Principles for Peacemakers Leaders Everyday Citizens
Azim Khamisa is a world-renowned speaker and teacher on forgiveness and peacemaking. Azim lost his only son to senseless gang violence. He responded to the tragedy by working with the grandfather of his son’s murderer to create programs that are effectively preventing youth violence. Azim will share six principles to help people become peacemakers and nonviolent leaders. These principles can be applied by anyone who wants to live a more peaceful and harmonious life.
Azim Khamisa
Following the murder of his son in 1995, Azim Khamisa founded the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, which started a subsequent forgiveness movement that has reached millions.
He has received over 80 local, national, and international awards, including the National Crime Victims' Special Community Service Award, presented by President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, the Search for Common Ground’s award alongside Desmond Tutu and Ted Koppel, Spirit of Crazy Horse Award, from the Reclaiming Youth Network, alongside Mohammad Ali, the California Peace Prize, the Pepsi Freedom Heroes Award, and several Peacemaker of the Year awards
In 2004, he participated in the Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama which was hosted by Pope John Paul at his summer palace in Castelgandolfo, Italy.
Azim has served as TKF's founder and chairperson for over 24 years. He is an emissary of peace and an international inspirational speaker with over 700 keynotes, including one to 300,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial at the Stand For Children Rally organized by the Children’s Defense Fund, as well as a speech to the United Nations General Assembly at the High Level Forum on the culture of peace.
Azim serves on the board in the capacity of vice chair for the Institute of Noetic Science. IONS was founded 46 years ago by Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon, and is a leading global institution on researching consciousness.
With a strong passion to share his message with the youth, and to inspire nonviolent leaders to become proactive as peacebuilders, Azim has given over 1,000 presentations to over a million students worldwide. He is a published author of five books: Award-winning, Murder to Forgiveness (being made into a feature film); From Forgiveness to Fulfillment, From Fulfillment to Peace and The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit: How to bounce back from life’s hardest hits co-authored with Jillian Quinn and published by Random House. His fifth book, Leadership for the greater good – A guide for truth to power champions, recently released in May 2020. He has been featured countless times in local, national, and international media. In November 2018, Azim spoke for the TEDWomen conference that has been viewed by over 1 million viewers: go.TED.com/azimandples.
Azim was born in Kenya of Eastern roots and educated in England in mathematics and finance and has over 45 years experience in international finance. Azim lives in La Jolla, California, and is the proud father of daughter Tasreen and grandfather of Shahin, Khalil and Miya.
