25-Year-Old Public Speaker Jared Scott is Going Viral

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Scott.

It’s an honor to speak with you today. Why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. How did you get to where you are today?

I started public speaking at the age of 15. I was known as the shy kid to many, but inside I knew I had a voice. Music was the way that I expressed my emotions and I wrote songs about my struggles. My parents were just high school kids when they had me; when they split, it left me with depression, anxiety, insecurities, and emotions that I did not know how to deal with. This led to many mental health issues that took over my life. I felt like nobody would understand me and I was better off alone. I had to put a smile on to make it look like everything was okay. I felt like I was wearing a mask every single day. I also thought that I was the only person that wore that, “mask’, or fake smile that was masking my emotions until I had a friend commit suicide. She was the happy-go-lucky girl that would greet you at the door with a smile; in fact, she was the one who would make you smile. On the outside, it looked like everything was perfect. We never knew she was hurting so we never knew she needed help. I wrote her a song and I started performing it at schools and people would tell me that her song saved their life. After that, it was clear to me that I found my purpose, helping others, and I never looked back.

I’m sure your success has not come easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?

The biggest challenges I have had to overcome are the stigmas attached to mental health. School is a great place to learn a lot of subjects, but mental health is not one of them. Most schools do not teach you how to manage your mind or your emotions. I have spoken in 100s of schools across the country and I know that most schools do not have a proper mental health program. Most schools do not even have a mental health budget so there is no mental health program at all. This is why when I speak at staff meetings or corporate events to adults, people still do not know how to talk about their feelings. For example, just about 2 years ago there was a mass shooting in my hometown. I tried to put together a free event that would provide counseling for those in need. The news stations did not want to cover the event because they said it was, “too soon”, but if you ask me it was too late. Proper mental health awareness is what would help prevent these tragedies. The stigmas surrounding mental health are keeping people silent and that is going to result in irreversible damage if it continues much longer. When the pandemic started, my first thought was, what is the long-term effect going to be on our mental health. Hopefully, people will realize how important mental health is and we can start to turn this whole thing around.

Let’s talk about the work you do. What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the competition?

I think that people decide to work with me because they see how transparent I am and they feel connected to me. When I started this mission, I felt like I didn’t have a good enough story because I was a 15-year-old kid with very little life experience. I did not want to make up stories or pretend to be someone I was not and give people false hope. Instead, I got up on stage and told people the truth. I express my emotions and I am open with thousands of strangers across the country. After my presentations, people run up to me, tell me their stories, and explain to me that my story gave them hope and inspired them to tell theirs. I believe that true hope lies in inspiring others. Our purpose is to lead by example, take off the mask, tell our stories, and inspire other people to do the same thing. Over the past decade, I have encountered thousands of personal stories that have inspired me to keep going. I continue to share these stories on the road with new groups of people and have created a chain reaction of positivity. After 10 years of doing this, it’s starting to feel like we are all connected. My story starts to sound like your story and your story starts to feel like my story; in other words, this is our story. If you ever see me speak then you become a part of the journey.

What’s your best piece of advice for readers who desire to find success in their life?

My advice to anyone reading this is, to tell the truth. True and false are equivalent to Life and Death. Lies always die and the truth will live forever. The truth allows you to be yourself in the most natural form. When you lie you lose a part of yourself because eventually the truth will come out and the lie will die. Many times in my life I have avoided metaphorical “death”, by telling the truth. For example, I was speaking at the salvation army to a group of homeless people. There was a counselor on stage before me that had been homeless before so she was able to relate to the crowd, but that did matter because they were still very rude to her. One gentleman stood up and yelled at her and walked out. I was scared and did not know what to say, so I decided to just tell them the truth. I did not have a crazy story and that if we went around the room, my story would have been the least inspiring. I told them I was going to tell it anyway because I hoped that it would inspire them to tell theirs. If anything was going to change their lives and the lives around them, it would be their story, not mine. That goes for anyone reading this right now, your story is valid, just the way it is. Do not lie to relate, instead tell the truth to transform.

Speaking of success, what does the word mean to you?

Success to me means freedom to be yourself. My main goal, my entire life, is to be able to make a living by simply just being myself. I remember when I was a kid I wanted to be a rapper and people would ask me what my “rap name” was going to be. I thought about it long and hard for many years and eventually came to the conclusion that I would just use my real name because I wanted people to know the real me. Why would I want to become successful pretending to be somebody else? That mindset has been the foundation that I have built my career on. I take pride in being transparent and that to me is what makes me successful no matter what others may say. Thats the beauty of success, it does not matter what anybody else is doing or what anybody else has. To me, success is an individual reality that exist independently in your mind. Your success is separated from the outside world as long as you able to differentiate your goals from the goals of others. Do not let other people’s interpretations of success distort your vision and focus on your own version of success.

What’s next for you?

My long-term goal would be to start a non-profit that would allow public speakers and counselors to visit lower-income schools and communities that do not have a budget for mental health. I started out paying people to let me speak or I would do it for free. Then I finally made some money and now I am at the point where I do not want to ever have to turn down a gig for lack of funds. I have a beautiful wife and a 4-year-old son at home, so the reality is I have to make some money to provide for my family. I was saying yes to every job no matter what the budget was and coming out of pocket to pay for all the travel. As you could imagine, I was losing money on a lot of my speaking gigs and I know that this is the case for a lot of my peers. I am looking for people that want to give back to their communities and are willing to sponsor speakers and counselors to come and make a difference in people’s lives. I am working full time on myself and putting every last dollar I have into my mission and I encourage anyone who wants to get involved to reach out to me.

Finally, how can people connect with you if they want to learn more.

Here is my contact information.
Website – www.jaredscottlive.com
Email – JaredScottLLc@gmail.com
Instagram – @jaredscottlive
Facebook Page – @jaredscottlive or Jared Scott
Youtube – Jared Scott Live