MEET OUR EXPERTS
Dr. Jacqueline King
Dr. Jacqueline King spent twenty six years in various management positions for the largest Electric and Gas Company in New Jersey.
She has had a life of service having served on many boards including; The College of New Jersey Non Traditional Jobs for Women, The Mercer County Child Placement Review Board, the Middlesex County Gender and Equity Board, PSEG Speakers Bureau and Diversity Council, The Mayor of Newark New Jersey’s Diversity Council, Ewing Township General Assistance Board, National Alliance for Mental Illness NAMI, One Step Further and Transitioning Minds. She served as Commissioner on the Greensboro Human Relations where she was Vice Chair, the Police Community Review Board where she was Vice Chair and The Chief of Police’s Faith Based Council.
Dr. King has received numerous awards and certificates of appreciation including the YMCA New Jersey Minority Achievers award in 2001 for community service and professionalism.
In 2012, Dr. King founded Black Women Empowered Incorporated and Black Women Empowered Safe Haven. BWE Inc is an online ministry/network that empowers millions of people on a daily basis with posts, live broadcasts, health and wellness and education. BWE Safe Haven is a Non Profit Organization that supports homeless and struggling Veterans. BWE has provided support to struggling Mothers, sponsored several food drives, coat drives and financially supported the Disabled Veterans as well as many Food Pantries and Shelters.
Dr. King holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Masters of Science in Christian Counseling, Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and a Doctorate in the Philosophy of Christian Counseling from Cornerstone Christian Bible College International
Dr. King has two Children and three Grandchildren.
Dr. Mathew Knowles
Motivational speaker, legendary music executive, entrepreneur, cancer survivor, author, professor, lecturer, artist manager and fighter would be the words used to sum up the life and career of Mathew Knowles.
Knowles’ passion, simply said, is to educate and motivate in the areas of entrepreneurship, leadership, sales and marketing, the music and entertainment business, team management and business development, health and wellness, surviving and thriving after cancer and much more.
Why is he so passionate about educating the masses? He feels it’s his duty to give back to the next generation of achievers.
After all, only a few can boast a story that begins in the heart of segregation as a black man, walking down a dirt road in a small town in Alabama on his way to an all white elementary school (where he was often the target of extreme racism) to walking down the red carpet at the Grammys.
Mathew Knowles had to overcome countless trials and tribulations, and understands first hand what it takes to create massive, noteworthy success in this world despite the odds being against you.
As a pioneer for black success in the corporate world, Knowles’ career includes sales and marketing at Xerox Medical Systems (being named its worldwide #1 salesperson multiple years in a row), Phillips Medical System and Johnson & Johnson. In music, having sold over 450 million records worldwide, he has architected the careers of Destiny’s Child, Grammy winner Le’Andrea Johnson, Beyoncé and Solange, just to name a few. Additionally, he has worked with legends such as Chaka Khan, The O’Jays, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many others.
He also served as the Chief Marketing Officer for House of Deréon, Deréon and Miss Tina apparel which ultimately sold for $75 million.
He helps individuals and organizations understand the motivation, mindsets, strategies, and work ethic required to spearhead and ignite the spark needed to help entrepreneurs, executives, sales, marketing and leadership teams, as well as dreamers of all types create once in a lifetime results.
He not only helps with this, he shows his audiences exactly what needs to be done.
He has held positions at various institutions including Pepperdine University, London College of Creative Media, Point Blank Music School and is currently the Dean of the Black Music Industry Certification Program, at the distinguished National Museum of African American Music.
He also serves on various boards in dozens of industries as an advisor.
Cathleen Trigg-Jones
Cathleen Trigg-Jones is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, talk show host, producer and actress who has co-starred in more than a dozen TV shows and films, including: Power, Madam Secretary, House of Cards, Homeland, and the Tupac Shakur biopic, All Eyes On Me. She is the Executive Producer and Host of the talk show Chic Chat on iOne Digital and creator and co-star of the hit docu-series We are the Joneses, which airs on Discovery Life. She is also the founder of iWoman TV, the only 24-hour digital streaming news and entertainment network focused on delivering everyday news, sports and entertainment through a female lens.
