Dr. Julianne Malveaux by Atela Productions, Inc.

www.exceptionalmag.com

July-August 2011

CONTENTS

Cover Photo Extraordinary Profiles 4

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Cover Story— Dr. Julianne Malveaux—Notable Economist Shares Views on Race, Culture and the Economy Winston Scott—Excellence -Above and Beyond Michelle Hollaender—Helping Hands for Central American Communities

Derrick Miles—Using His Spiritual Gift to Change Lives

David Riklan—SelfImprovement Guru Shares Resources with Millions

Empowerment 45

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Success Elements That Make Your Copy Sell

How Do You Define Success

Six Common Mistaken Career Beliefs

Minding My Business 25

Top Five Twitter Tips

Dana Humphrey—World Traveler and Public Relations Expert

Coming to Terms with Investment Risks

Use IF to Negotiate Successfully

Small Business Marketing Online

Secrets and Techniques to Sell Yourself, Product and Service

Improving Your Mutual Fund Returns

Do you know the direction in which you're headed? We have an internal compass -- our mind -- to guide us to success. Find a mentor or coach to help you stay on course.

Letter From

The Founder

The Mind. A masterpiece, when molded and sculptured to focus on success.

Dear Friend, Welcome to the July-August 2011 issue of Exceptional People Magazine. The Mind. An ingenious tool that, when used constructively, will allow you to conceive ideas of gold, and lead you to endless possibilities. What’s on your mind today? Are you allowing what’s happening in the economy to motivate or drive your thought processes? Why do some people seem to succeed, regardless of their circumstances? How do they go from nothing to obtaining remarkable results? How are they able to turn their adversities into victories? It’s because of their mindset. They envision themselves moving beyond their circumstances and they take action to bring about change. Many of life’s circumstances are not within our control but how we react is within our control. Success is a choice that is within your reach. To achieve it, you must often remove negative thoughts and views and negative people that are blocking your success. How you react to life’s circumstances and the results you obtain, are a direct correlation to your beliefs. According to your beliefs, so shall it be. Clearing your mind of negative thoughts is an ongoing process. I often compare it to cleaning a home. You don’t clean your home once and say it needs no additional cleaning or maintenance. You must maintain it daily, or at least weekly, to preserve its appearance and provide pleasant surroundings. What are you thinking right now? Susan Ellis didn’t allow her child’s fight with autism keep her from finding a solution to helping him learn how to write. As a result, she turned her solution into a viable business that is helping thousands of children. Just before graduating from college at age 22, Nicko Williamson made the decision to become an entrepreneur. Almost four years later, his business has grown tremendously. These are just a couple of people in this issue from whom you will glean a wealth of knowledge and insights to help you build your ideas of gold and lead you to endless possibilities. The Mind. An intangible source which lets you choose your destiny. Exceptional People Magazine is not just a magazine. It is a life-changing experience. Send us your letters at www.exceptionalmag.com/contact.html. Tell us what you want to read in Exceptional People Magazine. Sincerely,

Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Notable Economist Shares Views on Race, Culture and the Economy

Extraordinary Profiles

An iconic

intellectual, economist and well-noted author, Dr. Julianne Malveaux has the remarkable ability to help lay persons clearly understand the mechanics of economics.

entrepreneurship, excellence in communications and global awareness.

MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN and others.

The campus boasts a landscape of four new buildings. The student body continues to expand, and there is renewed vision, purpose and passion among the students.

Dr. Malveaux graciously took time from her busy schedule to share powerful insights with the publisher of Exceptional People Magazine during the Power Networking Conference in Atlanta, GA.

Her unique style and approach to the science of economics have earned her considerable recognition. She has incredible foresight on the impact that the economy has upon our daily lives and how we will be affected in the future. Though much of her work is focused on African Americans, she has a deep passion for discovering the affects of the economy on Americans and people around the world. Dr. Malveaux has shared her knowledge with countless audiences.

Monica: Over the years you have contributed to public dialogue on issues such as race and gender. The things that you have talked about have encouraged people to change the way that they think about such issues. How has race and culture affected the economy, or conversely, how has the economy affected race and culture?

