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Lamman Rucker

Lamman Rucker is an Actor, Educator, Activist and Entrepreneur. Best known as the handsome star of Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married film sequel and hit film/sitcom Meet The Browns; Rucker is maintaining a powerful screen presence. He may be recognized from recent films such as BET’s The Man in 3B and Black Coffee, UPtv’s Where is The Love…

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April Ryan


White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House – a position she has held since the Clinton era. On behalf of the American Urban Radio Networks, and through her “Fabric of America” news blog, she delivers her readership and listeners…

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Kim Coles

As a beloved multifaceted actress, comedian, author and speaker, Kim Coles has delighted audiences all over the world for over 32 years including ground-breaking shows like In Living Color and Living Single. A sought after online academy teacher and intuitive strategic coach, Kim also guides women on the incredible healing journey…

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Carla Hall

Carla Hall is a co-host of ABC’s Emmy award winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew,” seated alongside restaurateur and “Iron Chef America” star Michael Symon, and entertaining expert Clinton Kelly. Hall is best known as a competitor on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All Stars”, where she won over audiences with her fun catch phrase…

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Juliet Hall

Juliet Hall is a former 20-year corporate executive of two Fortune 500 companies, Wachovia Bank and the Chick‐fil‐A Support Center. Her diverse business, creative and service background includes consulting to multi‐million dollar franchisees, playwriting, and leading in community affairs. In 2016, Juliet left Corporate America to build…

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Sope Aluko

Sope Aluko (pronounced “Shaw-peh Ahlookoh”) is a Nigerian-born actress whom was primarily raised in the UK. She spent her younger years traveling and living all over the world, including France, Tanzania, Trinidad &Tobago, and Indonesia. She has dual-citizenship in both the US and the UK, and speaks four different languages…

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Vanessa de Luca

Vanessa de Luca is a creative leader, driven by finding innovative ways to tell human-centered stories, guide new conversations, and grow brands. She recently served as the Editor-in-Chief of ESSENCE magazine. In this role, Vanessa oversaw the editorial vision and content creation across all platforms, including the magazine, digital, social, video and live experiences…

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Gay Hendricks

Gay Hendricks has been a leader in the fields of relationship transformation and bodymind transformation for more than 45 years. After earning his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1974, Gay served as Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Colorado for 21 years. He has written more than 40 books…

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Nona Jones

Nona Jones leads Global Faith-Based Partnerships for Facebook, the world’s leading social media company with more than 2 billion users. In her role, she works with Pastors and Church Leaders around the world to help them launch and lead an online church campus through the Facebook platform while also helping develop and drive Facebook’s product…

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Roxanne Avent

Through movies, music and television, Roxanne Avent has established herself as a leading producer and executive whose creative vision and drive has contributed to the success of many feature films, comedy shows and television series. Avent has formed a partnership with Deon Taylor and their film company, Hidden Empire Film Group (HEFG), is on fire.

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Cheryl McKissack Daniel

Cheryl McKissack Daniel, civil engineer, has more than 25 years of experience in all phases of the design and construction industry including major project work in the commercial, healthcare, education and transportation sectors. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Cheryl comes from a long lineage of architects and builders that began with an enslaved Ashanti ancestor in 1790.

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Manoucheka Thermitus

Manoucheka Thermitus, MBA, serves as Chief Operating Officer for Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis. As the COO, Thermitus is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the facility and plays a key role in leading improvements in the delivery of quality care and strategic growth. Prior to this position, she served as the hospital’s Chief Strategy Officer…

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Paul Hopkins

Residing in Miami Beach, Florida she is responsible for total sales and operations for the Pepsi Beverages Company in South Florida. She relocated in January, but is not new to South Florida, in 2009-2012 she previously held the position of Regional Sales Director of the SFL Market (Miami, Pompano, and Riviera). During her time in South Florida, she led several successful projects…

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Karen Hunter

Karen Hunter is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, professor, publisher, and change
agent. She has co-authored eight New York Times bestsellers, including books with
Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, and Wendy Williams. As CEO of Karen Hunter Publishing, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Karen has published No. 1 New York Times bestseller True You by pop icon Janet Jackson…

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Lisa Francouer-Mesa

Lisa Francouer-Mesa has 15 years of record-breaking success in the realm of sales, business development and marketing; spanning industries such as entertainment, publishing and technology, where she spent the past 10 years of her career generating millions of dollars in new business revenue. Lisa solves business challenges that improve efficiencies…

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La Detra White

As president and CEO of Noble Insight, Inc., La Detra has over twenty years experience in leading marketing, public education and research initiatives around the world. In her career, she has served as director of marketing for Fortune 100 companies managing teams and revenue in excess of 5 billion dollars.

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Joan A. Muir, Ph.D.

Dr. Joan Muir is a Licensed Psychologist. She received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University, completed her internship at Yale University School of Medicine and post-doctoral fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC). Dr. Muir began her career developing new psychotherapies for drug using youth.

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Dr. Terrie Temkin

Dr. Terrie Temkin has been working with, and training others to work with, “difficult people” most of her long career. Her degrees in interpersonal and organizational communication, as well as adult education, and her experience with personality testing, have proven valuable to her as a manager, national trainer, adjunct professor, and consultant. Terrie is a founding principal of CoreStrategies for Nonprofits, Inc.

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Areva Martin

Passionate, outspoken and insightful, AREVA MARTIN is one of the nation’s leading voices in the media. An attorney, advocate, legal and social issues commentator and talk show host, she is an audience favorite on a long list of shows from Dr. Phil to AC 360. A recurring guest host on the Emmy award-winning daytime syndicated talk show, The Doctors, Areva’s television credits include regular appearances on Good Morning America…

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