A former news anchor and reporter for My9 and Fox 5 News broadcasts in New York City, Cathleen’s on-air career in television, radio and film spans more than two decades. Behind the scenes, Cathleen is fueled by her passion for creating and producing television and film projects under the umbrella of her own multi-media production, advertising and marketing company, Catscape Productions, which she founded in 2006.
Catscape is a collective and incubator for women in film and television focused on producing content that is responsible, entertaining and socially charged in hopes of changing the landscape of how women are portrayed in the media, in front of and behind the camera. And in keeping with her quest to empower women everywhere, Cathleen is launching an OTT, called iWoman, which will stream content produced by women, for everyone.
Cathleen is a highly sought-after motivational speaker and emcee for events and fundraising galas around the world. She has been honored and recognized for her professional and philanthropic contributions, receiving awards from: Black Women In Media, BMW - Women of Excellence, The Women’s Image Network as well as the Girlz Talk: Lift As We Climb Award, The BOSS Network: Influencers Award and CASA Child’s Hero Award. Cathleen is a member of New York Women in Film and Television, The Screen Actors Guild, The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, The National Association of Black Journalists, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and a host of other prominent organizations.
A proud mother of four, Cathleen’s deepest passion is helping underserved women and children nationally and internationally. In 2008, Cathleen founded “Trigg House,” a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that provides assistance to teens aging out of the foster care system. A former foster child herself, Cathleen is determined to serve as an example for foster children and young women to help them see that there is always a way out of unfortunate circumstances. This year she was sworn in as a NY State Court Appointed Advocate for Foster Children (CASA), and recently completed certification to become a foster parent.
In addition to launching iWoman, Cathleen is currently at work on several documentaries: one addressing her adoption and the search for her birth parents, one about her family’s efforts to help the victims of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and their inspirational journey to Africa.
Dr. Lynn Richardson
Named by Urban Influence Magazine as one of the 20 Hottest Influencers in America, Dr. Lynn Richardson is an author, entertainment executive and celebrity financial coach who uses her quick wit and humorous presentation style to help others face their money issues and achieve personal, professional and spiritual harmony.
With more than two decades of leading roles in the banking and real estate sales industries, Lynn's vision is best portrayed in her books, most notably Living Check to Monday: The Real Deal About Money, Credit and Financial Security, which achieved Best Seller status at the Congressional Black Caucus Conference Book Pavilion.
Lynn is featured regularly on Good Morning America, Fox Business, Access Live, The Steve TV Show, The Hallmark Channel's Home & Family Show, BET Networks and has appeared in Essence, Jet, Upscale, on Get Up Mornings with Erica Campbell, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and in countless media outlets nationwide.
She has served as Chief of Operations for Russell Simmons' & Dr. Benjamin Chavis' Hip Hop Summit Action Network and is currently the President and CEO of MC Lyte's Hip Hop Sisters Foundation, and an executive at MC Lyte's Sunni Gyrl entertainment and celebrity management firm -- where she oversees empowerment programs that impact the globe.
Dr. Willie Jolley
There are many motivational speakers, and then there is the one, the only, the incomparable Dr. Willie Jolley. He truly is a renaissance man! He’s a triple threat personality and a global thought leader. He is a Hall of Fame speaker, an award-winning singer and a popular national radio and television personality. In addition, he is the author of several international best-selling books.
Dr. Willie Jolley has achieved remarkable heights in life, after coming from humble beginnings. His father died when he was a teenager and he put himself through college by singing in nightclubs and recording jingles for radio and television commercials. He went on to become a multi WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Association) Award winning nightclub performer. Yet, at the top of his nightclub career, he was fired and replaced by a karaoke machine, during the karaoke craze that swept America!
