Mort Meisner is a news industry expert who delivers sharp, insightful commentary about the state of journalism and the world. As founder of Mort Meisner Associates, he is a highly sought-after speaker and commentator, who draws from three decades of experience working in big-city newsrooms across America-and cultivating many talented reporters and anchors who deliver the news today. He achieved against-the-odds success in powerful leadership positions in broadcast news after surviving physical abuse from his father, and recovering from a cocaine habit. Now he applies all of the above as a top broadcast news talent agent. Mort's career began in music, when he promoted some of the biggest names in rock music as a journalism major at the University of Detroit. From there, he embarked on his journalism career that took him to major network stations in Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. He Emmy Award-winning teams and made it his personal mission to change a culture of racism and sexism in newsrooms. Now at the helm of Mort Meisner Associates, he places some of the most outstanding on-air talent in the industry. Mort is a devoted family man who enjoys baseball, Bruce Springsteen concerts, and continuing to play an influential role as a speaker and commentator.
Steph Ruopp is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a writer who can happily say that she has dipped her toes, and sometimes her entire foot, into blogging, fiction, creative non-fiction, copywriting, screenwriting, and hieroglyphics projects. (The hieroglyphics part is not true, thus proving that she does, in fact, write fiction.) Writing has been the one consistent thread in her ever wavering life. She might even say that it's the thread that's held it all together, though that may well be fiction too. Whatever the case, she's available for writing projects. You can reach her at stephruopp@wordstringer.org.
Elizabeth Ann Atkins is CEO of Two Sisters Writing & Publishing, an Emmy Award nominated TV show host, a journalist, book coach, inspirational speaker, certified meditation teacher, fitness enthusiast, and author of 33 books. Her memoir-God's Answer Is Know: Lessons From a Spiritual Life-chronicles her life story and shares her spiritual awakening, along with tools anyone can use to explore their spirituality and live better. Elizabeth co-hosts the Emmy Award nominated MI Healthy Mind, a weekly TV show that aims to shatter stigmas around mental illness and addiction. The Oprah Winfrey Show featured Elizabeth as a guest to celebrate her 100-pound weight loss and lifestyle as a health and fitness enthusiast. Elizabeth and Catherine M. Greenspan co-created Two Sisters Writing & Publishing, which: publishes their books; provides ghostwriting, publishing, and book coaching services; hosts monthly writing contests and the Two Sisters Writing Club; and showcases their blog, A Tale of Two Sisters. The Two Sisters Writing & Publishing Virtual Speakers Agency enables their authors to share messages of Diversity & Inclusion and other Inspiration to audiences everywhere. The Two Sisters also teach people how to use meditation and journaling to live better with their PowerJournal workbooks. Elizabeth and Catherine have written and published dozens of books, and were proud to publish their mother's book, The Triumph of Rosemary: A Memoir, by Judge Marylin E. Atkins. Their mother wrote the book herself, chronicling her controversial, interracial marriage to former Roman Catholic Priest Thomas Lee Atkins. Elizabeth has a master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. She studied French at Collège de Rivière-du-Loupe in Québec, Canada. Elizabeth is an inspiring speaker who recites her autobiographical poem, White Chocolate, and has spoken at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, GM's World Diversity Day, Gannett, DaimlerChrysler, 100 Black Men of America, the NAACP, Beaumont Hospital, PowerNetworking, Comerica Bank, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the American Library Association. She has taught writing at Wayne State University, Oakland University, Wayne County Community College District, and at national conferences. As an actress, Elizabeth plays a major role in the feature-length film Anything Is Possible, nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Nollywood and African Film Critics Association. She composed an original screenplay, Redemption, a gritty drama about a Detroit gangster and a writer. And Elizabeth plays a 1950s journalist in the international shipwreck drama, The Andrea Doria: Are The Passengers Saved? A former Fox 2 Detroit News writer, she has been a guest on Montel, NPR, Good Morning America Sunday, The CBS Evening News, Tyra, several programs on BET, and other national TV shows. After writing her master's thesis about mixed-race Americans, her work appeared in The New York Times. She's also been published in The San Diego Tribune, Essence, Ebony, HOUR Detroit, HOUR Home, HOUR Bride, BET.com, Ms., BLAC Detroit, and The Detroit News, where her articles on race were nominated for The Pulitzer Prize. She also wrote a biography for the Presidential Medal of Freedom tribute for Rosa Parks.
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