James S. Cooper was born, raised and educated in Liberia. He is passionate about helping Liberians learn to read and write, grow their small businesses, and find comfort in life. He has successfully managed several adult literacy and other projects in Liberia. He has also been a primary school teacher; a volunteer secretary to a women’s center on the International Rescue Committee’s Male Involvement Project on the prevention of violence against women; a volunteer community adult literacy teacher; and he established a night school for graduates of the adult literacy program in his hometown. James has served as a Life Skills and Business Development Skills Trainer, and Site and Field Supervisor on the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women project funded by the World Bank through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of the Government of Liberia, and implemented by the National Adult Education Association of Liberia, and he has been the Project Coordinator on the Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment project, sponsored by UN Women and implemented by the National Adult Education Association of Liberia. He was also a Business Support Officer for Business Link Micro Finance, an organization that provides small business loans to grassroots businesswomen. James is now the Liberia Family Literacy Initiative Adult Literacy Program Coordinator, where he trains adult literacy teachers weekly and supervises all activities of the adult literacy program for the WE-CARE Foundation Inc.