Alumni and Friends Directory

Biography

Arshay Cooper is a Rower, Benjamin Franklin award-winning author, the protagonist of the critically acclaimed film “A Most Beautiful Thing,” A Golden Oar recipient for his contributions to the sport of rowing, motivational speaker, and activist, particularly around and issues of accessibility for low-income families. Arshay works with the George Pocock Foundation and A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund to bring rowing to under-resourced communities.

Arshay grew up on the West Side of Chicago, raised by a single mom in a neighborhood surrounded by gangs and drugs. But a chance encounter changed Arshay’s life. In 1997, he joined (and later became captain of) the first All-Black high school rowing team at Manley High School, an experience that changed Arshay life. He dedicated two years of his life to AmeriCorps, focusing on education, service-learning, diversity, and inclusion, and soon after that, Arshay attended Le Cordon Bleu, becoming a chef for critically acclaimed restaurants and for World Wrestling Entertainment and Warner Brothers.

After self-publishing his memoir, Suga Water, which is now the basis for a new documentary (narrated by Common, executive produced by Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade and directed by Mary Mazzio) called “A Most Beautiful Thing” and a republished memoir of the same name from Macmillan). Arshay and his work have been featured on The Today Show, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, NBA TNT, Sports Illustrated Magazine, Men Health, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, BBC World Service, Christian Science Monitor, BET, NPR, Miami Herald, Peoples, Black Enterprise, Hollywood Reporter, WGN News, Good Day New York, CBS, Chicago Sun-Times, Deadspin, Chicago Reader, FOX, Discovery Life Channel Steph Curry Book Club and more.

Arshay has been a guest speaker for JP Morgan, Winklevoss Capital, NAACP Convention, Atlanta Hawks, Comcast NBC Events, Oakland A’s, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Stanford University, Cornell University, Union Hospital, Moody Analytics, Hobson’s, Morehouse School of Medicine, USRowing Conference, British Rowing, Victory Outreach International, SC Johnson, Vanguard, UFC Fighters, Americorps, Ebertfest, University of Chicago, among many other conventions, companies, universities, and organizations.

Arshay Cooper’s book can be purchased anywhere books are sold and his film “A Most Beautiful Thing” is now on Xfinity Comcast, Peacock, and Amazon Prime. The Film has inspired the “A Most Beautiful Thing” shoe by Fila.