Yusuf Ali El was born in Chicago and raised in Pembroke, Illinois. He holds a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters in Language and Literature from Governors State University in Illinois. Yusuf has self-published more than twenty titles, seven of them coming in the last seven years. His two recent, award-winning, best-selling children's books are “Thank You & Please” and “My Father Knows,” both family favorites. His success manual, “How To Feel Good About Yourself,” has often brought readers to tears with its cathartic messages. Yusuf is an accomplished poet, a down-to-earth, no-nonsense motivational speaker. Yusuf writes what he feels; he hopes you feel what he writes.