Travels from New York, USA
Daymond John's speaking fee falls within range: $50,000 to $75,000
An entrepreneur in every sense of the word, Daymond John has come a long way from taking out a $100,000 mortgage on his mother’s house and moving his business operation into its basement. John is CEO and Founder of FUBU, a much-celebrated global lifestyle brand, and a pioneer in the fashion industry with over $6 billion in product sales world-wide. Former President Barack Obama appointed Daymond John a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) to harness his energy, ideas, and experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs both at home and abroad.
John is an award-winning entrepreneur and has received 100s of awards including the Brand Week Marketer of the Year, Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and was named #2 on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Voices, a list of the top influencers, who are using their voice to help us analyze today’s changing world of work, navigate our industries, and find balance. Most recently, Real Leaders Magazine named Daymond John one of the Top 50 Keynote Speakers in the World, a list of “real teachers — people who speak from experience.”
His marketing strategies and ability to build successful brands has made him a highly influential consultant and motivational speaker today. His marketing firm The Shark Group offers advice on how to effectively communicate to consumers through innovative means and connects brands with the world’s top celebrities for everything from endorsements to product extensions.
John is also an author of 6 best-selling books including his latest New York Times best-seller, The Power of Broke (2016) and Rise and Grind (2018). In 2020, John released his fifth book, Powershift, that walks through his tried-and-true process of how to transform any situation, close any deal and achieve any outcome. John’s most recent book, Little Daymond Learns to Earn (2023) is his first for kids, reached the New York Times and Amazon best-seller list the first week of its release. The book addresses the current void of educating our children about money in a fun and engaging story for parents and kids to connect. John’s mission is to continue challenging the status quo and leave a lasting legacy of inspiring other leaders to do the same..
Finally, John is celebrating his 14th season on ABC TV’s critically acclaimed business reality show Shark Tank by renowned producer Mark Burnett, which has reinvigorated entrepreneurship around the world. Shark Tank has now gone on to win five Emmy® in the US and millions of weekly viewers world-wide tune into the show as John demonstrates his marketing prowess and entrepreneurial insights.
"There are two types of people in the world, there are sharks and those who want to be," opines Daymond John as he explains his view of entrepreneurship as seen through the eyes of one of the “sharks" on Shark Tank. "To be a shark is a mindset–I was a shark at five or six years old."
Daymond John brings his inspiring story of his rise from the streets to becoming a multimillionaire with over $4 billion of global product sales behind him to his keynote speeches.
As the pioneer of the integration of fashion, culture and music, Daymond has remained at the cutting edge of business and marketing strategy. He details the ways in which social media, brand integration and expertise in one’s field can lead to unprecedented success.
Along with a wealth of expert advice for negotiation, productivity, boosting employee morale and sales, Daymond is a living inspiration. His audience can be assured that there is nothing theoretical about the advice they are receiving; it is tried and tested and has been used to establish the success of the most exciting and innovative young entrepreneur in America today.
From humble beginnings to a self-made multimillionaire with over $4 billion to date in global product sales and a starring role on ABC’s newest business reality TV show, Shark Tank, Daymond John is the personification of the American Dream. He continues to set standards of excellence while expanding his interests in fashion, branding, marketing, consulting, entertainment, and beyond. This industry leader, best-selling author, and ground breaking entrepreneurial expert has evolved into a highly sought after business and motivational speaker.
As a dynamic business speaker with over twenty years of hands-on proven business experience, John shares the strategies that continue to bring him financial success. As Founder and CEO, John steered FUBU from a mere concept to a global fashion powerhouse with annual retail sales exceeding $350 million at its peak. Utilizing many of the same tactics commonly used today, John pioneered the art of integrating fashion, culture, and music nearly twenty years ago. From his then unprecedented guerrilla marketing and branding techniques to the continuously innovative ways in which he uses social media, brand integration, and his expertise on pop culture, John remains a cutting edge business strategist.
