The name “DXTR” stands for Designed eXperimentation Transcending Reality, which means to live your life like an experiment. You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control the product that you become.
Jordan “Dxtr Spits” Holmes has reinvented himself many times, landing on his current passion: helping people from the inside out to become the greatest versions of themselves, using his artistry, coaching, and passion for mindfulness.
Jordan “Dxtr Spits” Holmes
the “now” story bio
Jordan "Dxtr Spits" Holmes is an internationally recognized spoken word artist, keynote speaker, and trauma-informed life coach who teaches people how to swim (internally) with skill through life's turbulent waters. Drawing on a decade as a corporate engineer, founding the men's wellness initiative How Men Cry, and his own battle with intense mental health issues, Holmes believes our wellness must be preserved before it’s too late, and we find ourselves drowning.
His signature keynote, Drowning in the Open, addresses how high achievers navigate stress, burnout, and depression in fast-paced environments. Using spoken word poetry as a teaching tool, Holmes provides creative metaphors and his simple but effective "3 Ps" method—Pause, Process, and Proceed—combined with mindfulness and trauma-informed coaching to help audiences build resilience and reconnect with joy.
Holmes has performed internationally from Sofar Sounds in London to the U.S. Embassy in Ghana alongside Nikki Giovanni and Kwame Alexander. A top 3 NPR Tiny Desk Contest finalist, he has been featured in Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, and national television, and has spoken for various crowds from the Library of Congress to LinkedIn.
Drowning in the Open (the album) represents Holmes' life work—pairing Giovanni's final recorded message with his poetry and coaching methodology to give men language, tools, and permission to navigate their internal struggles without sacrificing their identity.
the back story bio
“I’ve been writing out the pain since a little kid”
I started out as a shy, sensitive, stuttering kiddo. Adorable as I may have been (if I do say so myself), I was struggling constantly with the feeling of fitting in, which persisted through different stages of life. At first it was not being cool or tough enough, then it was not being trendy enough or fashionable enough, and as I grew older, it was not making enough, being man enough, or black enough.
What helped me to cope through all of those stages was turning inwardly towards writing, creating, and curiosity. I created music, poems, art, and concepts along the way, which helped to relieve the pressure, but it wasn’t sustainable without a different type of growth I was yet to find...
“The time I tied my value to a title the most was when I felt the worst”
I fell victim to the mentality that my value was tied to what I produced. This is a byproduct of conditioning around manhood that has had utility at times, but also limits. I found those limits by hitting an internal brick wall of burnout, depression, and feeling like I couldn’t take life anymore.
The more I “got,” the more the internal feelings didn’t go away, and I again had to turn inward. I had to get clear in meditation (which I found at a young age) and turn towards my internal wounding with therapy. I had to turn towards what pained me the most to learn what was special about how I channel my energy into my crafts.
Through all this journey, I realized that my gift is taking all the rough edges, junkyards, and complexities of the human experience and putting them into digestible pieces. This takes the form artistically of poetry, writing, performance, and music, and in an entrepreneurial capacity, developing concepts, products, and content.
I now confidently share my crafts and message of wellness with the world for all the little kiddos like me... still finding their way.