Speakers

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Marilyn Alverio
Marilyn is the former National Director of Ethnic Marketing for a fortune 100 company, where she focused on sales and marketing to African American, Latino, women business owners and plan sponsors. A dynamic national speaker on issues related to capturing the ethnic markets, diversity, sexual harassment and other related topics, she has received recognition and accolades for her candid and relaxed manner; which becomes an asset to any setting.

Marilyn received her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and has successfully completed extensive marketing courses and seminars within the last five years.

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Sandy Flores Baumann
Twenty years ago, Sandy was a teenager surrounded by illegal drugs and living in a gang-infested neighborhood in Chicago. As a teenage mother in an abusive relationship, she dropped out of high school losing hope of her dream to become a published writer, presenter and educator. Today, she is a consultant, freelance writer, Motivational Speaker and a Leadership Development Coach for a Fortune 500 company.

In working within the community, she was told, “You’re a story of success!” and was encouraged to share her story to help inspire others to achieve their goals. Her passion is in guiding others to see beyond life challenges, realize their own potential and to create their own “story of success”.

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Norm Bond:
Norm Bond is the CEO of Next Step Enterprises (NSE), Inc. The firm publishes Next Step magazine, an international publication devoted to multiculturalism and diversity. An authority in the diversity debate, Bond has been quoted in such national publications as the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Black Enterprise, and Business Week.

Norm received his undergraduate degree with a dual major in business and economics in 1986. He also holds a master's degree in information- science, both from the University of Pittsburgh. His service to the community has been recognized by Inroads, Black Women in Publishing, Granville Academy National, and Lincoln University.

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Ellen Castro:

Upon completing her master’s degree in business administration at SMU, Ellen Castro worked with Exxon Company, USA for the next eleven years in various marketing and management assignments. Ellen then chose to redirect her career. To accomplish this transition, she attended Harvard University where she earned a master of education degree. The following years have been devoted to designing and facilitating leadership development and communication workshops. She has assisted many national and international companies in individual and organizational effectiveness.

Ellen has devoted the following years to designing and facilitating leadership development and communication workshops. She has assisted many national and international companies in individual and organizational effectiveness. Ellen is the author of Spirited Leadership and co-author of Tortilla Soup for the Spirit.

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Rafael Colón

Rafael Colón is an international keynote speaker – fluent in English and Spanish – an award winning author, inspirational speaker, web broadcast host, leadership effectiveness coach, business development consultant and peak performance coach to Major and Minor League Baseball players. He is the co-founder of two other companies, Diversity Broadband, LLC and Triple Threat Baseball, Inc.

He served 16 years in the Washington State government and resigned his last position as the statewide administrator of the Leadership and Management Development program to grow Voices Internacional. He specializes in career revitalization helping executive leaders and managers maximize individual and team effectiveness in a multicultural workforce environment. He speaks to government, corporate, association, and non-profit groups throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. He holds a BA from Washington State University. He completed several MBA courses in Managerial Leadership and began his doctorate studies in human and organizational development. Mr. Colón is a Competent Toastmaster by Toastmasters International and member of the National Speakers Association.

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Nora Comstock

Nora Comstock received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austinin 1982 in Educational Administration with an emphasis on community college management and a B.A. in History with a specialty in Latin America.

She is credited with growing the organization known in Austin, Texas, as Las Comadres para Las Americas from about 100 members to approximately 1400 and growing. She has started these informal groups throughout the country. While Las Comadres is for Latinas or non-Latinas married to Latinos, she keeps compadres and friends lists, as well to keep interested parties informed about local, regional, and national events of interest to Latinas and friends. She also moderates and hosts other lists for the Latino community. The purpose is to share information and to provide Latina/os more opportunities to further their careers and to build Latino communities.Nationally Las Comadres counts with approximately 6000 members in 43cities and 17 states. She expects to grow to 10 more states this year.

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DramaTeach - Ben Anderson and Jesse Cornelius:
Ben and Jesse of DramaTeach are well known for their dynamic style of presentation. As a team they bring youth to their feet with humor and audience participation. They incorporate learning about leadership & diversity through drama and action, teaching life skills through drama presentations. The key is to get on the youth level and hook up with them. Create a state of mind where the youth are open and receptive to learning. The youth become a part of a show that is fun, exciting, and entertaining. Then they allow the youth to practice all of the skills. All trainings can be used for youth, staff development and the physically challenged.