John teaches audience members how to apply his successful methods to a wide range of businesses today. He shares winning tips for negotiating and negotiating for women, boosting sales, improving employee morale, increasing productivity, and optimizing staff talents. John's pragmatic advice resonates with everyone from students and entry-level employees to small business owners and corporate CEOs. Each will walk away with invaluable tools to incorporate into their professional endeavors.
As a motivational speaker, John's quintessential rags-to-riches success story of sacrifice, hard work, and perseverance as well as the unique and charismatic way he communicates it, will inspire any audience. Much more than a business advisor, John shares his unique goal setting and achieving strategies, which will empower audience members to make positive changes in every aspect of their lives for immediate and long-term success. “The Shark” John, will reveal how you too can live the American Dream.
Sample Keynote Speech Outlines...
Daymond John’s 5 Shark Points: Fundamentals for Success in Business and Life From FUBU to Shark Tank and countless ventures in between, Daymond John’s entrepreneurial journey has spanned more than 25 years. Having gleaned insights from both the successes and failures of his varied career, Daymond has developed this comprehensive lecture which empowers audiences to learn from his experiences and to make changes in all aspects of their lives; not just in business. He believes the keys to success require establishing the right mindset and following very specific set of principles, which he has distilled into five key S.H.A.R.K. points. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, non-profit employee, bank teller or otherwise, this talk has inspired thousands of people around the country reconsider their methods and make positive changes in their lives
Branding & Marketing This informative keynote is like nothing else on the market! Attendees learn—step-by-step—how to brand themselves and transfer that power into their job, company or product. According to this Shark, everyone was branded the day they are born and continuously every second since. In this keynote, John gives audiences in-depth insight into how personal brand affects all aspects of life. Not only will attendees learn the importance of branding, but they will also learn some of the tricks that helped John expand his brand into dozens of countries around the globe, and which can be applied to personal branding, as well as product and concept branding.
Fostering Creativity Now more than ever, corporate leaders recognize that entrepreneurial thinking isn’t just for entrepreneurs. Creativity, resourcefulness, and the ability to think outside the proverbial box are skills that are just as valuable in large corporations as they are in startups. In this keynote, John uses personal examples from his phenomenally successful rags-to-riches journey to explain how he honed his entrepreneurial mindset. More importantly, John teaches audiences how to apply this mindset, which includes what he calls the “Power of Broke” thinking, to achieve goals and objectives.
Diversity: A Good Business Practice In this speech, John suggests that business owners should create teams with members from a variety of backgrounds in order to gain competitive advantage. John says FUBU has been sold in more than 60 countries, and the company has always been filled with diverse employees. He discusses diversity from a social standpoint, as well as from a business perspective, in addition to sharing secrets on the importance of diversity in hiring employees and choosing vendors, manufacturers, partners and teammates.
Negotiating Strategies for Women When California First Lady Maria Shriver called on John to speak about the art of negotiation at her annual women’s conference, he immersed himself in research to find out if there were differences between the way men and women negotiate. In this keynote, John shares what he discovered. According to The Shark, women have several distinct advantages over men when negotiating, but come disadvantages, as well. As John shares specific techniques on how to respond to today's negotiation challenges, attendees will leave feeling empowered and ready to tackle the world. (And John adds, they will have lots of fun in the process.)
SPEAKING.COM: What inspired you to start doing speaking engagements?
JOHN: I was asked to do various speaking engagements and panels when I first started FUBU. I noticed when I spoke at larger corporations, they would take a couple of key things I had said, hire a young African-American or a minority from the mail room and say, “Alright, we’re appointing you to be somebody in the marketing department or somebody else.” Then those people would not necessarily do the best job, so corporate leadership would say, “Well Daymond, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” As a result, I said, “I don’t need to do this anymore” and shied away from speaking for a while.
At a certain point though I decided to write books because I realized that what I had been saying on stage was not being transcribed like it is today and/or I needed to put something down where people understood exactly what I was saying and the methods on how I say you can accomplish this, whether in my world, or in your world.
