Risk Youth Programs
A credible message for alternative education, juvenile-justice, intervention and community programs serving young people facing serious obstacles.
Black Male Mentoring Initiatives
An affirming, accountable conversation for African American boys and young men about identity, choices, emotional wellness, education and purpose.
Colleges & Youth Conferences
A flexible keynote or workshop about resilience, personal responsibility, lived experience and turning your voice into meaningful impact.
02 YOUTH SPEAKING TOPICS
Honest encouragement students can use.
Darrius works with each organizer to shape the message around the audience, event goals and time available.
Rewrite Your Story
Students identify the choices, relationships and support systems that can help them move beyond labels, mistakes and difficult circumstances.
Your Voice Has Power
Darrius connects his Freedom Writers experience to literacy, self-expression and the courage to tell the truth about what young people carry.
Mental Health, Healing & Hope
A stigma-reducing message about speaking up, seeking trusted support and understanding that asking for help can be an act of strength.
Choices, Consequences & Purpose
A grounded conversation about accountability, resilience and making decisions that serve the future a young person wants to build.
Why Darrius Garrett
A youth speaker who has lived the message.
Before becoming an author and youth motivational speaker, Darrius Garrett survived homelessness, incarceration and gang involvement as a young Black man in Long Beach, California.
As an original Freedom Writer and New York Times bestselling co-author of The Freedom Writers Diary, Darrius saw how education, honest writing and an adult's belief could change what a student imagined was possible. Today he brings that firsthand perspective to young audiences nationwide.
- Age-appropriate customization
- Stronger conversations about choices and belonging
- Practical hope grounded in lived experience
- A trusted connection to the Freedom Writers story
Speaking and appearance requests
Bring a message of hope to your students.
Share your student ages, school or program, event date, location and the outcomes you want Darrius to support.
Invite Darrius to speak →