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Sekou Andrews is the Founder/CEO of SekouWorld, Inc., the innovator of “Poetic Voice” and one of the most successful spoken word poets in the world. On any given day, this school-teacher-turned-entrepreneur, who built a 7-figure company on poetry, can be found keynoting at a Fortune 500 company, inspiring thousands at a concert, or performing for Barack Obama in Oprah’s backyard. Sekou is the creator of “poetic voice” – a cutting-edge speaking category that seamlessly fuses inspirational speaking with spoken word poetry, like “Hamilton” meets “TED”. This innovative blend of strategic storytelling, thought leadership, spoken word, theater and comedy humanizes content, making it entertaining, moving and memorable. Sekou’s accomplishments include an ABA “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, two Independent Music Awards, two National Poetry Slam championships, three Helen Hayes Awards, six CLIO awards, the most JPF music awards in history, and the first GRAMMY nomination for “Best Spoken Word Album” awarded to a spoken word poet in over 30 years.
It is no surprise that Forbes has called Sekou a “polymath” and “the de facto poet laureate of corporate America.” His “wow-factor” is in high demand with the world’s most successful organizations, including Google, Viacom, Toyota, Nike, Cisco, Linkedin, Capital One, L’Oreal, Global Green, Paypal, GE, The Gap, Paypal, General Mills, the ACLU, and the NBA to name but a few. Sekou’s work has been featured on ABC World News, CBS, Fox, MSNBC, HBO, Good Morning America, Showtime, MTV and BET, and he has given private performances for such luminaries as Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones, Larry King, Hillary Clinton, Norman Lear, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Coretta Scott King. Sekou has also emerged as a powerful voice for health and wellness, routinely evoking tears, cheers, and standing ovations at events for Johnson & Johnson, United Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, TEDMED, Life Itself, Northwell Health, Genentech, Humana, and the American Medical Association.
Sekou is a multi-talented entertainer with over two decades of experience inspiring audiences across industries and genres. He has shared event stages with such heavyweights as Drake, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Carlos
Santana, Kendrick Lamar, Maroon 5, Jill Scott and John Legend. He is also a voiceover artist and actor with
several national commercials, four feature films, and a critically-acclaimed, two-man play on his resume. With
creative partner Steve Connell, Sekou has inspired audiences from the HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival to
The Pasadena Pops Orchestra. He has even returned to the classroom, teaching his rockstar secrets to
public speakers through his highly-e ective Stage Might speaker training system that helps influencers and
leaders become more dynamic communicators. With all of the innovation and inspiration that is poetic voice,
Sekou Andrews is accomplishing the seemingly impossible – bringing spoken word poetry to the world’s
largest stages, while redefining the notion of what a speaker is, and what a poet can be.
One fateful day, Sekou Andrews discovered a 7-page poem that his father wrote about him as he was being born. Suddenly it all made sense. Sekou had built a 7-figure company on poetry and had become one of the most successful spoken word poets in the world. He was literally the poetry his father had set in motion. Poetry, however, was not his first muse.
Upon moving from California to Washington DC, Sekou discovered acting and hip-hop, and pursued both artforms throughout high school, at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Georgetown Day School, and at Pitzer College, where he received his B.A. in Sociology. After working at a few law firms, with plans to pursue entertainment law, Sekou pivoted to becoming an elementary school teacher. As much as he loved the classroom, Sekou’s heart was ultimately in his art. So he bravely quit his job and joined the ranks of that societal anomaly known as the “full–time poet.” He was not, however, resigned to the café and college touring life of a traditional performance poet. He knew that poetry could do more.
A fearless entrepreneur and innovator, Sekou began an extraordinary climb to success. His work was featured on major media outlets, including ABC World News, CBS, Fox, MSNBC, HBO, Good Morning America, Showtime, MTV and BET. He shared event stages with such heavyweights as Drake, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Carlos Santana, Kendrick Lamar, and Maroon 5. He won the National Poetry Slam championship twice, featured in two national poetry tours, and released three critically-acclaimed albums. In 2020, his genre-bending album of poetry with The String Theory, a neo-classical orchestra from Europe, earned him the honor of becoming the first spoken word poet in over 30 years to be nominated for the “Best Spoken Word Album” Grammy.
With creative partner Steve Connell, Sekou inspired sold out crowds at countless high-profile events, from the Pasadena Pops Orchestra to the Inaugural Peace Ball. They performed at private events for Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, and Quincy Jones. Yet, not even their critically acclaimed 2-man play, “The Word Begins,” could satiate Sekou’s plans for this artform. He knew poetry could do more.
Increasingly driven by an unrelenting purpose – to help people find their voice, and to help create a commercially viable industry for spoken word poetry – Sekou pioneered a new category of public speaking called Poetic Voice. His unique fusion of inspirational speaking and spoken word poetry has amassed a platinum client list of global brands, including Google, Viacom, Toyota, Nike, Linkedin, and Paypal.
Yet, for Sekou, all of this is merely scratching the surface. He has a 7-page poem to live up to, and a legacy to leave. He will not rest until spoken word poets can make a purposeful and profitable living off their art; until he has helped millions of people find their most inspiring voice; and until the world recognizes trails he is blazing as irrefutable proof that poetry can do more.
