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Kerry Max Cook

  • "The Definition of Resilience" triumphant after a 47 year journey
  • His story isn't about the legal system that put him there, it's about the hope & resilience that got him out.
  • Author John Grisham said, “If it were fiction, no one would believe it.”
Fee Range*
$10,000 - $12,500
Traveling From
Dallas, Texas

The H.E.A.R.T. of the matter is…. “There are educators, those that can inspire, and then there’s Kerry Max Cook. I had the privilege of reprising Kerry’s role in the New York, off-Broadway play, The Exonerated. His soulful messages of hope and never giving up are awe-inspiring, entertaining, and impossible to forget. Much to learn from

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Kerry’s story helps audiences push through their greatest challenges to re-energize and engage them while finding greater hope, happiness, and motivation.

The real story here isn’t the misconduct that falsely put Kerry in prison, but how he triumphed in a circumstance where “everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”  Speaking from this experience, Kerry connects with audiences.  He has an authentic and honest approach to empower others with ways they can triumph through mental, emotional, relational, or situational challenges.

He reinvented who and what he was, embarking on a journey of personal growth, armed with a mental toolbox of Hope, Empowerment, Assertiveness, Resiliency, and Tenacity – – H.E.A.R.T.   These are the steel spikes Kerry used to scale the steepest mountain imaginable, battling against the worst storms, refusing to stop until reaching the summit.  These are the same ideas that audiences can learn from and use today for their own improvement.

His ineffable story spans losing everything imaginable, four capital murder trials, three convictions, a hung jury, and over two decades on death row.  His 43-year ascension “climbing out” of the deepest circumstances equipped him with the positive message to instill in others to energize them with greater hope no matter the circumstance, to build relationships with love and encouragement, to forgive to achieve more, and to build greater happiness where you are with the motivation to keep going.

“I had the privilege of reprising Kerry’s role in the New York, off-Broadway play, The Exonerated. His soulful messages of hope and never giving up are awe-inspiring, entertaining, and impossible to forget. Much to learn from this man.” -Fisher Stevens, Actor, Director, and Academy Award winning Producer for Best Documentary (Feature) “The Cove”

The Houston Chronicle called Kerry Cook “the most persecuted man in America.” His saga begins at 21-years old when he is sentenced to die.

Author John Grisham said, “If it were fiction, no one would believe it.”

Kerry Cook is a Dallas Morning News best-selling author of Chasing Justice, a top-rated keynote facilitator on the importance of never giving up.

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"No matter what obstacles you face in life, I'm proof it won't define you!"

Kerry Max Cook in Media

Speaker Programs

Persevering with Hope (Disability Audiences)
Mental Fortitude, Hope, Believing in Yourself and not letting the noise around you control the rest of your life, you can find happiness, you can still chase your goals. Without hope, we are devoid of ...more
Mental Fortitude, Hope, Believing in Yourself and not letting the noise around you control the rest of your life, you can find happiness, you can still chase your goals. Without hope, we are devoid of any motivate or will to push through, Kerry will give your audience that. ...less
Student Groups
Facing Peer Pressure, Follow Through, Never Giving Up
Overcoming Fear
Fear is blinding and cripples our natural ability to think. Disarming fear curtails tunnel vision. In this story I speak about how I saw through the fog that was obscuring my proverbial mountaintop once fear ...more
Fear is blinding and cripples our natural ability to think. Disarming fear curtails tunnel vision. In this story I speak about how I saw through the fog that was obscuring my proverbial mountaintop once fear was no longer in control. ...less
Positive Visualization
I didn’t see myself walking into the execution chamber and being put to death. I saw myself walking out of death row innocent. Visualization kept me strong and determined. ...more
I didn’t see myself walking into the execution chamber and being put to death. I saw myself walking out of death row innocent. Visualization kept me strong and determined. ...less
Positive Thought
My body was made up of things I ate, but the mind suffered from the negative things I let in and allowed myself to feel. Things like, “I’ll never be able to do this alone,” ...more
My body was made up of things I ate, but the mind suffered from the negative things I let in and allowed myself to feel. Things like, “I’ll never be able to do this alone,” or “I’m not strong enough.” We aren’t just what we eat, but also what we allow the mind to consume. ...less
Adapt to Stressful Situations
All around me were agents of negativity: the inmates posed a constant threat; the prison guards hated the inmates, and the inmates hated the guards. Lawyers didn’t communicate because I was indigent. I refused to ...more
All around me were agents of negativity: the inmates posed a constant threat; the prison guards hated the inmates, and the inmates hated the guards. Lawyers didn’t communicate because I was indigent. I refused to accept helplessness and hopelessness. I regained my sense of worth by taking control of my life instead of relying on others to do it for me. ...less
Cultivate a Spirit of Tolerance
Bitterness and regret only hurts the person it’s in. Trauma and hardship will touch all of us at one time or another, but the scars of our past can show where we’ve been, but they ...more
Bitterness and regret only hurts the person it’s in. Trauma and hardship will touch all of us at one time or another, but the scars of our past can show where we’ve been, but they don’t have to dictate where we’re going. ...less
Overcoming ourselves
In school I was the “class clown” and an unmotivated ninth grade dropout. I was lazy and depended on my parents to do everything. My biggest enemy was myself. This story is about what I ...more
In school I was the “class clown” and an unmotivated ninth grade dropout. I was lazy and depended on my parents to do everything. My biggest enemy was myself. This story is about what I could achieve by getting out of my own way and taking the charge. ...less
Leadership & Self-Motivation
My three wrongful convictions and over two decades on death row innocent is a paradigm for leadership because it’s about self-empowerment, optimizing. ...more
My three wrongful convictions and over two decades on death row innocent is a paradigm for leadership because it’s about self-empowerment, optimizing. ...less
Hope
without hope there is no drive, no goal, is a wasteland of emptiness inside. I held on to hope and it got me through the darkest of times. ...more
without hope there is no drive, no goal, is a wasteland of emptiness inside. I held on to hope and it got me through the darkest of times. ...less
H.E.A.R.T.
Hope, Empowerment, Assertiveness, Resiliency, and Tenacity are the tools I developed to reach the top of the mountain and walk myself out of Texas death row. After a second 21 year fight on the outside, ...more
Hope, Empowerment, Assertiveness, Resiliency, and Tenacity are the tools I developed to reach the top of the mountain and walk myself out of Texas death row. After a second 21 year fight on the outside, H.E.A.R.T is what got me to the mountaintop of exoneration. ...less

Books

Reviews

“Kerry Max Cook was the highest rated keynote speaker we ever had – scoring perfect 10s in every category for content and take-home value, The best of the best and the Pied Piper of speakers who manages to enrapture our teenagers with his message.”

- Zaf Usman, WPO, Karachi, Pakistan

“…brilliant. When you can get a standing ovation from Wall Street, you know your message is second to none,”

- Tom Dorsey, President, Wright & Associates, an investment advisory firm

Kerry Max Cook tells his harrowing and inspiring story of unflagging determination against astonishing odds, beautifully, honestly, and devoid of sentimentality. You won’t be able to take your eyes off him.

- Bob Balaban, Producer, Director, Actor

“Kerry is powerful, persuasive on a multitude of different levels. Overcoming adversity permeates his very being.

- Actress Brooke Shields

The Houston Young Presidents Gold organization was fortunate to have Kerry Max Cook speak (both in person and virtually) to our chapter in November 2020 chartering his courage and perseverance to gain justice after being wrongly convicted of murder. His presentation had a profound effect on our members as he journeyed through his time incarcerated…

- Michael L. Soper, YPO Gold Houston Chapter Learning Chair 2020-2021

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