Speakers

Harper also headlines HLN's How It Really Happened with Hill Harper and previously starred on CSI: NY and Showtime's award winning series Homeland. In theaters, Harper can be seen co-starring alongside Will Smith in the Sony Pictures film Concussion and in the recently released Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me.

Harper has earned seven NAACP Image Awards for his writing and acting and is a 4-time New York Times best-selling author for his books: Letters to a Young Brother (named Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association), Letters to a Young Sister, The Conversation, and The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in its Place. Harper's most recent book is the groundbreaking Letters to an Incarcerated Brother which speaks to the current mass incarceration crisis; it was released to critical acclaim and was nominated for several awards.

Harper founded The Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to empowering, encouraging, and inspiring underserved youth to succeed through education, mentorship, and grant programs.

Harper was born in Iowa City, IA, the son of two doctors, his father, a psychiatrist and his mother, an anesthesiologist. He graduated magna cum laude as valedictorian of his department with a Bachelor's Degree from Brown University and cum laude with a Juris Doctorate degree from Harvard Law School. Harper also holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration with honors from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and 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.

Amongst his other titles, Harper is a successful businessman and entrepreneur. He owns The Roasting Plant Coffee Roastery in Detroit, an award-winning hotel in New Orleans, and The Architect & Co. “ a health and wellness company. Harper also owns several commercial and residential rental properties in Los Angeles and Newark, NJ.

Harper currently serves on the President's Cancer Panel having been appointed by President Obama in 2011. He travels worldwide as a motivational speaker, addressing current affairs and life-awakening topics to a wide array of audiences of youth, educators, and business leaders. In 2004 and 2014, People named him one of their Sexiest Men Alive. He anticipates being named again in 2024.