Dr. Jolley decided that he was not going to give up, so he took that setback and turned it into an amazing “Comeback!” He has gone on to be named “One of the Outstanding Five Speakers in the World” and “Motivational & Inspirational Speaker of The Year” by the 175,000 members of Toastmasters International. In 2005, he was inducted into the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame and received the CPAE Award (Council of Peers Award of Excellence).
Dr. Joyce Haddon
Joyce Ruth Haddon is a pastor, author, teacher, motivator, psalmist, and radio personality. As a young woman, many thought she would be found dead because of her lifestyle. God later saved her and lit a flame on the inside of her to help others obtain deliverance and restoration just as she did.
After being saved for more than 40 years, her testimony of God’s goodness has impacted lives and empowered people to become free from binding chains and strongholds. Having endured harsh tests and trials as a young Christian, Joyce Ruth Haddon continues to use her testimony of triumph as a national evangelist traveling to such countries as Africa, Trinidad, Hong Kong, Tai Pei, and others. She also ministers throughout Continental United States. She encourages others to reach above their cut place in order to get to that place of healing.
She has been happily married to Apostle Clarence B. Haddon since 1976 and pastors alongside him at High Praise Cathedral of Faith located in Inkster and Detroit, Michigan. Joyce Ruth Haddon is also a loving mother and grandmother. Joyce Ruth Haddon holds an Honorary Doctorate from Tuskegee University. She is the CEO of Joyce Ruth Haddon Ministries, a ministry dedicated to helping people all around the world seize everything that God has for them.
Dr. Mercy Edionwe
Dr. Mercy Edionwe is a board-certified physician trained in both lifestyle medicine and internal medicine. She has done numerous live-streaming shows and radio talks dealing with how to live a healthy lifestyle. She also speaks publicly about common diseases and medical conditions. If she is not on the "air" talking to people about health, you can find her writing about topics such as healthy lifestyle choices and/or disease prevention.
Her work has been featured on blog sites (such as MadameNoire) and even on the National ABC News website. If she is not writing about preventative health, she enjoys helping others to succeed in their medical career endeavors. From writing questions at a board review company to having personal interactions with aspiring medical students, Dr. Edionwe believes in the principle of “giving forward” once you too have received.
During her free time, Dr. Edionwe enjoys leisure walking and/or hiking through nature, rollerskating, and traveling.
Joe Dudley Jr.
Joe Dudley Jr. is the President of Dudley Direct, Inc., a direct marketing & small business consulting firm. For over 30 years, Joe has worked in his family business, Dudley Products, Inc., one of the nation’s leading manufacturers and distributors of ethnic hair care and personal care products. He has worked in numerous positions in the company including VP of Marketing & VP of Finance.
As a second-generation entrepreneur, Joe has not only observed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs, but he has helped to guide and counsel successful business owners over the past three decades. From his widespread exposure to business, including retail sales, direct sales, maintenance, accounting, production, marketing and finance, he has gained a great appreciation for the diversity and the potential that entrepreneurship offers.
Joe is certainly committed to young entrepreneurs. He co-led the development of a $25,000 Essay Scholarship Contest and a two-day Entrepreneurial Leadership Conference. Over one hundred college students attended each of the three annual business conferences held at the Dudley Products headquarters. The students were able to interact with over twenty successful entrepreneurs and executives. Each year, the conference received rave reviews from all participants.
Joe recently published What’s My E-Style?, which challenges entrepreneurs to discover their entrepreneurial personality for outstanding business success. In this book, Joe makes it simple for entrepreneurs to define their business style and achieve success.
He also is a certified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instructor and is certified to administrate Predictive Index, a workplace assessment tool.
Dr. Teisha Robertson
As a certified online health and wellness coach, Dr. Teisha Robertson of TaylorFitForYou is passionate about creating a safe and supportive space for busy and overwhelmed women to level up their health through TaylorFit goals, good sleep, nutrition, spirituality, and fitness that can be incorporated into their busy and hectic lives. In the middle of her own health crisis of being pre-hypertensive, Dr. Robertson became committed to focusing on her own health and not becoming a victim of the controllable diseases—high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and stroke that currently plague millions of other women across the world.
