Mawi Asgedom
As a child, Mawi fled civil war in Ethiopia and survived a Sudanese refugee camp for three years. After being resettled in The United States, Mawi overcame welfare, language barriers and personal tragedy to graduate from Harvard University, where he delivered the commencement address to an audience of 30,000.
Mawi Asgedom has written five books that are used in thousands of classrooms across North America and spoken to over 500,000 people. He is the founder of Mental Karate, an organization that trains students and educators to create spectacular results by harnessing the power within.
Mawi's bestselling memoir, Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard , has been read as a one-book, one-community reading selection by hundreds of schools and communities including the cities of Philadelphia and Green Bay. His teen-success guides, The Code , Win the Inner Battle, and Nothing is Impossible, have also been used in thousands of classrooms. Citing the impact of his work, The Illinois Association of Teachers of English named Mawi the 2006 Illinois Author of the Year.
Many prominent media outlets have featured Mawi including:
- The Oprah Winfrey Show. Mawi's appearance ranked as “One of the Twenty Best Shows of Oprah’s Career”
- ESSENCE, one of "The 40 Most Inspiring African-Americans"
- Ebony, Featured as one of "30 Black Leaders Under 30"
- The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Harvard Magazine, and National Public Radio
A graduate of the Kellogg School of Management, Mawi has also inspired audiences at Bank of America, Chase, Accenture, Kraft, Time Warner, BMO, and other leading corporations.
Topics:
Am I Gifted?
Is every child gifted? Can a child succeed regardless of race, economic hardships, and other challenges? Yes! Using his fascinating personal story, Mawi will show your audience how students get affirmed and disaffirmed and give your teachers a blueprint for developing every child’s gifts. Perfect for general education conferences.
Liberators, Integrators, and Hope Generators
Through stories of his mother’s struggle as an illiterate woman, and his own childhood challenges, Mawi will show your educators that they are more than teachers, they are Liberators, Integrators, and Hope Generators. Perfect for: adult-ESL conferences, literacy conferences
From ESL to Harvard: An Immigrant’s Perspective
Mawi shares his journey from an ESL student on welfare to a Harvard student graduating with honors. Specifically, he gives educators 3 strategies for helping ESL students survive and thrive. Perfect for: ESL educators, those who want to help ESL students.
For Teen Conferences: Are you ready to lead?
Using anecdotes and metaphors, Mawi inspires teenagers to lead with proactive respect, a personal Code, and a spirit of self-reflection. Highly interactive. Perfect for: any teen-leadership conference.
Recommendations:
"Mawi did a great job at our Celebrating Educational Opportunities for Students of All Cultures Conference. The diverse group of attendees, who came from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, truly enjoyed his keynote speech. He told his amazing life story with an honest mix of humor, sadness and joy, weaving his experiences into a message about how to connect and work with today's youth who live in a 24-7 world with text messaging; Internet; and other technologies. Mawi was able to engage the audience in a way that they got the message and felt empowered to move forward as advocates for their districts in explaining the differences with today's youth and their own childhood experiences. After he spoke, folks lined up for photos and to buy books. Mawi even gave each audience member a copy of his latest book. He did 'steal' the hearts of the attendees!"
(Click here for the full letter and more about working with Mawi at this meeting)
Texas Association of School Boards, May 2009