As I started doing books and promoting them, I went on shows like Donny Deutsch and MSNBC and I saw that there was this need – this audience of everyday people who felt they wanted to make it, and they just needed a little bit of information. People would say, “Thank you for empowering me. I want to become the CEO”, or “I want to move up in my organization” or “I want to think outside the box.”
I then got picked up by Shark Tank because of my work speaking on these panels and TV shows, and that made me realize that there was a much bigger world. I thought of people who want to become entrepreneurs, and be empowered. Likewise, corporations want to empower their people to think outside the box; they don’t want people who are just doing exactly what they say because that doesn’t lead to growth especially when times are changing so quickly.
So, I started getting requests. Once I pivoted my presentation from telling one company how they should brand their product to instead, telling them how they should brand and educate their people, I started to get joy out of it. I started to see the CEOs and CMOs, and people that worked at the companies come to me and tell me how it was working. It was opening up their eyes to how they could empower themselves personally, as well as their employees.
Now, I work on my speaking every single day, because if somebody entrusts me with their message for the most valuable asset in their company – their people – I really have to think about how I deliver that. It’s an honor and a big responsibility, and I love everything about it.
SPEAKING.COM: What are some of the themes and topics you like to address in your presentations?
JOHN: I always wrap it around my story because I never want to insult the professors and experts out there. I tell them why things have worked for me, and then I attach it to what I think are the most important takeaways:
1. You have to set a goal. If you don’t set goals, then you don’t know what direction to go in.
2. Do your homework. Whatever situation you’re in today has happened before. Maybe it has happened in a different way, maybe the technology wasn’t the same, maybe the product wasn’t the same, but it happened. How can you apply that information to what you’re doing?
3. Ask yourself: are you loving what you’re doing? And if you’re not loving what you’re doing, are you loving what the results are and who you’re doing it for? I worked at Red Lobster for five years while I was doing FUBU. I didn’t necessarily love Red Lobster, but I loved the fact that I was able to do FUBU at night, or in the day, while I did Red Lobster at night. I was using that as the base to fuel my company and my company kept growing. I didn’t love being a waiter and serving shrimp to a bunch of strangers, but I did love the fact that I had medical, the ability to pay my mortgage, and I was able to live a decent life without the old entrepreneurial saying, “Burn everything, and just go hard” – a piece of advice that can leave you with absolutely nothing.
4. You have to take personal responsibility for who you are. You may think that, “I work at IBM, and IBM needs to take responsibility,” but actually you need to take even more responsibility now because you are representing IBM. You’re an extension of a bigger brand, and you’re your personal brand as well. At the end of the day, the buck stops at you. Responsibility is something that must be taken, it can’t be given.
5. My story is no different than anybody else’s. Everybody has had a bunch of brick walls in their way. We’ve all fallen, been hurt, been scared, but you just kept swimming. If you take ego and embarrassment out, and you add all these things that have gotten you to where you are today, you’ll realize how powerful of a person you are. You just have to keep swimming, but you have to do so with affordable steps, because I don’t want somebody to hear me, quit their job and run crazy.
Put everything together that I said, and either way – whether you become successful or whether you leave it all on the field and you know you tried your damnedest – you’ll be proud of yourself.
SPEAKING.COM: What types of audiences would most benefit from your message?
JOHN: An audience that’s open for change, only. I’ve spoken to so many people, from HR to everyday entrepreneurs at Chambers of Commerce to large corporations.
I make sure that I customize it for the exact group that I’m speaking to because I put myself in their position, whether I’m speaking to other fellow business owners like myself, who are right in the middle, and they’re pivoting. They don’t know if they’re going to scale or they don’t know if they’re going to close up shop.
Or I’m talking to kids who are in college like when I was a young man, and I didn’t know where I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, and there was so many different pieces of information coming to me.
Or I’m speaking to a corporation like myself and I need to figure out how do I energize my 50 employees to think outside the box, feel like there’s no glass ceiling, bring me all the greatest and brightest ideas, feel like they’re going to partake in the uptick of it and the growth, and more importantly, feel like they’re going to be acknowledged for their contribution.
