Mwati Mwila

Mwati Mwila was born in Lusaka, Zambia and grew up in Australia, New Zealand before finally residing in Seattle, WA USA. She has her BA in Communications from the University of Washington in Washington.

Mwati has had many experiences living with this illness Bipolar I Disorder; from traveling to seek alternative methods of healing, and meeting the extraordinary people who inspired her during her suffering. The unique part of this is that Mwati in her memoir, Strengthening Your Identity While the Shadow is in Front of You, is honest with her readers and doesn’t hide behind a “ happy ending.” Mwati shows that she is still struggling and has left open a dialogue that she hopes will shed more light on this particular illness. She hopes others can continue on this platform combating and destigmatizing and finding the hope not giving up. Mwati says that we as society deal with these issues surrounding this illness silently, and neglect to have a deep, rich and healthy conversation, especially in underdeveloped communities. We have put these conversations on the back burner because the illness has been silenced for so long, that we are some how ashamed to talk about it. Mwati says its time to talk and pay as much attention to this illness as we do other illnesses.