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Short bio
Melvin Williams Sr. is a Philadelphia author, keynote speaker, and founder of The Philly Made Us Foundation. His father was murdered when he was two. In his memoir, Every Corner Has a Name, he writes about decades of loss to gun violence, facing his father's killer in court, and learning it's OK to cry.
Long bio
Melvin Williams Sr. grew up in Germantown, Philadelphia. When he was two years old, his father, Melvin Mark Langley, was shot and killed. Gun violence went on to take his uncle, his cousins, and friends from his neighborhood, and many of those cases were never solved. For decades he carried that grief in silence.
In 2025 he stood in a Philadelphia courtroom, faced the man who killed his father, and chose forgiveness.
Today he is the founder and CEO of The Philly Made Us Foundation, a 501(c)(3) focused on workforce development, youth mentoring, AI education, and support for justice-impacted individuals; CEO of M&N Communications; Vice Chair of the Whitpain Township Board of Auditors; and the author of There's a Mentor in You and Every Corner Has a Name. He is a husband and father.
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DownloadSample interview questions
- You were two when your father was killed. What do you remember, and what did you have to learn about him?
- What happened when you got the phone call in 2024?
- What did you feel standing in that courtroom, and why did you choose forgiveness?
- Your aunt lost three sons and none of the cases were solved. What do families like hers need?
- Why do so many men hold grief in, and what did it cost you?
- What does ‘It's OK to cry’ mean to you now?
- What should someone do for a friend who just lost a loved one to violence?