Dr. Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP  is a leading voice in today’s conversation on racialized trauma. He created Cultural Somatics, which utilizes the body and resilience as mechanisms for growth. As a therapist, trauma specialist, and the founder of Justice Leadership Solutions, a leadership-consulting firm, Resmaa dedicates his expertise to coaching leaders through civil unrest, organizational change, and community building.

Resmaa is best known as the author of the New York Times bestseller My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, and as the originator and key advocate of Somatic Abolitionism, an embodied antiracist practice of living and culture building. Resmaa received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in Social Justice, Somatic Education and Advocacy and delivered the commencement address at the California Institute of Integral Studies’ 56th Commencement Ceremony in May 2024.