CONSULTING/PUBLIC SPEAKING

Beyond being a publishing company, Outside the Box serves as a consulting and lecture service. Both founders have extensive experience working in numerous fields and with a range of populations. Mr. Ross and Mr. Beres are both informative speakers who connect with audiences across the spectrum.

DAX-DEVLON ROSS
Unlike many artist-intellectuals who are often disconnected with the communities with which they purport to speak, Mr. Ross has truly chosen to walk the road less traveled. Since completing law school, and while pursuing his intellectual and artistic endeavors in earnest, he has worked directly with urban youth in a range of capacities. From classroom teacher, to mentor, to basketball coach and inspirational speaker, he has done it all in the last six years. It his guiding belief that his work with people is as important and necessary as his creative and intellectual pursuits. They feed from one another, inform each another, and keep him close to the cutting edge. Thus, when he speaks and writes, it is from a genuinely informed place.

The topics that Mr. Ross speaks on include:

• Minority Youth Education
• Self-Actualization: Thinking and Living Outside the Box
• The Uses and Abuses of the "N" Word
• Independent Media: Music/Publishing/Visual Art
• 20th Century African-American Intellectual Thought
• Sports, Race and Commerce
• 20th Century African-American Literature
• The Craft of Writing

In addition to his lecturing and speaking endeavors, Mr. Ross also conducts self-actualization workshops based off of his first book, Beat of a Different Drum. These workshops can be modified for youth or adult audiences. Also, they have been designed in order to accommodate day long workshop or several week sessions. It all depends on your organization’s needs.

Some of the topics the workshops cover include:

• (Re)defining Success
• Forging One’s Own Path
• Gaining Clarity and Confidence
• Risk Taking
• Translating Ideas into Action
• Exploring the Unknown
• Overcoming Obstacles/ Maintaining Focus

DEREK BERES
Mr. Beres has spent the past 13 years studying world music, philosophy, religion and mythology. He is at the forefront of a new generation of international scholar-practioners who live what they teach on a daily basis. Mr. Beres is an accomplished journalist and consummate culture worker whose unique talents and grass roots sensibility have caught the attenton of some of the finest institutions in the country. At the age of 31, he has already lectured at Harvard University, New York University, the University of Alabama and the Arizona State University. He has appeared as guest on numerous radio programs and has been featured at major conferences, most notably Mythic Journeys in Atlanta, and ABC Carpet Home's groundbreaking Festival of India series. Though Mr. Beres's lectures and workshops cover a broad range of topics, his speciality is integrative disciplines and applications to daily life.

The topics Mr. Beres speaks on include:

• International Music, Traditional and Electronic
• The Affects of Music and Art on Global Culture
• Applicable Uses of World Mythology in Everyday Life
• The Gods of Yoga and Their Influence on America
• Business & Marketing of the International Music Industry
• Surviving and Thriving as an Independent Artist
• The Yoga of Basketball
• Workshops in Yoga and Budokon

REFERENCES

"Dax-Devlon Ross, commencement speaker, told the Booker T. Washington PCS Class of 2006 exactly what they needed to hear before their leaving secondary school for college and the world of work. He spoke to them in the language and reference points of their hip-hop culture and related his life experience as a young writer, world traveler and student of human nature.  The fact that Dax was a risk taker, armed with a voracious love for books, a law degree and a promising future in his professional career, they were more impressed with his courage to instead live his dreams.  They encountered a young man, a few years their senior, who understood the messages in their music and who interpreted the lyrics for them to "shine their light for the world to see."  He told them stories from his most recent book, which gave genuine examples of people who dared to follow their vision to live an authentic life. He enlightened them to the mere fact that 'the road less traveled' was also an option for their dreams to seek."  - Edward Pinkard, Executive Director, Booker T. Washington Public Charter School for Technical Arts

"We presented Dax with the topic for the workshop, Exploring the Impact of Negative Language, and he thoughtfully brainstormed ideas and collaborated with us on the goals for the day. Intertwining his own experience with factual background information, Dax created a forum in which participants felt comfortable sharing their own stories. It is evident that Dax’s strengths are capturing an audience’s attention through his words, and listening and responding based on his wealth of knowledge and personal experience." - Melanie Cohen, Assistant Project Director, ADL's A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE(r) Institute

"Derek's presentations and demonstrations at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, as part of our Creative Campus Initiative, were highly informative - sometimes inspirational - and warmly received by students and faculty. In every instance, at the conclusion, a number of people were engaged in a lively dialogue with him." - William G. Doty, Professor emeritus, The University of Alabama.

"Over the last year Dax Devlon-Ross has become an  invaluable member of our school community.  His work as motivational  speaker, mentor and teacher has provided our students with a  powerful  role model and contributed greatly to their sense of hope and possibility." - Mark Federman