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Hannah Collins

Professor Arini

English 102

January 29, 2024

Motivational Survivors

There are two motivational speakers I will be writing about, Derek Clark and Sixto

Cancel. Firstly, Derek was born in California on August 26th. Derek is known for many things,

such as being a motivational speaker about his childhood trauma and spending 13 years in the

foster care system, being an author with seven books, and being an internet sensation from video

headings known as ‘rap dad’. Derek is a motivational speaker on various subjects such as

childhood traumas, children's struggles of being diagnosed and undiagnosed, mental health, child

welfare, the foster care system, etc. Derek Clark also likes to call himself the “hope dealer.” As

Derek explains, being a hope dealer means he “helps people never limit their lives, and living

beyond their self-perceived limits.” Speaking more about Derek's past, after experiencing a

traumatic foster care experience, he realized that he wanted to help and inform others.
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The second motivational speaker is known as Sixto Cancel. Sixto Martin Cancel doesn’t

have much personal information posted online except that he was from Bridgeport, Connecticut,

and currently lives in Washington D.C. Sixto is the CEO and Founder of a non-profit

organization known as ‘Think Of Us.’ Sixto and the organization focus on the welfare of

children in the foster care system and redesignation of the system itself. While Sixto is a CEO

and Founder, he’s also a motivational speaker. Sixto Cancel speaks on topics about the failure of

the foster care system, child neglect, mental abuse, child welfare, family reunification, funding

for families, and much more. Speaking more about why Sixto decided to be a motivational

speaker was because he had also experienced the foster care system himself. He was only 11

months old when put in foster care and eventually placed in a home at nine years old. When

living in his previous home, Sixto constantly faced constant childhood trauma and foster care

negligence. Eventually, Sixto was old enough to fend for himself and was placed in a program

for independent living. He then realized just how bad the foster care system was towards

children. Sixto wanted to be the solution to the problem, that problem being the foster care

distribution system.

While Derek Clark is widely known for being a motivational speaker, that means he has

lots of content. On Tedx, Derek claims that the audience is towards everyone, yet it can apply to

individuals who experience similarities like Derek himself. On the streaming service Ted, Sixto’s

approach towards his audience is very similar to Derek’s, yet he seems to focus further on
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children, the foster youth, and their welfare. Derek Clark's motives in doing his work are to teach

people how to be resilient with any approach in life, especially traumatic experiences. Both

Derek and Sixto experienced childhood trauma, foster care negligence, etc. Sixto Cancel’s

motives are to inform others about the foster care system with statistics and experience while

being the CEO and creating a name-brand website called ThinkOfUs. Derek Clark also created a

name-brand website, known as IWillNeverGiveUp. Derek and Sixto used their social media, as

it’s used in similar and different ways. Sixto is affiliated with a Facebook account by his brand,

Think Of Us. Clark also has a Facebook account named, ‘Motivational Speaker Derek Clark.’

The sources used for Derek Clark consisted of a Tedx video, IWillNeverGiveUp branded

website, Facebook, and a YouTube video about overcoming trauma. To further add for Sixto

Cancel, a TED video had been used, his personal branded website ThinkOfUs, Facebook, and his

book, ‘Aged Out,’ speaking about foster children transitioning. Furthermore, each of Derek’s

sources has a major point in common, the perseverance mindset, even during one of the lowest

points of your life. Speaking of Sixto’s sources, his content may be similar to Derek’s, yet his

points differ. Sixto’s major points in his sources are to guarantee a just system in foster care and

never have students experience a broken system like he had. As mentioned above, Derek and

Sixto have similar comparative goals but different experiences and outcomes of what they

preach. Some similar comparisons Sixto and Derek have are their traumatic childhood

experiences, foster care experiences, dedication to helping others by motivationally speaking,

and many more.

Sixto’s sources use a variety of rhetorical devices to address an audience. The first source

analyzed is the TED video starring Sixto Cancel titled, ‘A Foster Care System Where Every

Child Has a Loving Home.’ After a brief few minutes, Sixto immediately starts to use ethos,
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pathos, and imagery by vividly explaining how he was an 11-month-old baby when first placed

in the foster care system and had continuously been neglected in several placements. Neglect has

been done by continuously being called the ‘N-Word,’ not having access to food, and no

substantial money used by placement for his care. Ethos is used because Sixto shares his

saddening life story to portray trustworthiness, while pathos is also used to evoke emotion in the

audience.

In continuance of the TED video, Sixto states, “The foster care system is not doing a

good job of raising children. Unsupported foster youth are two to three times more likely to have

negative outcomes related to homelessness, incarceration, and being sexually trafficked. The

mental toll is severe. I want you to think about war veterans. Foster youth are two times more

likely than war veterans to experience and suffer from PTSD” (TED, 2023, 1:48). Sixto then

goes on to explain why he created his foundation for foster youth and how he finds that kinship

care is vital. Sixto Cancel used pathos and logos because even the thought of veterans can spark

emotions with said word choice, while logos is used because he’s creating a foundation based on

his argument. Sixto then uses statistics and research skills, “And what we now know is that

research is showing that when children are placed with kinship placements, they are way better,

from mental health to stability, to graduating high school on time. And yet only 35 percent of

young people in the foster care system are placed with kin. But it doesn't have to be this way”

(TED, 2023, 4:55). Cancel’s tone throughout his testimony is clear, full of emotion, and

confident-like. To further explain Sixto’s rhetorical uses in his sources, on his branded website

‘ThinkOfUs’, and book, ‘Aged Out’, they both use ethos, logos, and pathos by providing

information that gains an audience through trust, sadness, relief, and justification. Each rhetorical

category is fulfilled by Sixto explaining his plans for the foster care system, and his storytelling.
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Lastly, Sixto has a Facebook, with a survey posted about the child welfare policy and practice.

