Great Black Speakers

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Black History Month 2008 Featured Speakers

Featured Speaker Categories:

Social Commentary Speakers
Business and Entrepreneurship Speakers
Sports, Media, and Entertainment Speakers
Healthcare Speakers

Social Commentary Speakers

Dr. Boyce Watkins - Professor, Educator, and Social Activist

Dr. Boyce Watkins - Professor, Author, and Social Activist

Price Range: $3500 - $7000
Topics: Black Social Commentary, Education, and Personal Finance

Dr. Boyce Watkins has presented his message to millions, appearing regularly on CNN, ESPN, Fox News, and many more national media outlets. Although Dr. Watkins has his Ph.D. in finance, he is also an expert on a variety of topics including education and black social commentary. Read more...

Video Footage of Dr. Watkins:

Dr. Boyce Watkins Argues for Jena 6 on CNN

Dr. Boyce Watkins Speaks with Headline News About Oprah, Obama, and Upcoming Presidential Elections

Dr. Boyce Watkins on The Black Enterprise Report

 

  Dr. Julianne Malveaux - President of Bennett CollegeDr. Julianne Malveaux
College President, Economist, and Women's Activist

Price Range: $10,000 - $12,000

Topics: Race, Culture, Gender, and Economics

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is the President of Bennett College for Women.  Recognized for her progressive and insightful observations, she is also an economist, author and commentator, and has been described by Dr. Cornel West as “the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country.”  Dr. Malveaux’s contributions to the public dialogue on issues such as race, culture, gender, and their economic impacts, are shaping public opinion in 21st century America.
Read More...

Gloria Jackson - Booker T. Washington SpeakerGloria Jackson

Price Range: $3500 - $4000

Topics: "Booker T. Washington: Life, Legacy, and Beyond."


 
Gloria is a great-granddaughter of Dr. Booker T. Washington and is the Founder and President of the Booker T. Washington Inspirational Network, Inc., BTWIN. It is Gloria's belief that it was not by accident that she was born into the bloodline of Booker T. Washington. She, instead, believes that it was a God given gift to provide her a platform from which to share with others the profound spiritual and economic wisdom and the liberating truth embodied in the words and actions of her great-grandfather. Read More...
  Al Duncan pictureAl "The Inspiration" Duncan

Price Range: $3500 - $5000

Topics: "Trendsetters and Goal Setters: Secrets of Great Black Entrepreneurs"

The Magic of Exceptional Communication: Secrets of Great Black Orators

Al Duncan is like a breath of fresh air - stimulating! He is a high energy, high content, high impact speaker, lecturer, and motivational powerhouse. Al has delivered over 500 keynotes and 300 seminars to more than a quarter million people. Read more...

Links:

Al Duncan Black History Month Promo

Al Duncan College Demo Video
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill - Professor of Urban Education at Temple UniversityDr. Marc Lamont Hill - Professor, Author, Political Analyst

Price Range: $3500 - $7000

Topics: Politics, Hip Hop Culture, Sexuality, Education, and Religion

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is one of the youngest members of the growing body of “Hip-Hop Intellectuals” in the country. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for numerous radio, television and print media outlets such as The Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, Essence Magazine, Radio America, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. In 2005, Ebony Magazine named him one of America's top 30 Black leaders under 30 years old. Dr. Hill is a professor at Temple University and his research focuses on the intersections between youth, popular culture, and pedagogy.

Video Footage of Dr. Hill:

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill Debates Heroism on Fox News.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill and Bill O'Reilly Discuss California Fires.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill's Opinions on Cities Suing Gang Members.



  Dr. Cyrus M. EllisDr. Cyrus M. Ellis

Price Range: $3000 - $5000


Topics: "It's All Gumbo to Me - Issues facing African American Males and Emotional Effects of Racism."

"We Need a Re-Mix - Rap Music and the Impact on the Black Authenticity."

Dr. Cyrus M. Ellis is one of the leading and most provocative counseling education scholars in the African-American community. Growing up in the Gulf Coast region of Louisiana, Dr. Ellis understands the overlapping nature of people, race, class and culture. Dr. Ellis has also developed a social-political understanding of how one's environment plays a role in the response of African-American males towards society. Read more...

Links:

 Topic Sheet: We Need a Re-Mix

 Topic Sheet: It's All Gumbo to Me
     
George Fraser - Networking GuruGeorge Fraser - Networking Guru

Price Range: $11000 - $16000
Topics: Networking Beyond the Cultural Stereotype

"Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship"

Affirmative Action vs. Affirming Our Actions - Moving Ahead With our Without It.

Future Wealth: The Ten Best Business Opportunities for Blacks in America.