As a result of her personal journey, Dr. Robertson uses an integrated approach to empowering women by encompassing the mind, body, and soul in her work. She strongly believes that a healthy lifestyle journey is more than working out and is more of an all-inclusive method to achieving, maintaining, and sustaining good health. Every woman is unique and different in her own right, and Dr. Robertson creates Taylorfit action plans to ensure success.
In addition, to providing a unique and caring coaching experience to her TaylorFit Queens, she also operates as a motivator, accountability partner, mentor to ensure they achieve their fitness goals. Holding a Personal Training and Nutrition Coach Certification, Dr. Robertson has collaborated with women on being mindful and intentional about their goals to level up their health.
She also uses her Doctorate in Pharmacy Degree to specifically help women on medications caused by their weight and diet to join a community and become healthier to decrease and get off medications. She’s spent her time volunteering to present to state agencies, public and private schools, churches and other agencies to spread the word on health and wellness topics ranging from “Sleep, Wake up to Good Health”, “Diabetes Awareness and Prevention”, and “Healthy Eating
Step Up to the Plate”, to name a few.
As the founder of TaylorFitForYou, Dr. Robertson brings her wealth of knowledge and background to provide a well-rounded and TaylorFit Online Health Coaching experience for women looking to level up their health.
Derrick Young
Derrick Young is an expert real estate investor out of Birmingham, Alabama. He invests in single family, fix & flip, and multifamily properties across the United States. He assists individuals and investors in acquiring real estate assets. In addition to helping them gain access to real estate funding to acquire assets.
Damien Fields
Damien S. Fields stands at the forefront of an emerging Consulting firm. He’s spent the past seven years evangelizing an industry that is shifting to the use of innovative, stringent rules and regulations within the Accounting, Taxation and Consulting arena. Mr. Fields is the founder, majority shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of HME Consulting, Inc. With Headquarters in Uniondale, New York and a Southeastern
location in Durham, NC, HME has accounts overlapping multiple industries with a client base approaching 400 which spans the Continental U.S.
A calculated risk-taker with deep finance and consulting industry knowledge, Damien has made an imprint on the delivery of professional services to customers; his model of “Your business is our business” has spread from coasts to coasts. Damien is consistently assisting start-ups, emerging businesses, non-profits and individuals all over the country creating viable solutions to meet their goals. Damien is known for
having innovative strategies and for creating current and future solutions in the areas of Taxation, Finance, and Business Advisory.
Throughout his 13-year tenure with HME Consulting, Damien has built a reputation for developing business strategies, and developing services to assist organizations to meet their goals. In the areas of 501(c)(3) compliance, Mr. Fields has successfully assisted Churches and Non-profit organizations in the approval of their Tax-exemption status, to as far back as 20 years from the date the organization was incorporated. Also, he has assisted in successfully negotiating over 10 million dollars in Tax resolutions cases since 2014.
Furthermore, he has assisted in creating innovative management programs that provided specific accounting, taxation and consulting services specifically made for the industries that HME serves. Damien holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship/Finance and bachelor’s degree in Community Service/Business from SUNY Empire State College. Also, he attended Concord Law School from 2011 to 2013, and is a Doctor of Business candidate at Walden University. In the summer of 2022. Mr. Fields was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hosanna Bible College for his work with churches, ministries and Christian businesses bringing, financial literacy to the church and nonprofit sector of the community at large. He is a former Consultant and Manager with Konica Minolta, McCoy Consultants, Ltd. and Top Dot Mortgage and has 11+ combined years of experience in the finance and consulting arenas.
