Derek stands 6 foot, 5 inches and has a voice resonating with a singular passion due to a life of coping with adversity and overcoming hardship. Stemming from his childhood experience of parental abandonment, and his troubled youth navigating the pitfalls of the foster care system, his years have been colored by extremes of humility, humiliation, aggression, emotional distress and overwhelming anxiety. At five years old his mother and stepfather turned him over to the county social services, and he has never known his real father. As a foster child, he was disturbed and erratic. Having suffered unthinkable child abuse, he was prone to severe distress and crippling depression. He has been “labeled and misdiagnosed” in almost every psychological evaluation in existence, by psychiatrists who might better have sympathized with him. And yet, the dire circumstances of his life have never been obstacles to him succeeding at those endeavors which he has aspired to. Being a 6 year old child diagnosed with mental retardation and having numerous emotional and language difficulties, foster care authorities considered placing him in a psychiatric institution unless a suitable home was found, with adults able to cope with his special needs. He has defied the artificial limitations imposed upon him by the demeaning diagnoses that parents, adults, doctors, psychologists, speech therapists, and social workers used to mislabel him. It is with deep, unwavering gratitude for the remarkable dedication and love given him by his last foster parents that he can today serve as a proud example for his own children. The labels and misdiagnosis have never held Derek back from accomplishing what he set his heart and mind to. Derek is the author of his critically acclaimed and award winning book “I Will Never Give Up”, an inspiring motivational speaker, a business man and a dad. He has experienced the life of fear, rejection, wrongly labeled and being unloved. He has turned his situation from a victim to a victor, equipping him with the wisdom and the will to never give up. He unleashes his creative and fun-loving personality in a never-ending effort to ignite passion in others and instill the courage to take action. His maxim is to make no excuses and become what you want to become. Attend one of his events, and not only will you be inspired by the words he speaks, but the music he both writes and performs. It is a concert meant to embolden, enliven, and invigorate.