Category Archives: Public Speaking

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So you wannabe be a freelance writer? You wanna eat as a writer? You betta hustle…(the recap)

Hello World,

If you weren’t able to make the AABJ (Atlanta Association of Black Journalists) panel discussion “The Art of the Hustle” last Saturday, thanks to blogger extraordinaire Yalanda Lattimore, editor of DryerBuzz.com who videotaped the event, you can watch it here! (Thanks 🙂 ) Panelists endeavored to share how we have pursued our journalism and writing careers as the field of journalism continues to evolve in the wake of the Internet, bloggers, newspaper layoffs, decreasing budgets, etc.

Check out the mini-bios of the illustrious panelists…

Curtis Bunn, Kelley L. Carter, Denene Millner, Dion Rabouin and me. (Malena Cunningham was there via Skype.)

Kelley L. Carter is an Emmy-Award winning entertainment journalist. A graduate of Michigan State University, Carter has been an entertainment reporter and critic for more than a dozen years. She’s worked for a number of national and international media outlets, including USA Today, VIBE, BBC, EBONY, ESSENCE, ESPN, MTV News, the Chicago Tribune and the Detroit Free Press. Carter has interviewed many of Hollywood’s elite including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Jada Pinkett Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Drew Barrymore, Jamie Foxx, Mark Wahlberg, Katie Holmes, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, Ben Stiller, Bradley Cooper, Courteney Cox, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Aniston, Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. Carter also is regularly tapped for her expertise for TV networks, including CNN, HLN, E!, Fox News and the TV Guide Channel to deliver pop culture takes on entertainment, and give news updates to breaking entertainment news. She currently works as a freelance journalist and covers travel, lifestyle, music, film, celebrities and television. Twitter:  @KelleyLCarter

The New York Times best-selling author Denene Millner is a hotly sought after award-winning journalist whose insightful and captivating pieces have secured her foothold in the entertainment, parenting and book publishing industries. The former Parenting Magazine columnist is the founder and editor of MyBrownBaby.com, a critically acclaimed blog that examines the intersection of parenting and race. Millner also frequently contributes to ESSENCE, EBONY and JET magazines, and has appeared regularly on the “TODAY show,” CBS’ “The Early Show,”” The Nate Berkus Show,” HLN, CNN, and “The Rachel Ray show.” She’s authored 20 books, including the best-selling “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man,” co-written with Steve Harvey. Millner’s latest, the novelization of Whitney Houston’s posthumous movie, Sparkle, hits bookshelves in August. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and their two daughters. Twitter: @MyBrownBaby

Curtis Bunn is a 25-year, national award-winning sports journalist who has covered virtually every major sporting event and done every job in the newsroom. Bunn, who now serves are deputy editor of www.atlantablackstar.com, spent the bulk of his career as a beat reporter covering the NBA – first the New Jersey Nets as a 23-year-old for New York Newsday and then the New York Knicks for Newsday and the New York Daily News. In 1996 he joined the staff of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he worked for 13 years before accepting a buyout in 2008. The author of five novels, he is the writer of the book, “Yes Ma’am, No Sir: 12 Essentials Steps For Success In Life” with Coach Carter, the subject of the 2005 blockbuster movie starring Samuel L. Jackson. His next novel is “Homecoming Weekend,” to be released in September by Strebor Books/Simon & Schuster. Twitter: @curtisbunn

A packed house...

Malena Cunningham is president of Strategic Media Relations, Inc. a media consulting business she founded in 2005 and co-author of the book “Savvy Leadership Strategies for Women.” A graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in public relations/journalism, she began her 23-year broadcast career in television news at CNN in Atlanta working first behind the scenes, then on-camera for WTBS. In 1992, Malena moved to WVTM/NBC13 in Birmingham as weekend co-anchor. Within five months, she was promoted to the 6 p.m. weekday newscast becoming the only African American at that time in Birmingham in a main anchor position. During her 12 and a half years at NBC13, Malena won two Emmy Awards (1995 and 1996) for special reporting. She was also part of the 6 p.m. news anchor team that won an Emmy for Best Newscast (1996). In 2004, Malena won the prestigious regional Edward R. Murrow Award for anchoring the half-hour documentary “Beneath the Rubble,” which chronicled the 40th anniversary of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Twitter: @strategicmediar

Dion Rabouin is a freelance journalist whose writing has been published in The Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Daily News, AllBusiness.com, The Atlanta Voice and many others. He has been featured on Los Angeles radio stations 90.7 KPFK and Southern California Public Radio’s 89.3 KPCC, as well as on television on “RT News” and “Today in LA.” He was formerly secretary of the Black Journalists Association of Southern California and currently serves on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Atlanta chapter in addition to being a member of AABJ. Twitter: @DionRabouin

And I served on the panel too, and since this is my blog, I don’t feel the need to post my bio 🙂 But you can follow me on Twitter @jackiehwrites

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

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After the Altar Call on the Move…

Hello World,

The lone writer...(get it? LOVE.THIS.PHOTO)...A pic from my book release party...

If you have visited my humble blog before, you know that my book which has the same name was released in February of this year! And since then, I have been on the move around the A as I have attempted to spread the word about a book that I truly believe will help women to develop a personal relationship with God! And God has blessed my efforts!

