Mawi Asgedom

“Clash Man” Becomes a Leader

By on December 2nd, 2014

leadership blogI sometimes wonder if my three years in middle school were harder than my three years in a refugee camp.

On the fashion front, I wore the same shirt to school three times a week and earned the name “Clash Man.”  In 8th grade, I got kicked off my basketball team and my family was forced to move into low-income housing. At my new school, I got my first D in math, and Cs in some of my other classes.

If you would have asked me if I was a leader, I would have laughed. I was trying to survive each day of school and hoping that life would get better.

Life did get better, but not because I got better housing or a new wardrobe. Continue reading


What Went Wrong?

By on November 14th, 2014

Career Research blog
Katie had never imagined she’d be living month to month, in constant fear that she wouldn’t have enough to pay her rent. After all, Katie had a college degree and a job.

When I met Katie, she was 23 years old and working her dream job at a non-profit. She didn’t have any credit card debt. What had gone wrong?

Katie had massive student loans from college, totaling more than $128,000. Katie’s salary was $32,000 and more than $12,000 of that went to pay the debt and interest. Continue reading