Shawn Forbes
Author · Speaker · Identity Architect

Remember who you were before the world told you who to be.

Shawn Forbes helps leaders and organizations reconnect with their authentic identity, break reactive patterns, and build cultures rooted in values, not survival.

Shawn Forbes — Author, Speaker, Coach
Trusted By & In Collaboration With
NAMI
Mental Health Advocacy
Just In Time
Foster Youth
King's College London
Research Collaboration
Combat Veteran, U.S. Army NLP Certified Practitioner Neuroscience Certified Coach
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Real power comes from presence, not proving.

Shawn Forbes

You are not broken. There is just a part of you that still has more to say.

From The People We Meet

The goal isn't to fix yourself. It's to finally meet yourself.

Shawn Forbes

Demo Reel — Coming Soon
See Shawn Speak

Raw stories.
Real tools. Lasting change.

Shawn doesn't perform inspiration. He gives audiences a framework they can use the next morning. Every keynote blends cinematic storytelling with neuroscience-informed tools.

45–60 min Signature Keynote
Half day Leadership Workshop
20 min Conference Breakout
10 min TEDx / Gala
Identity is your hardest-working asset.

When identity is aligned with authentic values, everything shifts. Decision-making sharpens. Relationships deepen. Performance becomes sustainable instead of survival-driven.

Shawn's work sits at this intersection — helping people and organizations rebuild from the inside out, using tools rooted in NLP, neuroscience, and psychological flexibility research.

About Shawn

Where you start doesn't define where you finish.

Shawn Forbes
Combat Veteran, U.S. Army — Iraq Certified NLP Practitioner Neuroscience Certified Coach

Shawn Forbes entered the foster care system at age 7. By 25, he had served as a combat soldier in Iraq, battled addiction, and spent two years in prison. By every conventional measure, the story should have ended there.

It didn't. Through a relentless commitment to understanding how identity forms, breaks, and rebuilds, Shawn discovered the tools that would reshape everything: NLP, parts work, neuroscience-informed coaching, and the quiet discipline of values-aligned action.

Being the light means embodying your truest self so others feel safe to open up.

Today, he is the author of The People We Meet, the creator of the Upward Spiral app (built in research partnership with King's College London), and a certified NLP Practitioner and Neuroscience Certified Coach.

His audiences don't just feel motivated. They leave with a framework for identity reconstruction that creates lasting, measurable change.

What People Say

The impact speaks for itself.

Testimonials from coaching clients and event attendees. Full names available upon request.

Speaking

Keynotes that move people to move.

Each talk is built on lived experience, backed by neuroscience, and designed to leave your audience with tools they can use the next day.

Keynote 01

Identity Architecture

Rebuilding from the inside out

How to examine the parts of yourself running the show, realign with your authentic values, and build an identity you chose rather than inherited.

Corporate · Entrepreneurs · Universities
Keynote 02

Reactive vs. Creative

The hidden shift that changes everything

The difference between surviving and creating. How to recognize when your nervous system is driving decisions and shift into intentional action using the P.R.I.M.E. Loop.

Corporate · Veterans · Wellness
Keynote 03

Momentum Without the Grind

Sustainable ambition that actually lasts

Why values-aligned actions compound faster than hustle ever could. Small, deliberate moves that create transformation you can feel and measure.

Entrepreneurs · Universities · Personal Growth
Keynote 04

The Real Power of Self-Love

Not affirmations. Acceptance in action.

The gritty, courageous work of learning to accept yourself in any state so you can show up fully for the people who matter most.

Wellness · Foster Youth · Veterans

Bring Shawn to your stage.

Every engagement is built for your audience, your goals, and your moment.

Inquire About Booking
The Ecosystem

The book opens the door. The app keeps you moving.

Two tools designed to work together. The book rewires how you see yourself. The app turns that awareness into daily action you can measure.

Coming Soon

The People We Meet

A memoir that reads like a mirror, five encounters that feel uncomfortably familiar

Each chapter introduces someone who changed Shawn's life. A young boy. An army buddy. An MMA fighter. An entrepreneur. A stranger.

But as the story unfolds, something shifts. The line between who shaped you and who you became starts to blur.

This is not a self-help book. It's a story that helps you recognize yourself.

Five stories that mirror your inner world
Each character reveals a pattern you've protected, hidden, or learned to live with
The P.R.I.M.E. Loop
A practical framework for catching reactive patterns and choosing your next move in real time
Identity architecture tools
Rebuild your self-concept around values you choose, not expectations you inherited
Built-in bridge to the app
The book opens the mirror. The Upward Spiral gives you the practice.
Notify Me at Launch
First Cohort Forming

The Upward
Spiral

Your daily practice for becoming who you actually want to be

Not motivation. Not a habit tracker. A guided system that turns values into measurable momentum.

Designed to align with evidence-based wellbeing research, it helps you define what matters, take aligned action daily, and track real shifts in wellbeing and psychological flexibility.

Discover your actual values
Identify what truly matters to you, not what you've been told should matter
Daily actions that compound
Small, values-aligned moves that build momentum without burnout
See your growth in real numbers
Validated assessments like WHO-5, PSS-10, and VQ so progress is trackable, not vague
An AI mentor that meets you where you are
Guided reflection, defusion exercises, and values clarity when you need it most
Join the Waitlist

Stay in the spiral.

Book launch updates, cohort openings, speaking events, and tools for values-aligned living. No spam. Just substance.