Derek McCoy

Derek is former collegiate (University of Colorado - Business Marketing BA) and professional football player who turned his focus to social justice after ending his sports career. After spending 4 years as a teacher and coach in the Mapleton Public School District (where he went to elementary-high school), Derek decided to continue navigating through the world of social justice. So, after working in the public school system and self-publishing two books (New Free Life and I'm Not F***ing Lyin-this is News For Love's Intuitive Logic), Derek thought it would be great to expand on his skill set as a public speaker and community activist by joining the team at Project PAVE - a non-profit in Denver specializing in relationship violence intervention and prevention work. Now Derek leads speaking engagements of all sorts, while emphasizing the opportunity we all have to create social justice through healthy expressions of gender identity and empowering relationships, as the Director of Violence Prevention Initiatives at PAVE (www.projectpave.org).