The post then describes how 2,279 youth, parents, and caregivers participated in the research,

supporting the rhetorical device, logos.

While Sixto used a variety of Rhetorical devices for each source, so did Derek Clark.

When Derek premiered in a TEDx video, his tone was confident and caring-like. In the first few

minutes of the video, Derek uses a series of word choices that are also imagery-related. Derek

claims, “The Five ways I’ve found to live your life. The first one is to be a tire and you can use it

like a tire and eventually replace it. The second one is to be a flyer, where you flee the situation,

perhaps coming up with fear or excuses. The third one is a crier, not believing in yourself, the

pitiful way, the victim mentality. Then, there’s the liar, who looks good on the outside but inside,

they’re lost. And lastly, there’s someone like me and people before me, that are the trier, that

wouldn’t give up. They’re never going to limit their life” (TEDx, 2013, 0:26). Derek uses

inanimate objects to compare how somebody may react in situations. Derek then goes on to talk

about how he had spent 13 years in the Almeda County foster care system and had faced child

abuse and neglect. In the TEDx video, Derek used the rhetorical device of ethos by sharing his

story to gain trust and pathos by impacting the audience with sudden emotions, like sadness.

Derek Clark's YouTube video ‘Overcoming Trauma’ also uses ethos and pathos for the same

reasons. Lastly, on Derek's main website, ‘IWillNeverGiveUp,’ and Facebook posts, he uses

ethos and pathos because the website and posts explain who Derek Clark is and what exactly he

does. Clark’s website and social media show credibility in a way that an audience chooses to

listen to him because of his popularity and virtuous storytelling.

In comparison to Derek’s and Sixto’s sources, the similarities are their use of ethos,

pathos, and confident tone. In contrast, Sixto uses more statistics (logos) and research to back his
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claims about the foster care system, while Derek’s role is more to spark interest in self-growth

from any sort of hurtful past. Both Derek and Sixto do a considerable amount of motivational

speaking that can appeal to an audience. However, both Sixto’s and Derek’s sources can have

some possible fallacies, whether personally believed or not. Sixto’s storytelling can be viewed as

a form of over-sentimentalization, as it can sound graphic imagery-wise and play on people’s

emotions. As mentioned previously, Derek Clark made a statement about the five ways

somebody can live their life, and with that said, it can be viewed as the either/or argument, as

there may be more outcomes than he may be spewing.

Speaking about persuasion and turn-offs, Sixto Cancel and Derek Clark’s sources hadn’t

turned me off in any way, yet they captivated me. Firstly, Sixto’s statistics about children's

placements showed me insight and a form of trustworthiness, as I’ve witnessed broken families,

trauma-filled children, and the negligence of the foster care system. Then simply hearing Derek’s

personal story and seeing how he is today gave me a rush of emotions to feel for him, yet I

admire his strength. To conclude, motivational speakers who stand against child and foster care

negligence will always spark my interest. Children should be first and foremost and need more

love, support, and structure.

Works Cited

Cancel, Sixto. “A Foster Care System Where Every Child Has a Loving Home.” Sixto
Cancel: A Foster Care System Where Every Child Has a Loving Home | TED Talk, TEDx, Apr.
2023,www.ted.com/talks/sixto_cancel_a_foster_care_system_where_every_child_has_a_loving_
home/transcript. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.

Cancel, Sixto. “Aged Out.” Think Of Us, Mar. 2021, www.thinkofus.org/aged-out.

Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.

Cancel, Sixto. “Sixto Cancel, Founder & CEO.” Think of Us - Welcome, Think of Us, Mar.
2021, www.thinkofus.org/who-we-are/our-team/ceo. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.
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Cancel, Sixto, Think Of Us. “Youth, Parents, and Caregivers Participated in Research.”
Facebook. 01 Feb. 2024, 1:52 PM, https://www.facebook.com/thinkofusDC. Accessed 02
Feb. 2024.

Change Starts Here. “Derek Clark - Overcoming Trauma.” YouTube, 5 July 2022,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLpHmxqHVuM. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.

Clark, Derek. “Derek Clark Motivational Inspirational Speaker, Childhood Trauma, Foster
Care.” Motivational Speaker Derek Clark - Childhood Trauma Speaker - Foster Care
Speaker -Inspirational Speaker-Keynote Speaker, IWillNeverGiveUp, 29 Oct. 2023,
iwillnevergiveup.com/. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.

Clark, Derek. “Every kid is adoptable. Never give up on a kid!” Facebook. 01 Feb. 2024,
3:59 PM, https://www.facebook.com/MotivationalSpeakerInspires/. Accessed 02 Feb.
2024.

Clark, Derek. "It's Not about Your IQ, It's about Your I WILL: Derek Clark at

TEDxGreenbrookSchool." YouTube, uploaded by TEDxYouth, 21 May 2013,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyjDmeVn_dA. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.