All posts by Editor-in-Chief

Deborah Levine is Editor in-Chief of the American Diversity Report. She is a Forbes Magazine top Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer and an award-winning author of 15 books. She has been recognized by the Women's Federation for World Peace and the TN Economic Council on Women. She was featured on C-Span/ BookTV and her published articles span decades in journals & magazines: American Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, The Bermuda Magazine, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin. A former blogger with The Huffington Post, she is now an opinion columnist with The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Generational, Levine ADR articles

Letter Home from WW II Soldier – Courtesy of Deborah Levine

May 8, 2018 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

On special occasions, Veterans & Memorial Day, I reread this letter from a young soldier, my father, Aaron Levine to his dear wife. On the verge of being deployed to Europe during World War II, he wrote this 1944 note. He writes my pregnant mother who came to NYC to see him off, but missed him. My father didn’t see his son until he was one year old. Aaron Levine passed away at age 84 and worked on community projects even on his death bed.   Literary, practical, loving, and compulsively methodical, here is his WW II good-bye letter …

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Levine ADR articles, LGBTQ

Volkswagen and Women Who Rock – by Deborah Levine

May 6, 2018 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

Over the years, I’ve attended press conferences, graduations, receptions, and concerts at Volkswagen Chattanooga’s conference center, but I’ve never before seen it decorated entirely in pink. The event was the first ever Volkswagen Women Who Rock Awards Brunch. After having my picture taken in the photo booth wearing a pink Volkswagen hard hat, I meandered through the crowd waiting to hear from the keynote speaker, Julie Baumgardner, CEO and Founder of Chattanooga’s family oriented nonprofit, First Things First.

We watched profiles of the award nominees on the overhead screens as we listened to each of their favorite songs. It was a musical lesson in diversity. True to Volkswagen’s techie mindset, the playlist could be downloaded on Spotify. After much munching and brunching, we were brought to attention by Shireena Avery, the Volkswagen Diversity Sponsor to the featured Employee Resource Groups (ERG). The Women Who Rock program got underway with Megan Herndon, President of Volkswagen’s Women in Motion ERG.

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Commerce, Levine ADR articles

Global Trade and the Trans-Pacific Partnership – by Deborah Levine

April 11, 2018 Editor-in-Chief Leave a comment

While President Trump reconsidered the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? Many American cities, like Chattanooga, have built their economies on international industries, their vendors, and outdoors sports competitions including Ironman. Before the halt to our participation in the TPP, there was a well-attended panel discussion on the controversial TPP at the Small Business Incubator with moderator Jim Frierson, who was Chief of Staff in the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) during the Reagan Administration. The cabinet agency is responsible for developing international trade policy for the President and negotiating with our trading partners. America’s first bilateral free trade agreements — with Israel and Canada — were initiated, negotiated, and implemented during his eight-year tenure. As intense competition from Japanese autos and semiconductors appeared to threaten the US and then receded, the seeds of an ambitious Pacific regional trade compact were planted in exploratory meetings by the USTR himself, Ambassador Bill Brock, a Chattanooga native.

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Authors R-Z, Commerce, Of Women

Interview #1: How to Grow as an Entrepreneur – by Fatima Williams

February 9, 2018 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

You have an idea, you have something that you want to do, a business that you want to start up. How do you go about doing it?’
Self-Confidence, Motivation, and Inspiration help you develop and grow as an Entrepreneur. It’s about recognizing opportunity, looking around you, and thinking of something that could be done differently. It might be a new product or a new service but it’s about spotting an opportunity in the marketplace. Something out of the box. Out of the ordinary. Often, it’s the most simplest of ideas that really take off.

Inspired by the response to my article, 2018 Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs and How to Overcome Them, I initiated this series called How to grow as an entrepreneur. I am talking to leading and inspiring women entrepreneurs all over the world and welcome men who support Women Entrepreneurship as well. This is about raising awareness. Women need to take the entrepreneur baton in their hands.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns, Teams & Leaders

Trends in Thought Leadership – by Deborah Levine

February 4, 2018 Editor-in-Chief 2 Comments

(originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Thought Leader has become a popular term in 2018. It sounds impressive and timely, even if we’re not sure what it means. At one level, the term is meaningless. If you aspire to be a thought leader, does that mean you’re currently a thoughtless leader? Joking aside, Thought Leader has come to refer to an expert in a given field who’s been able to monetizing that expertise. Some look at the reference as the result of inflated ego, but also as a useful marketing tool for increasing visibility and recognition.

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Interfaith Podcasts, USA Culture Podcasts

Robyn LeBron – Interfaith Peace Advocate

December 11, 2017 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

Robyn LeBron is a member and contributor to WorldAnglican.com. She is an interfaith peace advocate and the Manager-Moderator of Interfaith Professionals on LinkedIn where she advances the interfaith movement by connecting interfaith groups to maximize their efforts. Robyn is the author of two books, Searching for Spiritual Unity…Can There be Common Ground? and The Search for Peace in Times of Chaos.

CLICK to hear Robyn’s podcast

The South Podcasts, Workplace Strategies Podcasts

Vincent Ivan Phipps: Communication expertise for diverse styles

November 20, 2017 Editor-in-Chief Leave a comment

VIP Vincent Ivan Phipps is an expert on Communication expertise for diverse styles as a Speech Coach, author, and owner of Communication VIP Training and Coaching.

Vincent is the recipient of the highest earned professional speaking recognition awarded by the National Speakers Association called the CSP, Certified Speaking Professional.

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