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Sylvia Fuentes
Dr. Fuentes is passionate about the plight of Latinos and education. She has a Doctorate in Adult Education and is the Director of Planning and Research in the Division of Student Affairs at Northern Illinois University.

Dr. Fuentes can talk about subjects such as adversity in the workplace, Mr. DIVA or DIVA co-workers, Latinos, Educational issues, Leadership development, diversity, and Relationships and Other Games People Play!

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SaulSilas Fathi

Saul Silas Fathi was born to a prominent Jewish family in Baghdad, Iraq. At age 10, he and his younger brother were smuggled out of Baghdad through Iran and eventually reached the newly formed state of Israel. He began writing a diary at age 11 and had several stories published in Israeli youth magazines. Saul battled the immigration department while studying at the University of Virginia, finally earning a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. This launched
an impressive career as a high-level executive with several Fortune-500 companies. Later, he
founded and managed three high-tech companies of his own over a 20-year period. Saul retired in 2003 and began writing his memoirs, Full Circle: Escape from Baghdad and the Return. Today, he lives in Long Island, New York, with his wife Rachelle and has three U.S.-born daughters and two grandchildren. He is also a certified linguist, fluent in English,
Hebrew, Arabic, and Portuguese.

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Sammi Gonzalez:
Sammi was the first Latina on the air in an English Mainstream Radio Station in Dallas Metroplex. With her voice pouring over the airwaves like honey on toast, Sammi Gonzalez is the Queen Bee of DJ's. An accomplished scholar and athlete growing up in El Paso, Texas, Sammi has mesmerized and motivated many audiences at civic events, schools, and as a presenter/speaker for many corporations.

Sammi holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Texas at El Paso and is a Certified Faith-based Counselor and Coach. These credentials and her personal and professional life experience have enabled her to write and produce seminars, lectures, and life-skills classes that offer "Consejos" on a variety of topics. She is also the founder of the "Sammi G. Hispanic Scholarship Fund" that was established in 1989 and has awarded many scholarships to Hispanics seeking higher education. Her mission: to inspire, motivate and help others, through education, counseling, coaching, and TRAINING FOR TODAY'S WORKFORCEthe development of both personal and professional goals.

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Ty Howard
Ty Howard is a classic inner city product with success written throughout the lines of his life story. He was ripped out of his mother's home at the age of two and placed into foster care at Saint Vincent's Catholic Charities inside the State of Maryland for five years. The State of Maryland granted permission for Ty to return to his biological mother's home where he managed to beat the odds of a low-income urban community in South Baltimore, Maryland known as Cherry Hill. Ty speaks from his own experiences while growing up—his challenges of becoming a teenage father, perspectives of the armed forces while enlisted in the United States Navy, and his repeated success in showing organizations, students and people how to reach new levels of excellence, daily. Ty Howard is the author of the forthcoming book Untie the Knots That Tie Up Your Life, due to be released in October 2003. If you're looking for a dynamic keynote speaker or presenter, on diversity, whose message, content and take-home value will last beyond the presentation—you need to look no further.

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Cheewa James
Cheewa is a sought-after keynote speaker and corporate trainer, having worked with associations and corporations across the United States and Canada. She is especially known for her presentations on leadership, dealing with change and finding a balanced life style. With a name like Cheewa, there has to be something different going on—and there is. She says it best herself: "My father is Modoc Indian and my mother is German." Although addressing contemporary, cutting edge business and training issues, Cheewa often uses Native American thinking to illustrate a point. She creates a feel for diversity in a very subtle way. Cheewa was born on the Klamath Indian Reservation, Oregon, and is enrolled with the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma. An accomplished author with nearly 150 articles in print, Cheewa's work has appeared in Smithsonian, National Wildlife, Chicago Tribune, Portland Oregonian and Kansas City Star. Her book, Catch the Whisper of the Wind, is released by the Chicken Soup for the Soul publishers and is composed of her short, inspiration profiles of American Indians.

