Meet Matt
Speaker, husband, and an accomplished hip-hop artist
Past appearances
- Inaguarl iNspire Teachers Banquet - Coca Cola
- 20th Annual INSSWA Fall Conference
- 15th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Scholarship Breakfast
- OHCYCF & NACYOF Victims Assembly-CDCR
- 9th Annual ICHA Hispanic Youth Summit
- 7th Annual Jobs for Michigan's Graduates Career Development Conference
- 23rd Annual Children's Behavioral Health Conference-Oklahoma Department of Mental Health
Music featured on
The Mindy Project
New Girl
All American
Kingdom
Power Book 2: Ghost
Matt was born in Compton, California, and as a little boy, he watched helplessly as a stranger shot his father nine times in front of him. As a young man, he and his family were homeless, living in hotels, and, for years, they slept foot to face, and ate food out of coolers in order to survive. These raw realities caused Matt to struggle academically, earning him a 1.28 grade point average. However, Matt had a “turn the page" moment when he committed himself to improve his grades and his life. With incredibly hard work, and the loving help of coaches, teachers, and mentors, Matt became a first generation college graduate, obtaining his B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. After graduation, he worked as a college recruiter, and for the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services. On his weekends, he taught life-skills and entrepreneurship courses to incarcerated youth and adult students throughout California. In addition to all that, he mentors several formerly system involved young men. As a speaker and accomplished hip-hop artist, Matt has had his music featured on internationally acclaimed shows such as All American, New Girl, The Mindy Project, Power Book 2: Ghost, iZombie, Channel Zero, and Kingdom to name a few. He has shared the stage with some of the world's most familiar names. Matt is also a real estate developer. Recently, Matt's younger brother, Iyshun, a loving, hard-working young man, was enjoying himself at his neighbor's barbecue when a stranger walked up and opened fire with an assault rifle on the home. Bullets riddled the home and killed Iyshun. This tragedy has been one of the hardest, most heartbreaking events in Matt's life. Refusing to be destroyed by depression and despair, Matt has decided to channel his pain into helping others. With his contagious optimism, unrelenting vigor, and ceaseless determination, Matt is on a mission to fight darkness with light, despair with hope, and hatred with love. As a mouthpiece for many young people of this generation, Matt is raising his voice to enlighten, inspire, and empower people all over the globe. If you have young people in your school or group who are underperforming, settling for mediocrity, or living beneath their potential, Matt Bennett is your guy.
