hawah kasat
Hawah Kasat is an artist, author, educator, community organizer, social entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and yogi. He has dedicated his life to teaching about solutions to violence and ways to peace and has traveled to over 44 countries to speak with those interested in creating a caring, sustainable, and equitable world.
Hawah is Founder Emeritus and Senior Advisor of One Common Unity (OCU), a non-profit organization that supports a movement for peace education and the building of a non-violent culture through music and art. During his 20 years of leadership as their CEO, OCU grew to over 32 full-time employees, operating in 24 schools, and serving over 40,000 youth and families. He has extensive experience fundraising, overseeing, and managing a multi-million-dollar annual budget and expertise in board of directors’ growth and management, human resources, strategic partnerships, marketing and communications, budget oversight, program design & development, and risk management.
In 2016, Hawah and OCU received the highest honor in Washington, DC, the prestigious Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in the Humanities. In 2018, OCU was awarded the National SHIFT Award for its pioneering work in integrating the healing arts with environmental stewardship. In 2019, Hawah was honored to receive Georgetown University’s “Legacy Of A Dream” Award at the Kennedy Center. The University presents the award annually to an inspirational emerging leader whose work embodies the values and spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hawah also recently completed and received the certificate in “Executive Leadership” from Georgetown University.
In the years prior, Hawah worked as an Americorps community organizer and mentor in D.C.’s most under-resourced neighborhood. After graduating from American University, he was awarded a fellowship with the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation to work as a special representative to the United Nations and the World Conference Against Racism. For 4 years, he also directed the Peaceable Schools Program in D.C.’s largest public high school—and today continues to lead training for teachers and students in conflict transformation, trauma-informed care, positive youth development, mindfulness, social-emotional literacy, and the healing arts.
Hawah, is a certified Yoga Instructor, who was trained and certified in Sivananda Yoga at the Yoga Vidya Gurukul, a world-renowned teacher training college in India. He holds a second certification in the Jivamukti Yoga School, and also holds a certificate from The Center for Mind-Body Medicine in trauma relief and healing. Hawah maintains a Vipassana Meditation practice, most recently sitting a 20-day silent meditation retreat, and practices Kung Fu (specifically training in Shaolin, Baguazhang, and Tai-chi styles). He has worked with all types of students from diverse demographics, teaching yoga at the Washington Post, law firms, award-winning yoga studios, festivals, conferences, youth recreation centers, and prisons.
Over the years, Hawah has authored 4 books, produced 4 documentary films, and released 2 music albums. He is the creator/editor of “The Poetry of Yoga” book anthology (published by White Cloud Press) that features Grammy award-winning musicians and master yoga teachers. His latest collaborative documentary film project, “Fly By Light,” received wide acclaim and awards, while touring international film festivals.
Hawah has been regularly featured as a speaker, performer, and workshop presenter for People to People International, the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, and the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools. He has made appearances on XM National Satellite Radio, BBC, Fox News, NBC, CNN, Al Jazerra, and the Pacifica Radio Network. He has also been a guest speaker at Yale University, George Washington University, U.C.L.A., University of Colorado, Rollins College, University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and Brown University.
In his spare time, Hawah enjoys: finding new foods to mix with chocolate, climbing trees and buildings, doing handstands on furniture, hiking through mountains with flip flops, body surfing ocean waves, making animal sounds and bird calls, enjoying a glass of wine at high altitude, doing board conference calls while standing on his head, lighting candles in dark rooms, and traveling.