---
title: About Dr. Manny Scott | Original Freedom Writer
description: "From dropout to Ph.D.: the story of Dr. Manny Scott, original Freedom Writer, author, scholar and speaker for educators."
---

[**Dr. MannyScott**Speaker, Author, Original Freedom Writer](https://www.mannyscott.com/?hsLang=en)

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Meet Dr. Manny Scott

# Original Freedom Writer. Educator. Author. Scholar. Speaker.

His life was changed by the power of people. For more than 25 years, he has helped others become that kind of person for someone else.

## His life changed because people entered it.

Long before Dr. Manny Scott became an author, scholar and internationally recognized speaker, he was a young man whose future looked painfully small. By the age of 16, he had lived in 26 different places. His father was incarcerated. His best friend had been murdered. He had fallen so far behind in school that he eventually dropped out.

Then people entered his life. Teachers and mentors saw something in Manny that he could not yet see in himself. They listened to him, challenged him, encouraged him and believed in him.

Manny returned to school and became one of the original Freedom Writers, whose story was later told in the film *Freedom Writers*. But the most important part of his story isn't what happened to him. It's what he decided to do with it.

![Dr. Manny Scott with an educator holding his book](https://www.mannyscott.com/hubfs/247263227/site-besthope.jpg)

**2,500+**presentations

**49**states and 6 continents

**Ph.D.**Intercultural Studies

**ASCD**bestselling author

## From Freedom Writer to Dr. Scott.

The young man who once dropped out of school became the first person in his family to graduate from college, earning a degree from UC Berkeley. His journey continued through graduate school to a Ph.D., with doctoral research on intercultural competence: how people learn to communicate and work effectively across cultural differences.

For more than 25 years, Dr. Scott has carried what he learned into schools and communities around the world. He has delivered more than 2,500 presentations in 49 states and on six continents, and he is the author of several books, including the ASCD bestseller *Even on Your Worst Day, You Can Be a Student's Best Hope*.

One person can change the trajectory of another person's life.

## The world has changed. The mission hasn't.

Students are growing up in a world being transformed by artificial intelligence, cultural change and unprecedented access to information. But information alone will not prepare young people to flourish. They still need adults who notice them, understand their world, challenge them and help them see possibilities they can't yet see for themselves.

That conviction shaped BRIDGE, Dr. Scott's research-based framework for navigating change, understanding people in their context, and putting new learning into practice. Today he is extending that work to one of the most important questions in education: how do we reach young people in the world they're actually living in, and prepare them for the world that's coming?

## The people behind the purpose.

For all the stages, books and degrees, Dr. Scott's most important roles are closer to home. He and his wife, Alice, have built their life around family and service and the raising of their three children. When he speaks about students, he doesn't see data points. He sees somebody's son. Somebody's daughter. Somebody's whole world.

![](https://www.mannyscott.com/hubfs/247263227/site-students.jpg)

Technology is changing the future.  
People still change lives.

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## Bring Dr. Scott to your people.

Keynotes and professional learning for schools, districts, associations and conferences.

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[**Dr. MannyScott**Speaker, Author, Original Freedom Writer](https://www.mannyscott.com/?hsLang=en)

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