So I put myself in all those positions.
SPEAKING.COM: Have you had any particularly memorable speaking engagements or unusual situations arise while on the road?
JOHN: About three months ago, I got to the venue and the crowd was about 7,000 people. I had just seen Bohemian Rhapsody, and I was so impressed with the movie, not knowing that much about Queen, even though hearing them from time to time. At the end I started singing “We are the Champions” – “I’ve paid my dues, time after time” – and the crowd, a bunch of entrepreneurs, joined in and we sang the whole song together. It was the largest karaoke that I’ve ever seen. My voice was cracking and so was everybody else’s, but we just had a really good time and it was so improv that I’ll remember it forever.
Lori and Dean Homstad
February 6, 2020
Daymond John spoke at the Gaylord Rockies to our audience of 2200 owners, installers and vendors for Budget Blinds. He was captivating, funny, entertaining and super inspiring. He spoke a mile a minute, melodically as if he was rapping, and we laughed out loud a few times! He clearly was having so much fun and that is so important for a Keynote speaker who knows nothing about your industry, to simple be believable. He had reasearched our industry and knew enough to weave information about our industry into his presentation. He customized his presentation, which is so smart if you want to appeal to your audience. We were also in the Mile High City and he brought an oxygen tank which was very funny too! He knew more about the ins and outs of selling window coverings and running a small business like ours which made him the best speaker we have had so far. He was amazing! His analogies and stories of how he overcame many failures in his life were fascinating and intriguing. He really made us believe in ourselves and that anything was possible. We are in our fifties and have heard many keynote presentations and Daymond John held our interest the complete time. He was speaking amazingly fast and you didn't want to miss a word. It was actually very relaxing, as you are at a convention to learn so many new things and details of your products and how to do better that it was refreshing to not have a pen and notes with Daymond, but to simply sit back and be motivated and entertained! We felt very privileged to be in the same room as a celebrity who is so handsome, successful, talented and humble. Thank you a million times for saying yes to be our Keynote Speaker.
Speaker rating 10/10
“Daymond John was a phenomenal speaker to have at the 2010 Women’s Conference hosted by California Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver. Daymond’s keynote address on how to negotiate effectively at work and at home received overwhelming praise from conference attendees. Daymond John is a fantastic speaker that will be an asset to any event. Daymond is an especially good fit for a business or corporate team, enhancing important communication skills. I give my enthusiastic recommendation for Daymond’s participation in events like these.” – Tamara Torlakson, Program and Speaker Manager, The Women’s Conference
“As the founder and CEO of the Early Stage East Venture Capital Conference, one of the largest on the East Coast, I have had the opportunity to host several keynote speakers since its inception in 1998. Daymond John is clearly one of the best! Daymond has an innate ability and powerful presence that invites every attendee to turn off their cell phones…because they don’t want to miss a word. Each attendee feels Daymond is speaking to them one on one. He infuses lessons, humor, insight and experience into his keynotes unlike anyone else we have hosted. “-David Freschman, Founder & CEO of Early Stage East Venture Capital
“We were thrilled to have Daymond John as a speaker for our Miami VC and Angel Investor conference! He lit up the room…” – Joe Rubin, Director at FundingPost.com, Second Venture Corporation
“It has been quite a week since the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Student Pitch Competition portion of the NY Entrepreneurial Experience (NYEE) event on Monday… Now that the event is behind us, I am proud to report that I have received numerous notes of appreciation from sponsors, participants,…University of Michigan (U-M) alumni and guests all letting me know how much they enjoyed and appreciated what we accomplished together.
