Biography
Dee Asaah is an education entrepreneur, writer, researcher, and filmmaker. As Founder and CEO of The Asaah Group, LLC, a corporate training and multimedia publishing company, Dee instructs entrepreneurs around the world how to design, package, market, and teach professional courses. He is also the co-founder and executive director of the Nawee Afrika Education Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit that supports African children, youth, and their families in Africa and the United States with educational programs and resources.
Dee's interdisciplinary research interests span writing, literacy, international educational development, education entrepreneurship, filmmaking, and neuroscience. His doctoral research explored the community cultural wealth, transnational knowledge, and systemic challenges faced by Black immigrant and refugee youth, examining the role community-based organizations play in mediating students’ transnational literacy practices and the potential partnerships they can forge with schools.
He partnered with a Philadelphia-based nonprofit to design and implement an online educational and mentoring program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on two years of on-site experience at the organization’s West Philadelphia location, he developed the program’s pedagogy, which integrated a wide range of texts, including books, articles, film, television, art, and digital media, and employed both standard and innovative teaching methods. In addition to academic support, the program served as a space for connection and commiseration during an especially isolating and challenging time. Tutors were paired with middle and high school students across the United States.
The program also flipped the traditional teacher–student dynamic. Students often stepped into teaching roles, sharing their own knowledge and experiences with the broader community. Through projects such as culinary literacy workshops and multimodal storytelling, they taught cultural traditions, family histories, and practical skills, positioning themselves not just as learners but as educators and leaders within an intergenerational learning environment.
In the Education Entrepreneurship program at Penn GSE, Dee co-teaches “Foundations of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum: Curriculum, Equity, and Participatory Inquiry” with Dr. Gerald Campano. The course combines Dee’s current academic and professional interests with his decade-long experience in the corporate world. His background spans roles as co-founder of the nonprofit Nawee Afrika Education Foundation; business manager and corporate trainer for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) and U.S. Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR); and manager at the Decurion Corporation’s ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, CA.