On May 6, 2013, the Diversity Committee hosted Martin Jakobsen, Founder and Director of Turning Tables (http://turningtables.org), an organization that trains vulnerable youths with urban music skills. He told his story of how his crush on a girl launched his journey combining music, youth, and social responsibility through several continents.

Martin Jakobsen has been running Turning Tables since 2009, establishing permanent DJ and rap schools and conducting workshops for refugee youth and internally displaced persons in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. He has also been organizing and supporting rap and hip hop concerts in the Middle East.

Martin has been a professional DJ and producer for more than a decade and holds a Master in International Relations from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.We were introduced to Martin by Rodrigo Davies, a Master’s student (and DJ himself) in the MIT Comparative Media department.