Inspirational humorist David Roche, an Enneagram Type One, will be the guest keynote at the AET Annual Conference scheduled for June 19-22 at Asilomar in Monterey, CA

"When I walk out on stage, the first thing I do is encourage everyone to ask me, 'What happened to your face?'

I then explain that I was born with a severe facial disfigurement - on the left side of my face is an extensive cavernous hemangioma, which is a benign tumor consisting of surface-visible blood vessels.

During infancy and childhood, I additionally underwent many facial surgeries and heavy radiation therapy, all of which left radiation burns on my temple and eyelid.

Yet, my face IS A GIFT, because my shadow side - my difficulty and challenge - is worn on the outside, where I have been forced to deal with it."

Meet David Roche

David Roche, a recent graduate of the Enneagram Intensive, is best known as an inspirational humorist, a motivational speaker and a deeply compelling performer. David also is a husband, father and longtime resident of Northern California.

But beyond all of that, David is a man with a message that reaches across culture, nationality and Enneagram type. He has chosen to make it his life's work to elevate the vibration of humanity around one of our most historically devastating weaknesses - the powerful flaw that results in the alienation, humiliation, exclusion and/or abuse of "others" who are different. This includes the annihilation of cultures we fear, of religions not our own, of people whose skin is a different color, and of those who are disabled.

Having experienced firsthand the tremendous challenges that accompany being born with a facial disfigurement, David has acquired a divine sense and deep knowing of his absolute inner beauty and magnetism. Within an hour in his presence, you come to see what a beautiful, handsome and loveable human being truly looks like.

By sharing his journey toward the vast beauty and love that lies within, David has found a way to take each of us to that place inside ourselves that is filled with light, compassion, beauty and love. David reveals that he can actually see a "softening" come across the faces in front of him when he's on stage, at which point he is transformed from a performer into the witness and recipient of a profound, deep compassion that fills the room with light, the faces with kindness, and the hearts of all involved with love. "You now look different to me," he says, "different than in those first moments I laid eyes on you."

"My disfigurement, as I now understand it, is not only a gift for me. It's actually a way for me to gift people with a glimpse of their own profound beauty."

As a self-recognized Enneagram Type One, David states that he's been preparing all his life for the keynote at the AET Conference 2008. His stage presentation and just-published book, The Church of 80% Sincerity, chronicle the journey not only of a disfigured man finding his way through society, but of a Type One trying to experience love and acceptance while being deemed "imperfect."

"It was the peculiarity of my wound," says David, "that sent me on a search for perfection in all other ways. That search for perfection was my search for and back to the state of LOVE. That search for love brought me within, and once within, I discovered something very profound that I now know I am bringing to others."

David, who will attend the conference from start to finish along with his wife, Marlena, an Enneagram Type Two, will present his guest keynote address at 7:15 pm Thursday, June 19. He also will present a closing address on Sunday morning, June 22.

Visit David's website at http://www.davidroche.com for more information on his life, work and new book, The Church of 80% Sincerity, now available for purchase at Amazon.com and other booksellers.