Roderick Borisade

Spoken Word Artist

Born to a drug-addicted mother and an absent father, Roderick Borisade struggled hard in life during his preteen years. After losing his older brother (Eric) to cancer in 1996, he named himself “Odd?Rod”. He went against the odds and pushed himself through high school to earn a full college scholarship to UNF. Starting an open mic at college, he developed leadership and speaking skills that brought in 200 students a month to express themselves. He learned that his story of perseverance was helping others to cope with what they were going through. It was that notion that catapulted him into every school, rehab, and jail that he could to let people know that they can make it too. Since 2011, he’s toured over 350 colleges and earned many awards including 2014 & 2016 APCA Spokenword Artist of the Year. In October of 2016, he recieved a standing ovation for his performance at TedxJacksonville’s “Fear Less” conference. Most importantly, he’s inspired a nation of people to push through every obstacle placed before them and live their life as leaders.