Derek Lively is the founder of the first holistic public speaking school, a transformational ecosystem known as The Fire Universe. Blending embodiment, emotional intelligence, and interactive facilitation, he teaches what he calls F.I.R.E. Speaking: Facilitating Interactive Real World Experiences. After hosting more than 600 events and studying hundreds of facilitators in action, Derek has developed a powerful methodology that turns speaking into lived experience rather than performance. His work helps people move from suppression to full expression by training the voice, body, heart, mind, and spirit as one integrated system.

Drawing from his own journey through addiction, isolation, identity reinvention, and radical self confrontation, Derek speaks with a grounded intensity that challenges audiences to break their hearts open and reconnect to what is real. His core message, Community is the New Currency, calls leaders to become regulated, embodied, and connection centered in an increasingly digital world. Whether on stage, inside a Fire Room, or leading a transformational training, Derek’s mission is simple: to help people remember that they are expression, and to build spaces where that expression can set others free.