Racing Toward Diversity magazine showcases the best diversity efforts and initiatives being made today.
Written with business and educational audiences in mind. Stories highlight messages from influential leaders and their organizations. With our concentration on driving strong relevant content through global social media platforms our quarterly magazine, daily newspaper and blog reaches over 3.5 million readers, via Twitter (@fleejack and @race2diversity) Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
Approximately (30%) of our subscribers/followers have been self-described from the following industries (8%) Information Technology and Services, (7%) Marketing and Advertising, (6%) Human Resources, (5%) Staffing and Recruiting and (4%) Financial Services. Our Founder and CEO, Fields Jackson @fleejack (Twitter) has been recently recognized by Working Mother Magazine as one of Five Diversity Thought Leaders You Should be Following on Twitter http://bit.ly/1rcx1JF
Fields Jackson, Jr. is currently the Founder and CEO and Chief Cheerleader of Racing Toward Diversity Magazine, Cary, NC, Distinguished Distinguished Professor-in-Residence at South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC, adjunct Professor at Southern University and A&M College- Baton Rouge, LA, adjunct professor, teaching Principles of Business at Shaw University, Raleigh, NC, and former Executive Director of the HBCU Business Dean Round-table.
Fields was recognized by Diversity Best Practices as one of the Top Diversity Thought Leaders on Twitter.bit.ly/2c8CjAK According to Diversity Best Practices The influence of Twitter spans the globe - 83 percent of world leaders are on Twitter, 92 percent of companies Tweet more than once a day and 79 percent of accounts are held outside of the U.S. An average of 6,000 tweets happen per second.
Fields has also been identified by Onalytica, London, England, who helps run influencer programs for some of the largest brands in the world as #13 of the top 100 global influencers focusing on Gender
Equality and Diversity. http://bit.ly/2HD46LD
Hive Learning recently recognized Fields as one of the Most Influential Diversity &Inclusion Leaders – 2020. According to Hive - Fields Jackson is an influential Diversity and Inclusion advocate and expert who publishes Racing Toward Diversity magazine. He advocates that job seekers conduct their due diligence in finding Diverse workplace opportunities through research, networking and asking the right questions.
Fields received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Bachelorof Arts Degree in Philosophy from Allegheny College, Meadville, PA. Fields received his MBA Degree from Northern Illinois, DeKalb, Ill.
Austin Jackson
Vice President
College Diversity Network / HBCU Division
Austin also serves as President, A. P. Planners, LLC (New Business / Start Up) - Meeting planning, Off Site logistics, and social media support, where he is responsible for daily operations, marketing, accounting, and sales.
Austin is also pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, in the Master of Arts - Administrative Leadership (MAAL) program. The graduate program is designed to increase your ability to lead, as well as show you how to help organizations enhance their overall leadership capacity.
Austin is a graduate of Clemson University, Clemson, SC, with a Bachelor of Business in Management with an emphasis on Entrepreneurship and as a Fall 2018 member of the Clemson University President's List. He also earned a football scholarship as a walk-on and was a member of the two-time National Championship team. In high school, Austin was an honor graduate but also earned the distinction as a 2015 High School All-American - Indoor Track & Field Team, as a member of the Green Hope High team that placed 6th in Sprint Medley relays.
FIELDS JACKSON, III ("F.Lee 3")
VICE PRESIDENT OPERATIONS
COLLEGE DIVERSITY NETWORK / HBCU DIVISION
F. Lee III is the newest member of the Racing Toward Diversity team.
Fields III carries with him 7+ years of industry experience, which includes leadership roles in employee training, product testing, data analysis, and method development. Before his position at Racing Toward Diversity, Fields III completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, and subsequently worked in the biotechnology field as an Analyst and Research Associate for several years.
Most recently, Fields III spent two years in Israel to pursue a Master's in Nutritional Science at the world-renowned Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Fields III’s time in Israel — in addition to being a part of an international group of globally diverse students — taught him invaluable skills that have further strengthened his management and operational abilities. Now back from Israel, Fields III has agreed to lend the team his knowledge and skills as Vice President of Operations. A true ‘big-picture’ kind of guy, Fields III is involved in company branding, marketing, production, as well as general day-to-day operations.