As of this month, my book is now available via Black Expressions Book Club! From the web site…

Black Expressions is the book club when it comes to books for and by African Americans. We’ve got bestselling books from such African American authors as Zane, Brenda Jackson, Eric Jerome Dickey and E. Lynn Harris. From new urban fiction to black romance novels and African American Christian fiction, Black Expressions truly has something for everyone. Plus, our editors love reading as much as you do and they’ll constantly keep you updated on the most-talked-about African American books on the scene.

If you are a member of Black Expressions, you can order my book for a whopping 50 cents! Truly, you cannot beat that deal anywhere sooo order it here (click on the link.).

And now that the unofficial start of summer is this weekend (Memorial Day weekend), I plan to venture out of the A and hopefully spread the good news about After the Altar Call!

This weekend I will be at the 33rd Annual Christian Women’s Retreat in the Country Music Capital of the World! Yes, that’s right, I (along with my mother and other women from our church) will be traveling up the road a piece to Nashville to fellowship with Christian women from around the country. And if you’re read my book, one the original organizers of the retreat (which was created in 1980), Ms. Susie Doswell is featured in my book. Ms. Doswell has a tremendous testimony of thriving after after teenage pregnancy and abusive marriages. The convention will be held at the Sheraton Music City Hotel so if you’re in the area, stop by and see me.

The next weekend, on June 2, I will be speaking on “Developing a Personal Relationship With God” at Central Christian Church’s 11th Annual Women’s Prayer Breakfast. The prayer breakfast begins at 10 a.m. Central Christian Church is located at 1916 Dodson Drive, Atlanta 30311…That’s right in the heart of the SWAT!!!

And a few days after that, I will be signing my book on Tuesday, June 5 at 1 p.m. and Wednesday, June 6 at 2 p.m. at the Urban Ministries Inc. bookstore  at the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference in Hampton, Virginia! From the conference web site…

The Ministers’ Conference began in 1914 when the Negro Organizational Society, the Conference for Education in the South, the Southern Education Board, and the Cooperative Education Board sought to address the growing concerns of the African-American church and its relationship to the community. With Hampton Institute carrying strong influence with each of these community organizations, it became the birth-place of the original Ministers’ Conference, then known as The Conference of Negro Ministers of Tidewater, Va.

The HU Ministers’ Conference and Choir Directors’ and Organists’ Guild has also welcomed famous individuals to the campus of Hampton University. Past attendees have included the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1962; the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; the Rev. Al Sharpton; the Rev. T.D. Jakes; and in 2007, Barack Obama.

I pray this book will truly help women all around the world develop a personal relationship with God! And I’m thankful to God for enabling me to spread the word about this book, and I could use your help too…Let erebody know After the Altar Call is on the move…

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Saint & A Sinner…

Hello World,

If you haven’t noticed, I’m movin’ on up (Shout out to Weezie & George Jefferson)…Welcome to my brand new website! Since I will be a published book author soon, I thought I should get a bigger website with more features…take a look around my new space, and let me know what you think…just like when you move into a new place, there are a few “kinks” I need to work out, but basically this is my new home on the Internet. And love it 🙂 Thanks Tess Gadwa of Yes Exactly: Websites That Fit!

Cec Murphey

Anywho, since I came back from the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference at Philadelphia Biblical University in Langhorne, Pa. earlier this month, I’ve been pondering a message given by New York Times best-selling author Cec Murphey. His advice to an audience of published and aspiring writers:

“If you want to be used by God, be as honest, open and transparent as you can.”

Cec Murphey has an impressive résumé: He is the author or co-author of more than 100 books, including the New Times best-seller 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don Piper) and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (with Dr. Ben Carson). He is also the author of When Someone You Love Has Cancer, When God Turned Off the Lights, and Christmas Miracles, all 2009 releases. Prior to launching his career as a full-time writer and speaker, Murphey served as pastor of Riverdale Presbyterian Church in Metro Atlanta, as a volunteer hospital chaplain for ten years, and was a missionary in Kenya for six. Many of his books have been inspired by his personal experiences…

Recently, Murphey also revealed that he was sexually abused as a child and is now using his platform to help other men who were also sexually abused. For more information, please go to menshatteringthesilence.blogspot.com.

His words got me thinking about these verses from Romans 7 (The Message version):

…I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time…(17-20)

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. (25)

So in the interest of being as transparent as I can, I will divulge that I’m a saint since I’m a Christian, but I’m also a sinner since I’m still on the earthly side of heaven (in other words, I’m a believer and a make-believer)…For all of my praying, going to church, reading the Word and talking about Jesus, I’m still prone to sin…now what all those sins are…hmmm…not ready to be that transparent yet….but trust me, I’ve got some…

But before I go in too much on myself, Murphey also pointed out that in spite of all of David’s (from the Bible) sins, he was still the apple of God’s eye…And Murphey advised that we pray these two prayers:

“God help me to like who I am, who I used to be and who I am becoming.”

AND

God, show me the truth about myself, no matter how wonderful it may be.”

AMEN…

Any thoughts?

P.S. On my Gospel playlist right now…”Over & Over ” by Trin-i-tee 5:7 featuring PJ Morton…Saints & Sinners, He blesses us over and over again even though we are not deserving…