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Cleo Glenn Johnson-McLaughlin

Cleo Glenn Johnson-McLaughlin writes, develops, organizes, trains, and speaks about radically new opportunities and ideas centered on change and self-help. She works to create organizations of all types where people are known as the gift and the blessing, not the problem. She is the Senior Vice President of Narconon Arrowhead the largest residential long term alcohol and substance abuse recovery facility in the world that provides the technology of vitamins and nutrients as the solution. At this time she is working with the Oklahoma Black Legislators to develop legislation to make wellness a mandate for addicts by assisting individuals on drugs to become drug-free and back to living again. Also, she is working in various capacities with legislators around the world to include funding for results in getting people off of drugs.

She is on leave as the President of Black United Fund of Texas, an institution of understanding and commitment that advocates for change and to promote self-help. She has been an organizational consultant and developer for over 19 years. She also serves as an at large member on the board of National Black United Fund.

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Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch:
Lt. Col. Kickbusch rose to be the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the Combat Support Field in the U.S. Army. In 1996, she retired and established Educational Achievement Services Inc., a training/consulting firm. With her powerful messages and dynamic presenting style, Lt. Col. Kickbusch speaks nationwide on leadership and is one of the most influential Latina women in America.

Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch is known as a charismatic, passionate and influential speaker and carries her powerful message of what it takes to be an effective leader in today's global marketplace to hundreds of schools, colleges/universities, corporations, and government institutions, both in the U.S. and abroad. For the last ten years Consuelo has dedicated her life to empowering a new generation of Hispanic leaders and has worked with over one million children and their parents across the United States through Educational Achievement Services (EAS), a company she founded in 1994.

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Elliott Lewis
Elliott offers a lively, informative, thought-provoking diversity presentation known as CHICKEN GUMBO FOR THE MULTICULTURAL SOUL: HOT, SPICY, AND HEARTWARMING STORIES ON INTERRACIAL FAMILIES AND MULTI-ETHNIC IDENTITY. Elliott is a biracial television news reporter who's been mistaken for everything from Hispanic to Egyptian, and was once referred to as "that white boy" at a family gathering. In one case, a television viewer began to adjust the color on his TV set in an effort to determine Elliott's racial identity.

Off-camera, Elliott is an energetic, uplifting, thought-provoking, and surprisingly funny public speaker on being multiracial in America. Through his presentations, audiences gain a new awareness of the unique challenges facing multiracial Americans today, while reexamining their own assumptions about race and identity. Elliott has audience members learning and laughing through his "Seven Habits of Highly Multiracial People," "Racial Ink Blot Test," "Top Ten Signs You're Living the Multiracial Experience," and his "Integration Medication" for treating "diversity-related tension."

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Anita Marcos:
Anita Marcos is a motivational speaker, trainer and community/civic leader in Dallas. She is President/CEO of Marcos Productions, a woman-owned small business providing bilingual seminars and trainings.

Anita is committed to the elimination of sexism, racism, and cultural barriers and has actively promoted women's rights nationally and internationally. Her achievements are recognized from coast-to-coast, as well as in South America.

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Sushil Mathew:
Sushil Mathew is an excellent speaker whose areas of expertise include the Principles of Business Administration, International Business, Cross Cultural Communication, Business Policy, Human Resources, and Organizational Behavior.

Sushil has experience in working with International Business Development and creating liaisons with ethnic community organizations, businesses and chambers of commerce. Important functions include protocol and relationship building with foreign government officials, local businesses and local communities.

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Christopher J. Metzler
Christopher J. Metzler is The Associate Director of the EEO and Diversity Management Studies program at Cornell University. Mr. Metzler brings a successful track record in providing consulting and training services of the highest caliber to clients in the private, not for profit and government sectors. Mr. Metzler has superior analytical, project management, facilitation, training, design, legal, organizational development, strategic planning, mediation/disputes resolution, contract negotiations business operations, team building, career planning and development, interpersonal relationships, and marketing skills.

Among Mr. Metzler’s most successful initiatives is the development and deployment of a training program entitled United in Diversity for The Ford Motor Company. This is a diversity training program to be deployed to all 110,000 Ford employees. He is a nationally recognized expert in Glass Ceiling removal initiatives from the legal and organizational perspectives.

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Alex Nogales:
Alex Nogales, the current National Chair of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, was raised in the border town of Calexico, California, in a family of migrant farm workers. He spent the majority of his youth traveling the length of California, picking whatever crop was in season. Believing that education was the key to a better life, he decided to obtain a degree in Film and Television from UCLA.

