Yemi A.D.

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Yemi Akinyemi Dele, born on 4 November 1981 in Liberec, Czechoslovakia, is a Czech multidisciplinary creative and serial entrepreneur. He was raised by a Nigerian father and a Czech mother. When Yemi was four, his father was arrested during an armed coup and could not return to the Czech Republic for 18 years. He later used the internet to reconnect with his father.

At 16 he moved to Prague for education and work. He taught dance in the Netherlands and Sweden and trained in street dance in Los Angeles. In 1999 he founded JAD Dance Company in Prague, building an international team of dancers and choreographers and developing a dance style called Street Fusion. JAD worked with Kanye West as his main dancers for Runaway (2010) and for live performances. Yemi later founded Dance Academy Prague to teach hip‑hop, modern, contemporary and other styles. In 2010 he started JAD Productions, a production company whose clients include Google, Apple, Coca‑Cola, T‑Mobile, adidas Originals and Mercedes Benz. In 2011 he directed Charlie Straight’s music video “School Beauty Queen,” which MTV Czech named Music Video of the Year.

In 2021 he founded Moonshot Platform Inc., a U.S. nonprofit that supports emerging leaders solving the 21st‑century Grand Challenges and SDG innovations. Moonshot hosted conferences in Europe and the U.S. and launched the Moonshot Awards in 2022. As an actor, Yemi has appeared in films such as Chronicles of Narnia II: Prince Caspian, Red Tails and Unfaithful Klara (Italy, 2009). He has given talks at TEDx and the Czech Singularity University Summit. In 2021 he applied for the dearMoon mission and was announced in December 2022 as one of eight crew members; the mission was cancelled in 2024 due to delays. He publicly came out as gay in July 2010. His work and ideas are showcased at yemiad.com.