Jay DeMerit
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Vancouver, British Columbia
Professional Soccer Player | Pursuit of Reaching Goals Expert
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- Burnout Prevention
- Nutrition & Fitness
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- Motivation
- Personal Leadership
- Mindset & Goal Accomplishment
JAY DEMERIT BIOGRAPHY
Jay DeMerit is a professional soccer player. Formerly of the USA National team and the former Captain of Watford FC & the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The start of his career was unconventional, to say the least. He was not on any professional league’s radar and took a large risk is going overseas to try out for different clubs. Impressing Lewington during that pre-season friendly between the Hornets and Northwood, DeMerit earned a trial and later a one-year contract at Vicarage Road.
DeMerit spent six seasons with England’s Watford FC, where he served as club captain & scored one of three goals in the 2006 Championship playoff final that saw Watford FC promoted to the English Premier League. Jay was also named man of the match for this game.
Demonstrating leadership qualities with and without the captain’s armband, DeMerit stayed at Watford after relegation and continued a formidable partnership with Danny Shittu in defence. Passion and grit shared by Jay Demerit was appreciated by his teammates making him a much respected athlete.
Following his departure from Vicarage Road in 2010, DeMerit represented the US Men’s National Team at the World Cup in South Africa, topping a group containing England, Slovakia and Algeria. From there, he became captain for Vancouver Whitecaps’ inaugural season in Major League Soccer before retirement in 2014.
Outside of the soccer field, DeMerrit took the lessons he learned and the leadership skills he developed to apply them to his career in business and the media. He owned a high-end Bluetooth stereo speaker business, “Portmanteau Stereo Co,” where he and his partner pitched and successfully made a deal with one of the Dragons.
Then came the product Rokit Logs, which are audiophile speakers handcrafted from recovered acoustic quality soft tone woods. Canadian design company Portmanteau Stereo Co. created stunning speakers called Rockit Log, made out of upcycling abandoned wood. The wood used to create a Rockit Log is sourced from abandoned logging operations in a beautiful valley along British Columbia’s Sea to Sky Corridor, Canada, where logging is widespread, and much waste exists.
Jay DeMerit was a part of three films, “Perfect Addiction”, “Katch-Up (2013)” and “Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story (2011)”. Rise and Shine is a movie about his incredible story of how he triumphed against the odds to make it as a pro Soccer player. DeMerit initially funded the movie with a Kickstarter campaign, and he says he feels a responsibility to pay that generosity forward.
Thus came the foundation of the same name, which he co-founded with his wife, Ashleigh, an Olympic gold medalist in ski cross. Rise and Shine “Captains Camps”, a proven holistic youth program that has been hosted in 5 cities and featured more than 70 professional coaches and inspirational mentors since 2016. The Rise and Shine Foundation not only improves the proposed retreat grounds but to begin a scholarship fund. Hence, underprivileged players from across North America have access to their camps.
Jay DeMerrit embarked on a journey to empower younger generations through a free mobile app he developed in collaboration with Electronic Arts (EA), “Rise+ShineApp”, which was the evolution of his youth retreat. The app helps develop youth through gamification techniques to support youth in their personal and professional lives. The app promotes self-development through a wide range of campaigns to develop creativity, knowledge and life skills to manage challenging situations, better understand their abilities and create habits for success.
In addition to his work with his foundation, he is also an owner/partner of an interactive digital media company called ‘Songwhale’, which is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and part owner of two clothing companies called SECT Wear and Sasha Moon.
Most recently, he made his first foray into the broadcast booth to help with Whitecaps coverage on TSN while the Women’s World Cup was in Canada. A man of many interests, DeMerit enjoys painting and playing bass guitar when not concentrating on his soccer career. Born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, DeMerit attended and completed a degree in industrial design at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
Jay DeMerit Related Content
Jay DeMerit Topic Presentations
Rise & Shine: Pursuit of Reaching Goals
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Jay DeMerit talks about growing up wanting to play soccer in the biggest league in the U.K. and not having the opportunity to. It is not an easy journey for an American-born player to get a contract overseas. Jay had to start from the bottom of the league, sleeping in a friend’s family attic, practicing every day in the courtyards to reach his goals, putting himself out there, showing up everyday and strategic networking to find an opportunity.
Through a journey of taking risks, never giving up on his dreams and being persistent, Jay DeMerit shows how anyone can apply themselves through hard work and grit to make their goals a reality. No matter where you are on your journey, the ability to apply yourself will depend on your mindset. Jay will define the roadmap for success through a resilient and unbreakable mindset that is focused on the steps it takes to achieve anything you put your mind to.
Men Who Take Baths: Locker Room Talk
Rise and Shine: Leading Your Change
Teamwork: the Circle Mentality
Philanthropy
Youth Development
Design Mind: How the Product Designer Became the Product.
Inspire: Rise & Shine: the Jay Demerit Story.
Jay DeMerit Speaking Testimonials
Jay DeMerit Speaker Topic Ideas
Jay DeMerit Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Jay DeMerit Keynote Speaker delivers customized and tailored keynote presentations, workshops, and training sessions on a wide variety of topics. Each presentation is unique and are designed for a variety of audiences, industries, conferences, and event formats.
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How much does it cost to hire Jay DeMerit for a keynote presentation or virtual event?
Jay DeMerit is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada's talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Jay DeMerit speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget.
Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Jay DeMerit to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Jay DeMerit for your event. As Jay DeMerit's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization's behalf to try to help you get in touch with Jay DeMerit and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.
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When SBC receives a request to book Jay DeMerit we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization's event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Jay DeMerit about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker's fees. If you are looking to hire Jay DeMerit, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.