Lead with Impact.
Speak with heart.
Turn events into invitations for elevation.
Welcome to your gateway to impactful storytelling and transformative experiences.
Here, you’ll find everything you need to book Rashad —an award-winning speaker, poet, and storyteller who blends creativity with strategy to inspire, engage, and elevate audiences across industries.
Let’s make your next event unforgettable.
You’re looking for the keynote speaker who truly gets your audience—their struggles, their goals, their challenges.
You want someone who doesn’t just inspire but delivers actionable insights your audience can use the moment they walk out the door. No fluff, no vague ideas—just real-world strategies, relatable examples, and a dose of unforgettable energy.
You need someone who will connect with your audience, make them laugh, make them think, and most importantly, leave them ready to take action.
YES! That’s exactly what I aim to deliver.
My goal isn’t just to show up and speak—it’s to make sure I’m the perfect fit for your event and to craft a keynote experience that’s powerful, engaging, and tailored specifically for your audience.
Together, we’ll make it a moment they’ll never forget.
Most Requested Keynotes
(Custom keynotes are available and popular)
Leadership is Listening
Discover how great leaders build trust, foster connection, and inspire loyalty by mastering the art of active listening. In this interactive keynote, Rashad reveals why openness and vulnerability are the cornerstones of impactful leadership. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to strengthen their teams, improve communication, and lead with genuineness.
The heartbeat of belonging:
Why people seek, why people stay
Explore the human side of employee retention in this impactful keynote. Rashad reveals how empathy, team building, and personal responsibility create a workplace culture where people feel valued and connected. Through engaging stories and actionable strategies, attendees will learn how to foster genuine belonging, build stronger teams, and inspire loyalty that lasts.
Lead with your story!
Crafting Narratives that inspire Career Growth
Unlock the transformative power of personal storytelling in this engaging keynote. Rashad demonstrates how authentic narratives can inspire career growth, motivate teams, and drive success at every level. Attendees will gain practical tools to craft compelling stories that connect, communicate, and lead with impact, turning their personal experiences into powerful leadership assets.
InKNOWvation NOW!
This keynote is about transforming knowledge into actionable innovation.
Rashad explores how to leverage what you know and what you don't to fuel creativity and growth.
Focus Areas:
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Know Your People: Understand team and customer needs deeply.
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Bridge Knowledge Gaps: Proactively identify and fill information gaps.
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Act NOW: Use the knowledge you have to innovate with speed and confidence.
True innovation is about innovating yourself. Using knowledge boldly—understanding, connecting, and acting quickly to create impactful breakthroughs.
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Testimonials
“Rashad was fantastic, his style is unique engaging inspiring and informative.
He tailored his speech to our business while still delivering a thought provoking message.”
Hal Lawton CEO Tractor Supply Company
“Rashad is a charismatic storyteller who has the ability to embed a message and make it entertaining and easy to listen to. Our employees are still talking about Rashad, two months after that presentation.”
Simone Feldman CEO GovPlace
“Rashad didn’t just elevate our vibe, he redefined how we approach storytelling in sales.”
6AM City
“We have two ears and one mouth, in his leadership talk he brought home how important It is to use those proportionally. We are grateful for what he left with our leadership team.”
Juan Williams Commissioner Dept of Human Resources State of TN
“He incorporated things into his talk that happened twenty minutes prior to him going onstage! I’m blown away by all the connections he made to our business.”
Petco
“Rashad is the best at what he does.”
AmeriBen
Bio
SHORTER VERSION
Rashad Rayford , is an award-winning actor, poet, and speaker – he is a MOTH Story hour GRAND Slam Champion.
His work has been featured at TEDx, on NPR, in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and USA Today.
Rashad is the Owner of Elevate Your Vibe, LLC a non traditional speaking company that intuitively blends spoken word poetry, business insights and inspirational speaking to help businesses tell more compelling and concise stories.
Rashad is highly sought after because of his innate ability to customize and transform any crowd in any industry, and Elevate Their Vibe.
LONGER BIO
Rashad Rayford is an award-winning actor, poet, and speaker – He is MOTH Story hour GRAND Slam Champion.
His work has been featured at TEDx, on NPR, in the Wall Street Journal, HuffPo, and USA Today.Rashad is the Owner of Elevate Your Vibe, LLC a non traditional speaking company that intuitively blends spoken word poetry, business talk and inspirational speaking to help businesses tell more compelling and concise stories. Rashad is highly sought after because of his innate ability to transform any crowd in any industry, and Elevate Their Vibe.
Rashad has taken that same drive and attention to detail that he used as a poet and become one of the most sought after speakers in the market.
He has the innate ability to transform any crowd in any industry and Elevate their vibe through his wordplay and high energy talks.
His goal is to engage people with the power of storytelling. He wants businesses to understand how story moves us to action, and makes us more in tune with our own stories and our own authentic voice.
His book Elevate Your Vibe: Ten Ways To Grow You is a self development book that gives the reader ten practical ways to Elevate to their highest self.
Rashad is The MOTH story hour Nashville GRANDslam champion.
His blend of soulful jazz and hip-hop have been captivating audiences for close to 7 years.
He is an 8-time Nashville Industry Music Awards (NIMA) winner and a 3-time SEA nominee (Southern Entertainment Awards) including a nomination for Southern artist of the year for 2018.
Rashad is continuing to make waves for himself.
As an activist he has become one of the go to voices in the artist community.
Rashad is usually backed at shows by the incredible Street Band Clan.
His shows are super energetic and soulful.
His blend of Jazz, Blues, Soul, spoken word and hip-hop is unmatched.
RTP was the first and only hip-hop artist to perform at BNA (Nashville International Airport) and to grace the Musicians Corner stage, he has sold out the City Winery and been involved with shows at TPAC and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. He has also graced the stage with the incredible Nick Cave as a part of his FEAT. series.
Rashad opened the second annual Black Music Honors show, featuring artists such as The Jacksons, Guy, Oleta Adams, Slick Rick and Donnie McClurkin among others.
He has opened for Big Boi of Outkast), Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, Slum Village, P.J. Morton,
Black Milk, Saul Williams, Sho Baraka, Homeboy Sandman, Oddisee, Fantasia, Bilal, Robert Glasper Dwele, Mali Music, Nick Cave- Visual artist and others.
Rashad has given speeches at major corporations and universities.
He caters his speech to whatever the function calls for, he also incorporates his famous 3 word freestyle into his performances.
To date he has 15 albums ( spoken word and hip-hop) and several awards under his belt.
His work earned him the honor of presenting a TED Talk at TEDX Nashville.
He has also curated curriculum on Civil Rights and Spoken Word/Hip-Hop for the Downtown Public Library in Nashville.
He has also lead workshops on Hip-Hop for The National Museum Of African American Music (NMAAM) and is also a mentor for Southern Word, teaching literacy in schools using spoken word.