Nogales became a full-time producer at KCBS Television in 1978. His strengths in writing, production and management earned him three Emmy Awards for such shows as “Kid Quiz”, ‘At Issue” and TroubleShooter”. He has also received a host of other awards, including four Silver Angels, a Golden Halo and at least twenty other commendations for excellence in television production.

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Ana Nogales, Ph.D:
One of the most famous Latinas in the United States, Dr. Nogales’ reputation comes from her commitment to and the orientation of her practice: Los Latinos, their relationships, their problems, and their needs within this great web of cultures that is the United States of America.

Dr. Ana Nogales was the first psychologist in California to deal with people’s psychological problems and concerns through the media. The insight and advice she has offered via her television and radio talk shows, as well as her newspaper columns, has helped thousands of individuals and families to improve the quality of their lives. In Dr. Nogales is the author of Dr. Ana Nogales’ Book of Love, Sex and Relationships: A Guide for Latino Couples and Latina Power! Using the Seven Strengths You Already Have to Create the Success you Deserve.

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Rosanne Ortega:
Rosanne Ortega, an award winning community and education advocate, has over 16 years experience in the communication's arena. This multi-talented woman has extensive public relations and marketing skills with direct work experience in both the corporate and non-profit sectors.

Previously, Rosanne worked for a Fortune 500 company in a variety of positions within corporate communications, including project management, corporate donations, minority business development and minority affairs. She then successfully redirected her career into a position with a local media/broadcasting giant and gained expertise in advertising, promotions and publishing a bilingual magazine. She is committed to serving her community and vigorously pursues her passion for assisting women and Hispanic youth obtain higher education.

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Maria Palacios:
Maria Palacios is a disabilities advocate, public speaker, poet, and mother. Her personal experience with disability issues makes her presentations a dynamic and an educational journey that will shatter the negative myths regarding this community. Born in Latin America, Maria acquired Polio at the age of eight months. She came to the United States at age fifteen and overcame the obstacles of language and culture to become the strong and independent woman she is now.

Maria uses writing as a positive tool in empowering women with and without disabilities and has published The Female King, a collection of her poetry. Maria is involved in the disability rights movement assisted in the progress of the passage of the American's with Disabilities Act and Created the "Power and Control Wheel" for persons with disabilities which was adopted by the Texas Council on Family Violence.

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Paula Reed
Paula Reed has worked in the fields of training, management, sales, and marketing for over 15 years. Curiosity in family history began as a child at her grandmother’s knee. That is when the man, whose obituary was titled, “Richest Colored Man in Kentucky Died”, intrigued her. That interest was again piqued 15 years ago when a close friend introduced her to the fascinating world of genealogical research and the history of the Postell family. After gathering documents from the Latter-day Saints Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the National Archives, Hopkinsville, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Internet, and various other resources, her grandmother’s oral history began to come alive.

Paula presents actual documented materials to discuss the life and times of this African American civil war freedom fighter, who grasped the American dream prior to his death in 1901. The genealogical tracking of her great-great grandfather can be dated to the 1700’s, Yorkville, South Carolina and the Huguenots in France. Currently, Paula is writing a book about her family’s slave-to-success story.

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Eduardo Retta:
Eduardo Retta is a new breed of professionals for the global age, called Interculturalists. Retta has worked, trained and consulted in over 40 countries for 20 years. Educated in the USA and in the UK, he holds an MA in Cross-Cultural Ministry and a BS in Psychology and Management.

Eduardo spent his early career working in corporate America in engineering and manufacturing environments. During eight years with a British NGO, he designed and implemented cross-cultural training programs for hundreds of staff members from over 60 countries.

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Ruben Ruiz:
Ruben Ruiz, Author of ‘The One Hour Hispanic Millionaire’, is the CEO of The Ruiz Financial Group, LLC, and Money Concepts Financial Planning Centre’s. Ruben has been a financial advisor and planner for over 25 years. Ruben’s passion is to educate & motivate Hispanics to create wealth and financial independence for themselves and their families, and actually to become ‘Millionaires’ because they have that right and freedom in the USA. He has done hundreds of seminars, workshops, and boot camps on financial planning & wealth creation for his clients, which approximately 98% are Hispanic. Ruben earned his Masters of Science in Financial Services, from the American College, Bryn Mawr, PA. He holds the designations of the Chartered Financial Consultant, Chartered Life Underwriter, Certified Senior Advisor and is a Registered Financial Consultant. Ruben holds a BBA degree from Southwest Texas State University (Texas State University). He was recently elected to the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC) Board of Directors, and is the former Chairman of the Board for the San Antonio & South Texas Financial Planning Association (FPA).

