Arshay Cooper

Arshay Cooper is a #1 national bestselling and award-winning author, international motivational speaker, and the protagonist of the critically acclaimed documentary A Most Beautiful Thing. After making sports history as captain of America’s first all-Black high school rowing team, at Manley High School on Chicago’s West Side, Cooper dedicated his life to empowering young people and expanding access to athletics. His first book, A Most Beautiful Thing, a memoir, became an award-winning documentary of the same name; his second, Let Me Be Real with You (2025), reached #1 on the USA Today bestseller list and asks how we can care for our families, work, and communities while still tending to our own wellness.

Cooper has spoken to more than 250,000 young people worldwide, earning keys to multiple cities, official mayoral proclamations of “Arshay Cooper Days,” and the USRowing Golden Oar Award twice. He is the founder of the A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund, a national nonprofit that has introduced thousands of under-resourced young people to educational opportunity, swimming, and rowing, partnering with more than 20 rowing programs across the country, including Evanston Township High School Rowing.