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.