Manny Yekutiel ’07 on Creating a Space for Civic and Political Engagement – TSC055



In the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District sits a community gathering place called “Manny’s,” where on any day one might find Kara Swisher interviewing a member of Congress, a Q&A with San Francisco’s Chief of Police, a gathering of Gamers of Color, or meeting of the American Jewish Committee. All of this the brainchild of the space’s founder and namesake, Manny Yekutiel ’07. In this episode, Manny tells his story—from growing up gay and closeted in a Modern Orthodox home in the Pico-Robertson district, before obtaining a Harvard-Westlake brochure, applying to the school in secret, and then attending with the help of need-based financial aid. After a life-changing Harvard-Westlake experience, Manny was then elected student body president at Williams College, followed by a White House Internship and Watson Fellowship, and then finally San Francisco, where Manny now owns and operates what has become the structural embodiment of his own political passions and curiosities. Manny references Tamar Adegbile, Portia Collins, and Tom Hudnut of Harvard-Westlake, Katya King of Williams College, and San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman as profound life influences