Transcending mental bars | Hill Harper | TEDxIronwoodStatePrison 2014

Hill Harper is a humanitarian, an award-winning actor, best-selling author, entrepreneur, health and wellness ambassador/educator, and philanthropist. Currently, Harper stars in ABC’s #1 television drama, The Good Doctor, and has starred in numerous television and film projects including CSI:NY, He Got Game and Lackawanna Blues. In addition to his performing career, Harper has authored four New York Times bestsellers Letters to a Young Brother, Letters to a Young Sister, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother, The Conversation and his award-winning book, The Wealth Cure, that addresses ways to solve the racial wealth gap. Letters to a Young Brother also won several awards and was named “Best Book for Young Adults” by the American Library Association in 2007. Harper has been recognized with seven NAACP Image Awards, four of them for his writing. Amongst his other titles, Harper is a successful businessman and entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Chairman of The Black Wall Street Digital Wallet & App, co-owner of the award-winning New Orleans hotel, International House, and a thriving coffee franchise in downtown Detroit called The Roasting Plant. Harper is on the Board of Directors, National Black Bank Fund, named Honorary National Co-Chair of the Redevelopment of Black Wall Street, Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, and served on the President's Cancer Panel having been appointed by President Obama in 2011. Harper is the founder of the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering underserved youth through mentorship, scholarship and grant programs; and has established The Pierce and Hill Harper Arts Foundation. Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was named Valedictorian of his department. Harper then graduated cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School, as well as with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, with honors, from the Kennedy School of Government. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from Howard University, Winston-Salem State University, Cheyney University, Le-Moyne Owen College, Westfield State College, Dillard University and Tougaloo College. Harper’s passion for business, financial literacy, and social & economic justice keeps him on the forefront and in-demand as a speaker worldwide. In 2004 and 2014, People Magazine named him one of their Sexiest Men Alive…he anticipates being named again in 2024!