Meet Mawi Asgedom

Mental Karate was founded by Mawi Asgedom, a nationally recognized youth educator who has written four books and spoken to over 500,000 students and educators across North America.

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.

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
• ESSENCE, one of "The 40 Most Inspiring African-Americans"
• Ebony, one of "30 Black Leaders Under 30"
• Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Harvard Magazine

You can learn more about Mawi at www.MawiSpeaks.com.