As President of Bennett College for Women and through her other works, Dr. Malveaux continues to have an impact on the lives of many women. She has made significant contributions to the lives of the college students there who are seeking to live exceptional lives and become future leaders. Her remarkable transformation of America’s oldest historically black college for women is evident through its physical appearance, as well as its curriculum. She has identified four key areas to prepare the students for tomorrow’s global economy: women’s leadership,

Focusing on important issues of race and economics, Dr. Malveaux has imparted in-depth knowledge to audiences on networks such as CNN, BET, PBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News,

Dr. Malveaux: Racism is at the basis of the growth of the American economy. As we know, enslavement was responsible for the development of much of the wealth of this country. So we look at this country and we look at enslavement, the two are very much linked. In order to justify enslaving human beings people had to develop an ideology of racial inferiority, and that essentially infused itself through our country and through our country’s thinking. Really it’s still here in some ways, though less so than 100 years ago or fifty years ago. You have people who believe that Black people are inferior.

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Extraordinary Profiles

So in order to justify the accumulation of wealth, you essentially have to demonize a people. So that essentially is how the economy has affected the way we think about race in America. We still have some economic differentials. African Americans on average earn less than whites and have

less wealth. Those things need to be taken into consideration as well. Monica: A lot of your work has focused on African American women. As an African American woman what is your view on where we are today? Are we in the right place as business owners, as families and in education? Dr. Malveaux: No. We don’t have our fair share of anything as people of color, and as African American

women we don’t have our fair share. For example, we saw an article in Psychology Today stating that Black women are the least attractive women. He based it on so called empirical data, which there was none. I cannot imagine someone writing and publishing an article that said blonds were the least attractive women. Psychol-

sively. It means loving ourselves. We need to celebrate ourselves and we need to read more publications like yours and others to lift us up. We need to use our dollars for good. We need to be more assertive in our own corner That’s the first thing.

ogy Today removed the article from their website after much ado. Look at the way that certain commentators choose to talk about First Lady Michelle Obama.

I think secondly, The role of women is changing in a lot of ways. One of the things that have happened with African American women is that we don’t do duets. We’re less likely than any other women to get married. So, that’s challenging for some of us because we’re still as likely to have children. We have more women who are single parents without much help. Feminism may not have done Black women favors, if feminism means the ability to have sex without conse-

Monica: What do you think African American women should do to move ourselves away from those negative perceptions? Dr. Malveaux: First of all, we need to begin to love ourselves aggres-

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Extraordinary Profiles

quence, without looking at long-term issues. Monica: As a young lady coming out of high school going into college, what inspired you to devote your life to learning about the economy, about women’s issues and about civil rights?

Dr. Malveaux: Civil rights awareness was probably engrained in me. Both of my parents were very active in the civil rights movement. We were early members of the NAACP when I was a kid. Women’s issues always interested me because there were things about patriarchy that I didn’t like or understand. In terms of the economy, my initial plans were to attend law school. Many of my friends were going to

law school and I always had to be different. That’s how I ended up saying, well, why not economics? Economics is the study of who gets what, when, where and why and that’s something that always fascinates me, how did we allocate.

pages and pages of short stories, fictional things I made up. So I’ve always been interested in writing.

Monica: You have an amazing talent for writing and you use it to enlighten people about issues that are very important to the way we live. When did you discover that you had such a wonderful talent and decide to use it to help others?

Dr. Malveaux: It’s very mixed, in fact I think it’s bad. People are talking about economic recovery, and certainly the macro economic numbers show that. However, for the average person the unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. There are 15 million people who are unemployed. It’s a very weak economy right now and it’s largely a function of our failure to invest in people. Laying off teachers at a time like this, those are things that are hurting the public.

Dr. Malveaux: I’ve written since I was a little kid. My mother used to punish us by making us write lines, and rather than write lines, I would write short stories. I would give her

Monica: As an extraordinary economist, what do you think about the state of the economy today?