Damien is a valued speaker and has, presented Seminars at National Baptist Congress of Education (Detroit, MI), M&F Bank Church Growth, UMOJA Christian Church (2015), Mechanics & Farmers Bank (2012 and 2013) and other industry non-profits and for-profit convention and events. Dr. Fields is a published author of the publication, New Wine Skins Business Strategies. He is also a former Adjunct Professor at Saint Augustine University in Raleigh, NC.
Deidra Moore
Deidra Moore-Janvier, CEO of the Law Office of Deidra R. Moore, P.C., and author of From Me, To You: The Power of Storytelling and its Inherent Generational Wealth, is on a mission to reach as many people, both young and old, and share the importance of pouring into our younger generations teaching “the value of investing in oneself and in learning about their history.” Her mantra is: “Find Your V.I.P. Status – meaning your Voice, Identity and your Purpose – and use it for the good of yourself and others.”
She shares that: “As a child I had no voice. As a young adult I grew into my voice. For the past 20 years, I’ve learned to listen to my voice, and trust it!”
Deidra Moore was a determined and hard-working single mother who despite the challenges that came with growing up in a low-income household, was determined to create a brighter future for herself and her child.
In 1996, after working, for nine years, as a commercial real estate paralegal at TIAA-CREF, a Manhattan based company, Deidra made the difficult decision to quit her job to attend law school full time, all while raising her daughter on her own. It was a tough decision, as Deidra knew it would mean sacrificing a steady income and relying on loans and scholarships to make ends meet. Deidra knew it would be a challenging journey, but she was determined to succeed.
In 1999, after spending long hours studying, completing assignments, often sacrificing time with her daughter to ensure she could keep up with her demanding schedule, contemporaneously with while working three part-time jobs, Deidra persevered and graduated from the City University of New York School of Law (CUNY School of Law).
Upon graduation from law school, Deidra secured a job working as a Public Defender with the Legal Aid Society in New York. In 2004, Deidra decided to quit her job as a Public Defender, and entered private practice; first as a sole practitioner, and then in 2006 Deidra became the C.E.O. and founder of the Law Office of Deidra R. Moore, P.C.
For more than 20 years, Deidra earned a reputation as a skilled and tenacious litigator and her clients appreciate her dedication and attention to detail. Having gone from the classroom to the boardroom, Deidra’s work is informed by her personal and professional experiences.
In 2019, after engaging her then 8 year old son about lessons learned inside and outside the classroom, and in an effort to answer a very important question posed by her son, Deidra found herself pivoting as she became a published author.
In June, 2022, Deidra would release her first book: From Me, To You: The Power of Storytelling and its Inherent Generational Wealth – An African American Story! This book is a critical success for Deidra, and has garnered widespread praise, locally and globally, for its honesty and authenticity. She is nominated for book awards from: The 2023 National Association of Black Law Journalists; and The Morning Word.
In June, 2023, encouraged by the positive reception and the ensuing mission Deidra finds herself on, Deidra continues to write with two additional books due to be released in June/July, 2023: (1) The Civil Rights Movement – A Coloring and Activity Book, featuring Phenomenal People; and (2) an associated book titled: The Civil Rights Movement- featuring Phenomenal People.
Each of the three books are catalogued in the largest library in the world: The Library of Congress; and From Me To You can be found on bookshelves throughout the New York Public Library(ies).
Today, Deidra is a wife, mother of two, advocate for social change, advocate for self-discovery which puts one on the path of finding their voice. Deidra is a successful civil litigator, author and speaker, sharing her experiences and insights with audiences around the world. She is proud of the legacy she has built for her children, and she is grateful for the opportunity to pursue her passions and make a difference in the world.
Dr. Daniel Upchurch
Dr. Daniel Upchurch is an experienced associate professor, chair, and psychologist at Morris Brown College. He is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Positivity+ which is an Affordable Telemental Health Service that provides coaching and counseling to the community. Dr. Upchurch is a researcher and is an author of several publications focusing on innocence, disorders, bullying and aggression. Dr. Upchurch has 15 years of experience in the mental health field and academia.