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Marilou Martinez Stevens:
Marilou Martinez Stevens is an active member of numerous community and professional organizations, volunteering both her time and professional expertise. Ms. Martinez Stevens has served as Chair of the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce (TAMACC). The first female chair of TAMACC in its 23 year history.

In 1999 U. S. District Office 1999 Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year. In 1998 was named by Hispanic Magazine 100 Most Influential Hispanics in American. In 1997, Marilou Martinez Stevens was named Business Women of the Year by the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and received the Minority Business Development Agency (BDA) Regional Director's Award for the years 1997 and 1998.

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Benita Reina Swinners

As a United States Army Sergeant, in the Bravo 5-5 Air Defense Artillery of the 2nd. Brigade 2nd Infantry Division, Sgt. Benita Reina Swinners completed a 21-month tour on Camp Hovey in South Korea and a 10–month Combat Tour in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II attached to the 1/9th Infantry Division. Sgt. Swinners was one of three females attached to the infantry division at Camp Ramadi. While in Iraq, Sgt. Swinners had the honor of participating in a historic event by being in charge of one of the initial Iraqi Election Polling Sites where Iraqi women had the privilege of voting for the first time. She participated in 5 Iraqi raids that resulted in the detaining of insurgents and was responsible for streamlining air and ground transportation for over 4,000 troops.

Among her honors, Sgt. Swinners earned 3 “Best in Battalion” ratings from the Battalion Inspection Team and won Battalion and Brigade Soldier of the Quarter Board. Her awards include 3 Army Commendation Medals, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal and was chosen as part of the Advanced Party for the Brigade S4.

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Betty Ramirez Swinners:
Betty Ramirez Swinners is the owner and CEO of Diversity Speakers and a motivational speaker who has dedicated her life to sharing her story of success and survival to encourage others to believe in themselves. A survivor of abuse, she was raised as a homeless child, living in an abandoned house. Education was not a priority to her family, so Betty only attended the second and the fifth grade of elementary school. But adversity did not stop Betty from becoming a success. Betty has been recognized as "One of Texas Most Influential Women" by Texas Hispanic Magazine, inducted into "The Hispanic Women's Hall of Fame" by Hispanic Women in Leadership, and recipient of the first US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Ana Maria Arias Hispanic Business Woman of the Year Award.

Betty is passionated and delivers powerful keynote addresses at conferences, luncheons and vigils for Colleges / Universities, Domestics Violence Agencies, Rape Crisis Centers and Women's Organizations. She is the co-author of "Tortilla Soup for the Spirit" and will soon release two new books "Daily Affirmations for Latinos" and "A Story of Hope and Fried Chicken."

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Elodia Tate
Elodia Tate is a best-selling author, speaker & health Coach, who is known for using humor & story telling to connect with her audience. She feels blessed and honored to have released a best-Selling book, "Open My Eyes, Open My Soul": Celebrating Our Common Humanity, co-created with Yolanda King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with a foreword by Coretta Scott King. This book is a special collection of stories and poems that celebrates our diversity while reminding us that we are all connected. She has been featured on "The Today Show", CNN, CBS "The Early Show", "BET Nightly News", and many others.

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Rudi Thomas:
As a survivor of domestic violence, Rudi Thomas decided that the education of women from a spiritual standpoint is needed for the cycle of violence to stop. Rudi’s belief is that with a strong rooted foundation of knowledge, a person can weather the storm and survive.

Rudi is the founder of Full Spectrum Ministries, a women’s ministry based on the principle of leaving a legacy of sharing and caring. She focuses on liberating, uplifting, empowering and educating women. Know where you came from, look at where you have been, and then you can control where you are going.

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Gale Williams-Jackson:
By the age of 5, Gale Williams-Jackson knew that domestic violence had a destructive affect on families. As a child she kept a private money jar with coins to call the police from a phone booth when she feared for her mother’s life. She witnessed the abuse and murder of her mother suffered at the hands of her abuser as a result of domestic violence.

By sharing her story and speaking out against domestic violence and the effects that it has on the victim, children and our society, she hopes that no other child or woman will live what she lived through.

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