Available to book
Justin Pickens
Transform educational outcomes with Justin Pickens, speaker and educational catalyst. Justin works with teachers to reignite classroom passion, build student resilience, and implement evidence-based teaching methodologies, delivering impactful strategies from 13 years of teaching experience.
Justin Pickens transforms educational outcomes by helping teachers rediscover their purpose and impact. With 13 years of experience as a teacher and coach, Justin overcame significant childhood challenges that could have led to incarceration or addiction, instead channeling those experiences into his work as an educational catalyst.
After briefly exploring opportunities outside education, Justin returned to his true calling with renewed focus. He has dedicated his career to equipping educators who face burnout and diminishing motivation in today's challenging educational landscape.
Justin specializes in helping teachers reconnect with their original passion for education while providing practical strategies to create positive generational change. His approach combines personal resilience techniques with evidence-based teaching methodologies that address modern classroom challenges, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Justin works humor into his speeches to make educators laugh, cry and leave encouraged. Audiences leave with concrete tools to reignite their educational purpose, practical methods to connect meaningfully with challenging students, and renewed confidence in their ability to create lasting positive impact beyond the classroom.
Book Justin to transform your educational team from merely surviving to genuinely thriving while creating ripple effects that will benefit generations to come.
Topics, sessions and talks
In this insightful talk, Justin Pickens explores the profound effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and emphasizes the crucial role educators and caring adults play as agents of change. By sharing real-life stories and practical strategies, he illustrates how simple, everyday actions can disrupt generational cycles and foster positive transformations in students' lives. Attendees will learn effective ways to support children and create lasting impacts in their communities.
In his engaging talk, Justin Pickens shares seven leadership principles designed to inspire young people to transition from apathy to action. By blending personal anecdotes with timeless truths, he provides valuable insights for middle school, high school, and college students, as well as adults working with youth. This energizing presentation is ideal for student leadership programs, athletic teams, and youth groups. Attendees will learn actionable strategies to equip the next generation with purpose and clarity.
In his engaging talk, Justin Pickens addresses the emptiness that can accompany success. He shares his journey from education to finance and fast food, detailing the identity crisis he faced along the way. Justin's insights resonate with business professionals, educators, and faith-based groups who are grappling with career transitions, burnout, or seeking deeper purpose. Attendees will learn how to navigate their own paths to fulfillment and rediscover their true calling.
Justin Pickens delivers a student-centered talk that inspires hope through impactful storytelling and the memorable "Hope Rat" experiment. Attendees will gain a deeper sense of purpose, practical mindset tools, and the understanding that hope transcends mere emotion—it serves as a strategic approach to overcoming challenges and creating a brighter future. Participants will leave confident and equipped to harness hope as a vital resource in their lives.
Drawing from his remarkable journey from childhood adversity to educational excellence, Justin Pickens equips teachers with practical strategies to reconnect with their purpose, overcome burnout, and create lasting impact for students from all backgrounds. Book Justin today to transform your educational team from merely surviving to genuinely thriving while creating positive ripple effects for generations to come.
Testimonials
often considered together
Nicola S Morgan
Effective Leadership
Dealing With Pressure
Behavioural Science
Kenneth Mims
Neurodiversity
Diversity and Inclusion
Mental Health
Justine Greening
Politics
Social Mobility
Purpose
frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Justin Pickens structures his sessions around personal narrative, drawing on his own adverse childhood experiences and career transitions to illustrate each principle or strategy before connecting it to a practical takeaway for the audience.
Justin Pickens speaks on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in education, youth leadership principles, and career identity and purpose. He draws on 13 years as a teacher and coach, alongside lived experience of childhood adversity, and is the founder of the Thrive with Five educator framework.
No, PepTalk doesn't charge a booking fee. You pay the speaker's fee plus any travel and expenses, which PepTalk confirms upfront in your quote. The shortlist, contracting and event-day logistics are included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
PepTalk sends a shortlist of matched speakers within 24 hours, each with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. The more you share about your date, audience, format, objectives and budget, the closer the match. Once you choose, PepTalk handles the contract, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range on a PepTalk speaker profile is a guide to what that speaker usually costs for an in-person event in their home market, shown in their local currency. The final fee depends on format, location, date and session length. Virtual and shorter sessions usually cost less, and international travel and peak dates cost more. PepTalk confirms the exact fee in your currency once it has your brief.
No. PepTalk represents 15,000+ speakers, hosts, comedians and entertainers, some booked directly and others through their agents and agencies worldwide. The process is the same for all of them: PepTalk checks availability, negotiates the fee and manages the contract and logistics.
Book a speaker three to six months before your event. Allow 12 months for large conferences, peak-season dates or a specific in-demand name. PepTalk also fills last-minute and replacement bookings, often within days, so get in touch as soon as you have a date, even at short notice.