George Fraser is the author of two books, including the critically acclaimed bestseller, Success Runs In Our Race; The Complete Guide to Effective Networking in the African American Community. He is also the creator and publisher of the award winning SuccessGuide Worldwide: The Networking Guide to Black Resources.

Many have called George a new voice for African Americans. He is considered by many to be one of the foremost authorities on networking and building effective relationships. Read More...

George Fraser Video:

Diaspora of African-American Economic Empowerment



  Kim CampbellKim Campbell - Entrepreneur, Strategy Consultant

Price Range: $2500 - $3500

Topics: Entrepreneurship, Minority Business Development, Personal Leadership.

Kimberly Campbell is an entrepreneur, strategy consultant and speaker/facilitator.  She is the founder of New Venture Consulting Group (NVCG), a business strategy consulting firm that assists minority entrepreneurs in securing the finances required to grow viable business ventures.  Kimberly holds an MBA from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia.

 

Kimberly has an extensive a career as a Management Consultant working with Accenture and with the Wharton Small Business Development Center (SBDC).  She has advised both fortune 500 and small business clients. As a Management Consultant with Accenture, Kimberly worked with strategy teams to improve business processes for clients in the government and financial services industries. At Wharton SBDC, Ms. Campbell led an initiative to redesign the business consulting process and improved the Center’s state ranking of “Most Effective SBDC in Pennsylvania” from sixteenth to fourth.  Read More...

Demetrius WalkerDemetrius Walker - Owner; dangerousNEGRO clothing line

Price Range: $1800 - $2500

Topics: Entrepreneurship, Black Empowerment, Marketing

Demetrius Darnell Walker is a native New Yorker. Born in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, Demetrius represents not only the merits of higher education, but street knowledge as well. Currently, Demetrius serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of dN Group LLC, the parent company of dangerousNEGRO. Through dangerousNEGRO, Demetrius is able to spread the message of Black uplift via apparel design, writing, and lecturing. Read More...

Links:

DangerousNegro Spreads its Message on BET

2007 DangerousNegro Catalog


  Genma Holmes - The Bug LadyGenma Holmes - Business Owner, Model, Motivational Speaker

Price Range: $4000 - $8000

Topics: Diversity, Public Relations, Entrepreneurship

Genma Stringer-Holmes is the CEO of Holmes Pest Control in Nashville, TN. Nine years ago, Genma went from being a fashion model and actress to becoming the bug lady of Tennessee. She has become the voice of minorities and women in the industry and has accumulated millions of dollars through her business. Read more...

Lynnette Khalfani - The Money CoachLynnette Khalfani - "The Money Coach"; Personal Finance Expert

Price Range: Call for Quote

Topics: Personal Finance, Media, and Entrepreneurship

Lynnette Khalfani, The Money Coach, is a personal finance expert and the author of "The Money Coach's Guide to Your First Million." As an award winning journalist, Lynnette worked nearly a decade as a Dow Jones newswire reporter and a Wall Street Journal reporter for CNBC. Read more...

Links:

Investing Success Video by Lynnette Khalfani







  Farrah Gray - ReallionareDr. Farrah Gray - Celebrity Entrepreneur and Reallionare

Price Range: $8000 - $11000

Topics: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Motivation

Dr. Farrah Gray was named as one of the most influential Black men in America by the National Urban League's Urban Influence Magazine. At 21 years old, he was recognized by Ebony Magazine as an entrepreneurial icon, business mogul and best-selling author. Raised in the improvised South side of Chicago, Dr. Gray defied the odds and became a self-made millionaire by the age of 14. At the age of 21, he became Dr. Farrah Gray, receiving an Honorary Doctorate degree of Humane Letters from Allen University. Read More...

Links:

 Video Reel of Dr. Farrah Gray
James Lowry - Senior Vice President of Boston Consulting GroupJames Lowry - Senior Vice President; Boston Consulting Group

Price Range: $15000 - $20000

Topics: Minority Business Development; Entrepreneurship, Media

Visionary management consultant and entrepreneur James H. Lowry was born to Chicago postal workers William and Camille Lowry. He graduated from the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago and Grinnell College in Iowa. Lowry served in the Peace Corps in Tanzania and Puerto Rico before earning a master's degree in public international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1968, Lowry was McKinsey Consulting's first African American recruit.

In 2000 Lowry was recruited to join the prominent Boston Consulting Group. As a president of its Chicago operation, he has been credited for his productive involvement in the North American Black Diversity Initiative, a program that fosters the development of African American management consultant professionals on college campuses and within the company. Read More...

