Mekonnen Yared Seifu is originally from Ethiopia. He received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a B.A. in Business Administration from Micro Link Information Technology College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has been teaching Amharic and Ge'ez in the Harvard African Language Program since 2016. Mekonnen Yared Seifu is a Deacon for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. He speaks four languages: Amharic, Ge’ez, English, and French and has an interest in ancient Ge’ez and Amharic literature, Ethiopian culture, traditional songs and dance, and translation.