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Extraordinary Profiles

Monica: As far as the current state of the economy, what can we do to survive? Dr. Malveaux: First of all, we’ve all got to spend down, and that’s horrible because when you spend down, that’s

she saves a little money and it’s a way of forming relationships, as well. So we have to be careful how we spend our money, that’s the main thing. Also, entrepreneurship, investments, it’s one of the main points of this conference (Power Networking Confer-

less money going into the economy. But for personal survival people have to be very clear. They have to save, they have to spend less; they have to be creative.

ence) where George Fraser does such a good job talking to people about having more than one income stream. So people should be looking at that as well.

A woman recently told me that she and her neighbor have started shopping together at Costco because they can share things like 24 rolls of toilet paper. They’re both single women, but who needs 24 rolls of toilet paper? She doesn’t save a lot of money, but

Monica: You are the President of Bennett College for Women. What do you enjoy most about being President? Dr. Malveaux: The students. I really love watching young women

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unfold and transform. I also like the ability to be creative around things like curriculum programming. Monica: As President, what is your vision for the school?

Dr. Malveaux: Within five years we will have a thousand students, so we will be larger. We will be better endowed and the four areas of focus will be entrepreneurship, leadership, global studies and communication. I intend to have endowed professors in each of those areas and to see Bennett College as a center for education and also for renewal for women of African descent.

Extraordinary Profiles

Monica: At some point when you’re ready to move on to something else, what do you want to leave in the minds of women who attended the school while you were president? What kind of legacy would you like to leave? Dr. Malveaux: Well, I’ve already left something of a legacy – four new buildings in four years. But I would like to leave them with a sense of empowerment. Buildings are fine but it’s the spirit of empowerment that I want to leave. Monica: To whom do you attribute to your incredible success as an author, economist and commentator? There are so many things you have achieved. Dr. Malveaux: Probably my mom more than anything else. Certainly having been raised with a sense of audacity…I’ve known limitations but my mom has been the one who encouraged me and would say, “You can do it.” I’ve been blessed to have a great circle of friends and advisors, including people like Dr. Dorothy Height, my mentor in economics, Dr. Phyllis A. Wallace, and my mentor and very good friend in terms of writing, Marcia Ann Gillespie. I’ve been very blessed. I also attribute my success to God. Monica: What are your most valued and treasured accomplishments? Dr. Malveaux: I think the publication of my most recent book, Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History. It’s one of my favorite accomplishments. It was a book that my company published. I

reached out to several publishers and wanted to go the mainstream route because it’s less work and nobody wanted to publish it. So I did it myself. I love the book and its facts about us and it excites me. I think when our global learning center went up at Bennett College, I exceeded my own expectations. I knew we would have new buildings and I said we would when I got there, but I didn’t know we would do it so quickly. Monica: You serve on the board of several organizations but one in particular that I would like you speak about is the Recreation Wish List. Dr. Malveaux: It was founded by Cora Masters Berry, the former First Lady of Washington, D.C., and it provides assistance to the Recreation Department of Washington, D.C. When Marion Berry became mayor in 1995, people were giving money for his inauguration, and Cora Masters Barry said that she was going to attempt to get most of the expenses donated so that she could do something for kids and that’s what she did. The Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in Southeast, D.C., is her creation. It’s a multi-million dollar building and its focus is on tennis and learning. Young people can’t play tennis unless their grades are good. I love it because until I arrived at Bennett College for Women, it was really the one place I was doing hands-on things with kids.

What are some things that you accomplish through your company? Dr. Malveaux: Last Word Productions is the vehicle to manage my books, my speaking, basically to manage some of my work. It has accomplished some other projects too but it’s really a multimedia production that pretty much manages the nonBennett aspects of my life. Monica: Speaking of the last word, what is your last word? Dr. Malveaux: My favorite biblical verse is I Corinthians 16:9 which basically says, “I’m going to do great things and there are many obstacles.” I always remind people and remind myself when you go to do great things, obstacles go with it. If you want it to be easy, then don’t do anything great; don’t attempt anything great. Monica: In your experiences and with the obstacles that you have encountered, what advice can you give to those who seem to want to give up easily, those who don't have the persistence to continue moving ahead? Dr. Malveaux: Pray through it. Have vision and pray through any obstacles. Pray, be focused, understand who you are and whose you are.

Monica: Tell me a little about your company Last Word Productions, Inc.

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