Playing Changemaker

Human rights lawyer turned entrepreneur, speaker, and author Mona Motwani is a living embodiment of the saying that change comes from within. Tina Thakrar learns more.

- 

Often in our lives we are faced with adversities that we don’t always know how to overcome. Sometimes, an empathetic hand comes forward to help; a family member, a partner, a friend or sometimes, a stranger who doesn’t seem like one. Meet Mona Motwani, human rights lawyer turned entrepreneur, writer, speaker and humanitarian. Every single thing Mona addresses through her talks, books and companies – personal transformation, resilience, self-love, authenticity, health, wellness, and entrepreneurship – are all things she’s experienced first-hand, and have been the stepping stones to her achieving her life’s purpose of empowering others.

As a young girl from a loving family in suburban Michigan, Mona was first introduced to life’s disheartening truths at the age of four, when she took a trip to India. Seeing the homeless living on the streets stirred in her a desire to help in some way; a feeling that’s lasted until today. She chased her dream down by attending the Hastings College of Law at the University of California, passing the California Bar, and becoming a licensed lawyer in the state.

From her internship with the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, to her first case helping a disabled homeless woman get her disability benefits back, every move Mona made along her journey made her destination clearer. As a lawyer, she worked to combat the human trafficking epidemic at the United Nations in post-war Sarajevo, with children refugees, on initiatives for children with disabilities, homeless clients and torture survivors, and with the American Civil Liberties Union for fair housing litigation.