In 1990, Shakir Bakari Williams received his Bachelor of the Arts (BA) degree from the illustrious Howard University in Washington, D.C. In the years that followed, he worked as a Probation Officer with the Wayne County Third Circuit Court in Detroit, Michigan. Later, he attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he obtained his Master of Arts (MA) degree in Education in 2004.

Following graduate school, Shakir became a public-school educator in Detroit and, later, with the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) district of Montgomery County, Maryland. In 2010, he took a professional leave of absence to teach English in the United Arab Emirates. He lived in the city of Al Ain, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which is an hour’s drive south of Dubai, for three years. While providing instruction to local Emirati students, he also taught English to a very diverse group of learners from such places as Syria, Palestine, Egypt, The Sudan, Jordan, and Oman. Also, Shakir conducted various professional development seminars for non-native English-speaking instructors. During his tenure there, he traveled extensively to various nations in the region and countries in Southeast Asia. His visit to these regions was enhanced by his additional love for military history and international history.

In addition to his nearly twenty years of professional experience in criminal justice and public education, Shakir has been an entrepreneur in various capacities, operating t-shirt, janitorial, and transportation businesses during this period.
But teaching, public speaking, and travel have remained his passion! He was able to synthesize his love of all of these into the Fall 2023 publication of his first book entitled “The Enemy Within: Why We Black Americans Must Confront Ourselves.”

P.O. Box 4516 | Silver Spring, MD 20914