Lecture Explores Empowerment and Resilience

National mental health and motivational speaker Richard Taylor will deliver the lecture, “Taylormade Empowerment: Empowerment and Resilience,” at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8, in Basil 135 at St. John Fisher University.

Taylor, an alumnus of the TRIO-SSS program during his time at Northern Illinois University, will deliver his talk as part of Fisher’s First-Generation Week. His talk is hosted by Fisher’s TRIO-SSS program.

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Taylor has become a highly sought-after speaker who brings an empowering message of victory by creating a unique way to make the conversation of mental health easier and digestible for all of his audiences. He has been recognized for normalizing the conversation and helping people shift from “talking about mental health” to actually “mobilizing in their efforts towards healing and freedom.” His story of overcoming morbid obesity, depression, multiple suicide attempts, failing in college, and domestic abuse have struck a change within people throughout different walks of life. The impact in his interactions with audiences has been life changing and have provided the range for him to reach, impact, and have breakthrough with over 100,000 students.

Taylor is the founder of TaylorMade Empowerment, a parent company that oversees the Richard Taylor Jr. brand and several consulting ventures for corporate clients. He is a respected self-published author of six books (selling over 30,000 copies), and hosts the global podcast, “Between the Dream.” He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and earned a bachelor’s degree in corporate and organizational communication.