Resmaa Menakem

Resmaa Menakem is an author, educator, healer and licensed clinical worker specializing in racialized trauma and communal healing. He is the creator of Somatic Abolitionism, an embodied anti-racist practice that he teaches and circulates through the Cultural Somatics Institute, Menakem is also the founder of Justice Leadership Solutions, an organization that provides training and consulting services focused on racial justice and leadership development. Beyond his organizational work, Menakem is a bestselling author known for My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, as well as The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning, Monsters in Love: Why Your Partner Sometimes Drives You Crazy—And What You Can Do About It, and The Stories from My Grandmother’s Hands, a children’s picture book created in collaboration with with actor T. Mychael Rambo and illustrator Leroy Campbel. 

Menakem has served as director of counseling services for Tubman Family Alliance, a domestic violence treatment center in Minneapolis; as behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; as domestic violence counselor for the Wilder Foundation; as a mediator for divorce and family issues, a social worker for Minneapolis Public Schools, a youth counselor, a community organizer, and a marketing strategist. From 2011 to 2013, Menakem served as a community care counselor for civilian contractors in Afghanistan, overseeing wellness and counseling services on 53 U.S. military bases. He has made appearances on media platforms including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, the On Being podcast with Krista Tippett, Tha God’s Honest Truth with Charlemagne the God, The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy on iHeart radio, and the Goop podcast, among others.