Links:

Jim Lowry and BCG Report: Realizing the New Agenda For Minority Businesses


  Lawrence Watkins - Owner; Great Black SpeakersLawrence Watkins - Owner; Great Black Speakers Bureau

Price Range: $1800 - $2300

Topics: College Student Networking, Entrepreneurship, and Motivation

Lawrence Watkins, University of Louisville graduate majored in engineering and has ventured off to be a young African American entrepreneur. He is a Management Leadership For Tomorrow Fellow and has a strong interest in public policy and international affairs. Great Black Speakers Bureau is a new speaker’s bureau that markets African-American speakers to universities and other professional outlets. Great Black speaker’s bureau is committed to providing excellence, reliability, and an elevated measure of integrity on a daily basis.

Lawrence is committed to both his clients and his speakers. Please ask about Great Black Speakers special discounts on Lawrence when another speakers is booked through his agency.

Links:

Taking Over the World One Business and Many Songs at a Time
     
Roxanne Jones - Vice President of ESPNRoxanne Jones - Senior Vice President; ESPN and Founding Editor of ESPN The Magazine

Price Range: $3000 - $5000

Topics: Journalism, Entertainment, Sports and Society, and Media

ESPN The Magazine welcomed Roxanne Jones to the staff in December 1997 as the senior editor of its professional football and boxing coverage. She was one of a small team journalists who helped to successfully launch ESPN The Magazine in March of 1998.

In October 1999, she was promoted to deputy editor and in March 2000 she moved on from football and boxing to oversee The Magazine's ever-expanding lifestyle coverage, including "The Life" department and special expanded sections. Other areas under Jones include the popular "Total Access" and "Outtakes" departments.

In addition to her role at The Magazine, Jones is executive editorial producer of ESPN television The Life and oversees editorial content for show. Part of the ESPN Original Entertainment unit, the weekly series debuted in January 2001 and examines the ways in which sports meets popular culture. The Life takes viewers beyond the game and into the lives of today's top athletes, to see and hear about the relationships, families, hobbies, fashions, music and realities that comprise the modern sports star's Life. Read More...









  William Rhoden - Author of Forty Million Dollar Slave and NY Times ColumnistWilliam C. Rhoden - Author; Forty Million Dollar Slave and Columnist for New York Times

Price Range: $8000 - $10000

Topics: Race and Sports, Journalism, and Media

William C. Rhoden (born 1950) is a sports columnist for The New York Times. He has been in his current role since March 1983. Previously, he was a copy editor in the Sunday Week in Review section since October 1981 when he joined the newspaper.

Before joining the Times, Mr. Rhoden spent more than three years with The Baltimore Sun as a columnist. Before that, he was associate editor of Ebony magazine from 1974 to 1978.

William H. Rhoden is also the author of the controversial Forty Million Dollar Slaves, which was published by Crown Publishing in 2006. This book compares the relationship of black athletes to team owners and agents to white plantation owners and slaves of the Antebellum period. It also deals with the complexities of societal implications on black athletes. Howard University has devoted a few students from its spring 2007 semester to further analyze this topic. In 2007, Rhoden's next book Third and a Mile: The Trials and Triumph of the Black Quarterback was published. This book continues the work of Forty Million Dollar Slaves by discussing the struggles that many black quarterbacks have endured by being labeled as "athletic" and not smart enough to play the position. Rhoden is a frequent guest on ESPN's The Sports Reporters.

 

 

Vondell Richmond - Sophisticated RomanceVondell Richmond - Owner; Open Mind Productions and Sophisticated Romance

Price Range: $2500 - $3500



Topics: "Making Your Own Breaks in the Entertainment Game: The Story of Sophisticated Romance"

Entrepreneurship: "CEO of Self"

College Leadership: "The Mind, Body, and Soul of a Leader. Building Strong Leadership Characteristics"

Soon to release Sophisticated Romance his feature film debut as actor/writer, Vondell knows that racial boundaries are no respecter of talent. Vondell recently toured the nation in the play Cover Girls by Bishop T.D. Jakes where he originated the role of Shadrach Brewster. Prior to that was a stop at the John F. Kennedy Center, in The Color Of Justice, a Theatreworks/USA children’s production about Thurgood Marshall and Brown vs. The Board of Education. He earned his MFA in acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers University. As an actor, he has appeared in over 35 productions to include (Oberon) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (Clay) in Black, (Doc) in Blues for an Alabama Sky, (Harold) in Orphans, and (Det. Cole) in Stop Kiss. Read More...

