Glynn Hodges is a certified Keynote Speaker, Coach and Teacher. and Executive Director at The John Maxwell Team. His story, which began in rural Georgia, is an international inspiration. He is the Former President/ Owner at ATS Staffing Services and Former Sales manager at Westinghouse. As a Coach and Motivational Speaker, Glynn helps people discover their “Why” the John Maxwell way. His mantra is Helping You To Be The Best You.
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The Powerful Connection of Spirituality and Entrepreneurship– by Deborah Levine
When COVID-19 changed the economy, more people became entrepreneurs. The act of creating your own business has an underlying connection between spirituality and entrepreneurship. How does that work? The first element is the business side of the endeavor and its bottom line, otherwise known as ‘show me the money.’ The second motivation is self-fulfillment. Some refer to this element of entrepreneurship as ‘personal satisfaction.’ But the core of the vague term ‘personal satisfaction’ is what is best described as a spiritual sense of purpose. This spirituality is sometimes linked to one’s particular faith tradition, but is not necessarily so. Rather, there is a commonality in this spiritual sense of something greater than ourselves that translates across the boundaries of specific religions. Most importantly, there is tremendous power where this spirituality and business overlap.
Continue reading The Powerful Connection of Spirituality and Entrepreneurship– by Deborah Levine
Explaining antisemitism – by Deborah Levine
Antisemitism goes back long before the term was coined by a German historian in 1781. Violent attacks and expulsions of Jewish communities span centuries. The Babylonians exiled Jews from Zion, the earliest use of the term, into Middle Eastern and Mediterranean regions. The Romans forced Jews into Europe. Blamed for causing the Black Plague, Jews were driven out of England, France, Germany, and Italy. They fled to Eastern Europe but experienced violent pogroms and isolation into The Pale. Throughout it all, the elements of antisemitism rarely changed.
For example, the Blood Libel dates as far back as the Temple in Jerusalem with claims that Jews sacrificed Greeks. It reappeared in the Middle Ages when an English cult announced that Passover Seder wine was actually Christian blood. Centuries later, a mob destroyed a synagogue in Damascus for this blood libel. As recently as 1928 in New York, Jews were accused of kidnapping and ritually killing a young girl.
Continue reading Explaining antisemitism – by Deborah Levine
Black-Jewish Dialogue Nov.: Economics and COVID-19
The November Black-Jewish Dialogue focused on the economic impact of COVID-19 on our communities. With participants from coast to coast, Bermuda and Hungary, the dialogue has grown from a local Chattanooga initiative to a global discussion. Hosted by Chattanooga’s Mizpah Congregation in partnership with the American Diversity Report, the dialogue began in August of this year with monthly virtual sessions. Many thanks to Dr. Gail Dawson, Dr. Les Petrovics, and John Miles for sharing their expertise and experience with us.
CLICK for the November Dialogue
recording
- CLICK for OCTOBER DIALOGUE
- CLICK for WHY NOW
- CLICK for EXPLAINING ANTISEMITISM – Hadassah Presentation
Dialogue Partners:
American Diversity Report, Chattanooga News Chronicle, Mizpah Congregation, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, C.U.R.B. – Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda.
Forest Harper: INROADS Closing Corporate DEI Gap
Forest T. Harper Jr. is the President and CEO of INROADS, the nation’s largest non-profit model of salaried corporate DEI internships and corporate and community leadership development for outstanding ethnically diverse talent at the pipeline and mid-career level.
This year marks 50 years for INROADS. Hear how the organization is important to corporate America’s landscape today and is proving effective in closing America’s Racial Wealth Gap. Understand how to execute diversity & inclusion strategies to accelerate organizations in today’s multicultural market. Harper shares how vital it is to establish talent pipeline development for attracting, recruiting and sustaining diverse talent as well as securing C-Suite alignment.
CLICK for INROADS podcast
Laurel Taylor: Student Debt Specialist
Laurel Taylor is the Founder and CEO of FutureFuel.io, a student loan repayment platform that uses innovative, technology driven solutions for customers to pay down student debt quickly and efficiently. Financial wellness and equal opportunities should go hand in hand, however, historically that’s not always the case. Regardless of one’s diverse background, financial literacy should be at the forefront of an overall healthy relationship with financial wellness. Laurel has used her own personal experiences with student debt as a catalyst to founding FutureFuel.io and dedicating her life to help those burdened with student debt.
CLICK to hear Laurel Taylor’s podcast interview
Dr. Zibin Guo: Tai Chi for Wellness
Dr. Zibin Guo: Professor of Medical Anthropology at University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
He specializes in teaching and conducting research in the field of medical anthropology. He employs an applied anthropological approach to study human beliefs and practices related to physical and mental health; and to develop innovative programs to promote populations’ well being in the context of cultural relativism:
• Wheelchair Tai Chi program.
• Bringing Wheelchair Tai Chi Chuan to the Paralympics
• Cross-culture dementia research
• Asian Americans’ health cultural adaptation in the United States.
CLICK for Dr. Guo’s Podcast Interview
For more information about Dr. Zibin Guo and his work, CLICK on these websites:
Appllied Tai Ji
Adaptive Tai Chi International
Tai Ji Community
Natasha Copeland: Award-winning NBC 4 Journalist
Natasha Copeland is an Emmy award winning journalist, with more than two decades of experience. She is a news assignment editor for NBC 4 in Washington, DC. Natasha develops, plans and fact checks daily breaking news, community -related news, and major local and national news. She has been the logistical lead for stories that include General Elections to live community events. Currently, most news coverage revolves around the Covid 19 pandemic.
Natasha’s focus is on The People in her private life as well as her media career. She and her husband, now retired from law enforcement, are community advocates and activists for the underserved.
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Editor’s Note: It was truly a pleasure interviewing Natasha whose compassion for the people she serves is matched by her perseverance in becoming a leader in an industry where there are few women of color. Now working from home given COVID-19, she maintains both her family and her NBC staff with grace and extraordinary skill. Dealing with the heart-breaking stories of the pandemic era, Natasha Copeland is an inspiration. She’s a reminder that media, like medical personnel, serve on our front lines.
CLICK for Video Recording/Podcast of Natasha Copeland’s interview
Charlie Buhler: Bi-Racial Film Director
Charlie Buhler is a film director who has been strongly influenced by her upbringing as a bi-racial woman growing up in a predominantly white area in South Dakota. Charlie uses her work to make sense of the dichotomy between how she experienced the world and how the world experienced her through the lenses of race and gender.
Hear her speak about her path to becoming a film director and the importance of representation on-screen. Be inspired by Charlie’s experience as a woman of color in the film industry.
CLICK for Interview with FILM DIRECTOR CHARLIE BUHLER
Black-Jewish Dialogue October 2020
Health, Healthcare and Equity
Presenters for this Black-Jewish Dialogue session included Beverly Coulter, Pastor William Hicks, and Dr. Frank Miller with facilitators: Rabbi Craig Lewis of Mizpah Congregation and Deborah Levine, ADR Editor. The discussion included descriptions of the healthcare challenges facing the African-American community and the Jewish community, as well as mutual challenges in the COVID-19 era.