Yusuf Dahl
Yusuf Dahl is a nationally recognized entrepreneur, educator, and policy innovator whose life story, from prison to Princeton, has made him a powerful voice on opportunity and systems change.
Why you should book Yusuf Dahl for your next event
- Yusuf’s remarkable journey from incarceration to Ivy League scholar embodies transformation and resilience, inspiring audiences to rethink what’s possible.
- As founding director of Lafayette College’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Yusuf built a model for creativity and change.
- Yusuf empowers organizations to see challenges as opportunities, providing actionable frameworks to spark innovation, resilience, and measurable growth.
Non-binding request for Yusuf Dahl
From Adversity to Opportunity: Redefining What’s Possible
From prison to Princeton, Emmy-winning entrepreneur and educator Yusuf Dahl empowers organizations to turn adversity into innovation. Through powerful storytelling and proven strategies, he helps leaders redefine opportunity, drive inclusive growth, and build systems where potential, not circumstance, determines success. A transformative voice on equity and leadership, he inspires lasting organizational change.
Keynote Speaker Yusuf Dahl is a nationally recognized entrepreneur, educator, and policy innovator whose life journey, from prison to Princeton, has made him a powerful voice on opportunity, innovation, and systems change. His remarkable story and evidence-based insights inspire organizations to rethink how they approach leadership, inclusion, and resilience in the face of disruption.
Known for transforming challenges into catalysts for growth, Yusuf has led groundbreaking initiatives in education, entrepreneurship, and public policy. As the founding director of Lafayette College’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, he has cultivated a culture of creativity and impact among future leaders. Through his projects like The Real Estate Lab and The Century Promise, he demonstrates how access, innovation, and purpose can drive real transformation across sectors.
When you book Yusuf Dahl for your event, you invite your audience to experience a keynote that goes beyond motivation, offering tangible tools for building equitable systems, empowering people, and driving sustainable innovation. Featured in The Washington Post, The Hill, and Vice, and recipient of an Emmy Award, Yusuf Dahl challenges leaders to define success not by past limitations, but by future potential.
A keynote by Yusuf Dahl equips organizations to lead with purpose, embrace innovation, and unlock the full power of human potential.
Keynotes
Keynote by Yusuf Dahl:
Purpose, Power, & Potential: Leadership Lessons from a Life Reimagined
Finding meaning, resilience, and direction in times of change.
Blending hard-earned wisdom with humor and humility, Yusuf reflects on what leadership really means in times of uncertainty and transformation. Whether addressing executives, students, or community leaders, he challenges audiences to redefine success—not as status, but as service and to find their own path toward lasting impact.
Keynote by Yusuf Dahl:
Building Pathways, Not Pipelines: Reinventing Education for Opportunity
How we connect learning to livelihoods and purpose to prosperity.
Drawing from his work leading The Century Promise and founding Lafayette College’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Yusuf explores how to design education systems that truly connect learning to livelihoods. He challenges schools, employers, and policymakers to move beyond outdated models and build ecosystems that prepare young people, especially those from underserved communities for purpose-driven, well-paying careers.
Keynote by Yusuf Dahl:
Place-Based Opportunity: Community Wealth & the Future of Neighborhoods
Harnessing entrepreneurship and ownership to rebuild communities from within.
In this powerful and practical keynote, Yusuf explores how entrepreneurship and ownership can drive lasting neighborhood revitalization. Drawing on past presentations—including at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and his work leading The Real Estate Lab, he illustrates how to empower those on the margins to become stakeholders, transforming disinvested communities into engines of shared prosperity.
Yusuf shares how the Real Estate Lab has equipped local residents with the knowledge, networks, and capital to contribute to the revitalization of their city and collectively acquire millions in real estate assets. He also unpacks the policies, partnerships, and mindsets required to make community ownership scalable. Equal parts inspiring and instructive, this talk reframes housing as a foundation for power, stability, and generational wealth.
Keynote by Yusuf Dahl:
Dismantling Barriers, Rebuilding Futures: The Fair Future Act & the Fight for Housing Justice
How courage, coalition, and policy can rewrite the rules of opportunity.
This session examines how outdated, segregation-era laws continue to shape modern inequality and how Yusuf’s leadership in repealing the Thurmond Amendment is changing that. Audiences gain insight into how public policy, coalition building, and moral courage intersect to drive systemic reform in housing and opportunity.
Activating Opportunity in Blighted Communities | Yusuf Dahl | TEDxCarnegieLake
Watch Yusuf Dahl in action!
Man’s incredible story of going from prison to Princeton l GMA
Watch Yusuf Dahl in action!