Links:

Sophisticated Romance Trailer

Script to Screen: Conversation with Vondell Richmond




  Ericka Dunlap - 2004 Miss AmericaEricka Dunlap - Miss America 2004; Founder of the Crown Jewel Foundataion

Price Range: $2500 - $5000

Topics: "Higher Expectations: Encouraging Young Women to Soar at a Higher Level"

After being crowned Miss America 2004, Ericka Dunlap announced that she would promote the ideals of cultural diversity and inclusion during her reign.

In addition, she also devoted herself to motivating audiences through her upbeat presentations on “Attention to Attitude”…the perfect way to energize and stimulate all age groups to maintain the right frame of mind toward achieving their priorities. 

Through her experiences as Miss America, Ericka took her message to audiences throughout the country and around the world, including several that had not typically been associated with the Miss America Organization. She was a special guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Hollywood Squares game show, The O’Reilly Factor, and she also served as the grand marshal of the Talladega-EA Sports 500 NASCAR race. She was especially honored to be the first Miss America in 32 years to visit our US troops in Kuwait for Thanksgiving at the request of the Kuwaiti Princess and the US Army Reserves. Read More...

Links:

Ericka Dunlap's Higher Expectations Presentation

Lauren Lake - Media Personality and Entertainment LawyerLauren Lake - TV Personality

Price Range: $3500 - $6000

Topics: Entertainment Law, Relationships, and Social Commentary

Ask Lauren Lake, and she’ll give you the lowdown on hot topics concerning life, love and the law. The multi-talented lawyer, television host, entertainer, and designer dishes out her no-nonsense advice, sharp commentary, and bold expert opinions on many of today’s popular television shows.

Lauren appears as a legal expert for the “Dr. Phil” show, laying down the law to at risk youth and families in crisis. She has served as guest host/anchor and legal analyst for MSNBC and Court TV, and is a regular on-air commentator for CNN, Headline News, Fox News Channel, and CNBC. Read More...

 Links:

Lauren Lake on CNN's Paula Zahn Show.








  Carlos "Tone Capone" Acosta - VP of Universal MotownCarlos "Tone Capone" Acosta - VP of Universal Motown - Latin Division; Executive Producer of Hot 97 in NYC


Price Range: $2500 - $3500.

Topics: Business of the Entertainment Industry, Marketing and Public Relations

In the volatile world of music, most industry insiders vie to climb the corporate ladder and hold steadfast to the hope of stability in an unpredictable and chaotic business. But then there are the chosen few; the trailblazers; the trendsetters; the ones who build their own path for the rest to imitate. Constructing his empire one venture at a time is a 35-year-old entrepreneur donning a plethora of hats including SVP of Marketing of CMG/Motown-Universal, Hot 97 radio producer, marketing guru, as well as on-air talent. Read More...

 

Gil Robertson - Author of Not in my FamilyGil Robertson - Author of Not in My Family; HIV/AIDS Expert

Price Range: $3000 - $5000


Topics: 

Safe Sex in The Age of HIV/AIDS

Gil L. Robertson IV is not your average journalist. In the world of media and public relations marketing, he wears many hats. As a leading media consultant, Robertson is a journalist and pop culture critic with the vision to develop academic curriculums and learning tools necessary to stimulate personal growth for the masses. Most recently he’s added authorship to his repertoire.

Robertson, who received a B.A. in Political Science from Cal State Los Angeles, also serves as CEO and Founder of the 10-year old national syndicated Arts & Lifestyle column, The Robertson Treatment. The column appears in 30 newspapers across the country boasting a national readership in excess of 2 million. Mr. Robertson's byline has also appeared in a long list of publications that includes Essence, Billboard, The Source, the Los Angeles Times and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Read More...

Links: 

 Let's Talk About Sex Workshop Promo

  Anthony Munroe - Healthcare Leadership SpeakerDr. Anthony Munroe - Healthcare Leadership Expert

Price Range: $5000 - $8000

Topics: Healthcare Leadership, Strategy, and Diversity

Anthony E. Munroe is president of Advocate Trinity Hospital and was recently named one of the Top 25 minority healthcare executives in the United States by Modern Healthcare Magazine. He was also internationally honored as the Robert S. Hudgens national award recipient Healthcare Executive of the Year in 2003 by the American College of Healthcare Executives and as one of the Modern Healthcare and Witt / Kieffer Up & Comers. Previously, he served as president of St. John Detroit Riverview Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and as president and chief executive officer of the Economic Opportunity Family Health Center, Miami, Florida.

A widely recognized and profoundly effective leader, Dr. Tony Munroe successfully served in various executive positions in New York City and Decatur, GA, Dr. Munroe is nationally recognized for his expertise in healthcare leadership, strategy, cultural competency / diversity in healthcare, health systems leadership, and as a healthcare futurist. Read More...