Matt Bennett

Matt Bennett was born in Compton, California, and as a little boy, he watched helplessly as a stranger shot his father nine times in front of him. As a young man, he and his family were homeless, living in hotels, and, for years, they slept foot to face and ate food out of coolers in order to survive. These raw realities caused Bennett to struggle academically, earning him a 1.28 grade point average. However, he had a “turn the page" moment when he committed himself to improving his grades and his life. With incredibly hard work and the loving help of coaches, teachers, and mentors, Bennett became a first-generation college graduate, obtaining his B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

After graduation, he worked as a college recruiter, and for the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services. On his weekends, he taught life skills and entrepreneurship courses to incarcerated youth and adult students throughout California. In addition to all that, he mentors several formerly system-involved young men.

As a speaker and accomplished hip-hop artist, Bennett has had his music featured on internationally acclaimed shows such as "All American," "New Girl," "The Mindy Project," "Power Book 2: Ghost," "iZombie," "Channel Zero," and "Kingdom," to name a few. He has shared the stage with some of the world's most familiar names. Bennett is also a real estate developer.

Recently, Bennett's younger brother, Iyshun, a loving, hard-working young man, was enjoying himself at his neighbor's barbecue when a stranger walked up and opened fire with an assault rifle on the home. Bullets riddled the home and killed Iyshun. This tragedy has been one of the hardest, most heartbreaking events in Bennett's life. Refusing to be destroyed by depression and despair, he has decided to channel his pain into helping others. With his contagious optimism, unrelenting vigor, and ceaseless determination, Bennett is on a mission to fight darkness with light, despair with hope, and hatred with love. As a mouthpiece for many young people of this generation, he is raising his voice to enlighten, inspire, and empower people all over the globe.