The Story
Meet Brandon.
Brandon DesJarlais is a keynote speaker, professional longboard skater, podcast host, and founder of Beyond the Board. His work helps people move through fear, build confidence, and take courageous action before they feel fully ready.
Known for turning fear into forward motion, Brandon has built a life and career at the intersection of skateboarding, storytelling, and human connection. His path has taken him from downhill skateboard racing and stunt doubling for Vin Diesel in xXx: Return of Xander Cage to competing in 15+ countries and leading 100s of community activations across the United States.
Through his keynote, Finding Fearless, Brandon helps audiences build a new relationship with fear, one rooted in clarity, calculation, composure, and courage. Whether he is speaking on stage, hosting honest conversations on the Keep Pushing podcast, or creating spaces for people to feel more connected through his non-profit, Beyond the Board, his work is rooted in one belief:
A more courageous life opens the door to deeper connection, greater purpose, and meaningful impact.
Origin
Where the message began.
Brandon's work around fear did not start on a stage. It started in real life.
Growing up around instability, addiction, anger, and uncertainty, fear became something Brandon knew intimately. He learned what it felt like to shrink, stay quiet, and constantly scan the room for what might go wrong.
Then he found longboarding.
Skating gave him a way to move through fear instead of being trapped by it. Downhill racing, in particular, became a brutal but honest teacher. At high speed, fear could not be ignored. It had to be understood. Brandon had to learn how to stay clear, calculate risk, regulate pressure, and act with courage before he ever felt fully ready.
Over time, those lessons became bigger than skateboarding.
Through travel, coaching, community-building, and founding Beyond the Board, Brandon realized that courage is not only about doing scary things. It is about telling the truth, trusting yourself, asking for support, and creating spaces where people feel less alone in the process.
That is the heart of Finding Fearless. It is not about pretending fear does not exist. It is about learning how to move with fear in a way that creates confidence, connection, and forward motion.
Selected Highlights
A few chapters.
From a life built around movement, courage, and connection. Brandon's work has taken shape across skating, storytelling, media, nonprofit leadership, and live community experiences. What connects it all is a commitment to helping people move through fear, build confidence, and feel more connected to themselves and each other.
- Professional longboard skater across downhill racing, dancing, freestyle, and pump track racing
- Stunt doubled for Vin Diesel in xXx: Return of Xander Cage
- Featured by name in a global Facebook commercial aired during the Tokyo Olympics
- Founder of Beyond the Board, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit using longboarding for confidence and connection
- Led 400+ community activations across 65+ cities through Beyond the Board
From personal courage to collective courage.
From personal courage to collective courage.
Brandon founded Beyond the Board to use skateboarding as a tool for confidence, connection, and community.
Since building the Shred Sled bus in 2021, Beyond the Board has created 400+ community activations. What started as a skate project became something much deeper: a way to help people feel brave enough to try, supported enough to keep going, and connected enough to grow. That belief now shapes Brandon's work on stage.
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The Keynote
Why Finding Fearless exists.
A keynote born from high-speed fear, hard-earned self-trust, and the belief that courage can be practiced.
For years, Brandon thought fear was something to beat.
Through downhill racing, travel, performance, and public life, he learned how to push through fear physically. But over time, his understanding of courage changed. The scariest moments were not always on a skateboard.
Sometimes courage looked like telling the truth. Asking for help. Starting over. Letting people see the messy parts. Leading when he felt unsure. Choosing to move forward before confidence had fully arrived.
That realization became Finding Fearless, Brandon's signature keynote — helping audiences understand fear, regulate it, and move with it.
01
Clarity
Know what matters and what fear is pointing toward.
02
Calculation
Assess risk honestly, prepare wisely, and separate real danger from discomfort.
03
Composure
Stay steady when pressure rises.
04
Courage
Take aligned action before certainty arrives.
Finding Fearless is not about pretending fear does not exist. It is about refusing to let fear make every decision.
Keep Pushing Podcast
Honest conversations.
Brandon hosts Keep Pushing, a podcast about courage, resilience, reinvention, and personal growth.
Through honest conversations with athletes, creators, leaders, fathers, and people rebuilding their lives, the show explores the same themes behind Finding Fearless: fear, vulnerability, identity, leadership, purpose, and the courage to keep moving forward.
The podcast gives audiences a deeper way to connect with Brandon's message before or after an event.
Bring the message to your audience
If your audience is navigating fear, change, or the need for renewed momentum.
Finding Fearless helps people stop waiting for fear to disappear and start moving forward with more clarity, composure, and courage.