I wanted to thank you on behalf of the entire planning committee, the University of Michigan – Center for Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurs Organization of New York (EO-NY) for being there…to moderate the student pitch competition and subsequent panel discussion. It was inspirational to the students to have you with us…all my fellow EO-NY members who participated on the committee have told me how contagious they found the entrepreneurial spirit in the room and you clearly fostered that among the students. You were the perfect choice for our Master of Ceremonies and we appreciate your infectious enthusiasm for your work and your support of entrepreneurs.”-Joshua E. Aaron, President Business Technology Partners, Inc., Planning Committee Member, Entrepreneurs Organization of New York
“The Babson College community is still buzzing about Daymond John! As the #1 school in entrepreneurship education, we expect guest speakers to give us practical and actionable advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur! Daymond John reset the bar! Not only was he smart, funny, warm and engaging, he also challenged the audience to take notes on the keys to his success: S H A R K. and Babson students, faculty and staff all took notes! He even gave the audience a call to action! And many have accepted the call!
In short, Daymond John is an exceptional speaker who instantly captures an audience and leaves the audience wanting more. And perhaps most compelling is what happened after the standing ovation! Daymond John played Shark to 3 students with business ideas. These students competed among their peers to earn an opportunity to pitch to Daymond John! Daymond John was masterful in how he responded to each student’s idea and gave each very practical advice on how to move forward. The winning team will never be the same! I highly recommend Daymond John to be a guest speaker or guest lecturer in any academic institution. He is selfless, caring, intelligent and down-to-earth–a true role model for all students today!” – Elizabeth R. Thornton, Chief Diversity Officer, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship of Babson College
“Because Move The Crowd is an entrepreneurial training company dedicated to helping the next generation Stay True, Get Paid AND Do Good, Daymond was the perfect choice for our launch event. His authentic insights and hard earned wisdom were the perfect match for our audience. Our entrepreneurs left the training thoroughly motivated by his example to achieve their own flavor of success.”Rha Goddess, Founder & CEO
“It is rare in American commerce when you encounter a self-made and self-invented individual such as Daymond John. Aside from his apparent and inspiring success story as well as his keen eye for spotting trends and talent, Daymond brings to bear a personalized style and hard-earned insights that imbue value into his relationships, involvements and initiatives. Beyond those attributes: Daymond is quite frankly just a damned charming guy. I am glad that I have occasion to call him my friend!”
Rob Snyder, Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer of Stream Energy
“Daymond was absolutely awesome!!!! He was dynamic, energetic, and informative! The event ended up being standing room only. People are still talking about the event!! We had to turn away about 70 people.”
Yale University
“Daymond John, the ‘Shark,’ did NOT disappoint! The message was extremely well received and positive feedback has since been flowing in from sponsors and attendees alike. Daymond is a rare commodity with a unique story of success…definitely someone worth paying close attention to.” UFSC Toronto
“Daymond was a huge success. More than a keynote address, he delivered a very unique performance and tied his storytelling into the theme of the event…and more importantly…into the DNA of our client…the reviews are off the charts” Toshiba Connect
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Speaker rating
Comments about seeing this speaker live? (This field not required to submit a star rating.)
Name *
Email *
Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser.
The Brand Within The Brand Within, the second title in “The Shark” Daymond John’s best-selling Display of Power Series of business, motivational and empowerment books aimed at young, would-be entrepreneurs, examines the loyalty relationships companies and celebrities seek to establish with their customers and fans, along with the identifying marks consumers carry when they buy into a brand or lifestyle.
Drawing on his own experiences on the cutting edge of the fashion business, as well as on his hard-won insights developed as a sought-after marketing consultant to global trendsetters and taste-makers, the author maintains that branding relationships have now seeped into every aspect of our lives, and that in order to survive and thrive in the marketplace consumers and aspiring professionals need to understand and nurture those relationships if they mean to get and keep ahead.
Display of Power Display of Power is the first book of the Display of Power Series written by Daymond John. Part autobiography, part blueprint for success, Daymond John puts his experiences out there to show you just what it takes in order to get something bigger out of life. He gets to the heart of his unlikely run to the top of the fashion world, and shines compelling light on what it takes to succeed-from the dizzying street corners of his old neighborhood to the dazzling corner offices of corporate America and what it takes to harness and display the power that resides in us all.
Call us / email us / check availability and fee for your favorite speaker.