Writers
Gene Stowe: Author, Journalist, Educator
I grew up in the Carolinas and graduated from high school in Monroe, N.C., where the trial in Blest Be The Tie That Binds takes place. I graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a bachelor of arts in religion in 1975 and earned a Master of Theological Studies from Trinity Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.
From 1981 to 1993, I was a reporter for The Charlotte Observer assigned to the Monroe Bureau, covering government, politics, business, religion, and human interest stories. I had a weekly column covering agriculture in the Carolinas and twice received the N.C. Farm Bureau’s writing award. I lived in Union County, married, and had six children during those years, becoming familiar with the county’s history, culture, and rhythms of life. Among other things, my articles led to the changing of a creek’s official name from Niggerhead to Salem. When the 1886 County Courthouse (the site of the trial) was restored in 1986, I wrote a self-guided tour of the building for the historical society.
From August 1993 to December 2007, I taught at Trinity School at Greenlawn in South Bend, Ind., a private, nonsectarian school that has three times received the U.S. Department of Education's Blue Ribbon for Excellence in Education. I was director of the writing program for the school, grades seven through twelve, and taught, among other things, British and American literature (including Twain, Sinclair, Dickens, Tolkien, Cather, Hemingway, and Harper Lee). I regularly led senior colloquia on topics such as mythic imagination and historiography. I continued to write extensively, freelancing 300 to 400 stories a year for the South Bend Tribune. In January 2008, I returned to full-time writing as a freelance and a principal in Write Smack Dab LLC, a group I formed with my son and a former teaching colleague. I have written books, including the history of the LOGAN Center for the people with developmental disabilities in South Bend and privately published family legacy books, as well as journalistic articles, book chapters, websites, and press releases.
Natalie Davis Miller
Jae Bryson
Natalie Davis Miller has been a freelance writer for the past 12 years. Born in Indianapolis, Ind., she is a resident of South Bend, Ind. She is involved in a number of volunteer efforts and organizations in the area, including St. Margaret’s House (shelter for women), Rebuilding Together, and the South Bend Community School Corporation’s Young Authors’ Conference. She is actively involved with the South Bend Civic Theatre as a board member and as an actress in a number of productions, including the nationally recognized, award-winning production of Intimate Apparel in 2009. She is currently directing Or Does It Explode? at the Center for History in South Bend.
In addition to writing for Racing Toward Diversity, Miller is a monthly columnist for IN Michiana magazine. She has had articles published in the Indianapolis Star, NUVO Newsweekly, the South Bend Tribune, Literally (Writers’ Center of Indiana), POWER, The Bend, Home and Style, Total Body, Northern Indiana Wedding Day, Southwest Michigan Wedding Day, Prom Night, IN Michiana, Inside Granger, and Courier (Saint Mary’s College). Additionally, she has written trivia questions for Mattel, articles for the Web, and numerous marketing pieces. In 2003, she was the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission.
Prior to her writing career, Miller spent 15 years in law enforcement, as a police officer, and as a law enforcement coordinator and victim witness specialist for the Department of Justice. She was also a writer and reviewer of Federal grants.
Miller has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Indiana University. In addition to freelance writing and her volunteer activities, she is also an adjunct instructor of English and psychology courses at a local community college.
Miller says, “I believe that writing is my gift from God. I also believe it is my responsibility to hone these skills as a writer, and I want to be the best writer that I can be.”
Jae Bryson is a serial entrepreneur and author with experience in a variety of writing styles. His career includes stints as a journalist for the Quad-City Times, the Star Tribune, the River Cities Reader, Minnesota Public Radio, and Colors Magazine. His extensive freelance credits include Word Up!, Essence, and REQUEST magazines.
He is the co-author of the book, "Playing for Paterno," and a contributor to the anthology "Teenagers from the Future."
He has written a screenplay version of "Playing for Paterno" and is currently working on another based on the life of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Garry Shider of Parliament-Funkadelic fame.
Bryson owns a regional sports/media company, Black Heart Inc., which publishes One Nation News, Business Nation magazine, the electronic job blast, JobHeart, and is establishing an internet sports league. In March 2010, he was awarded a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant to promote arts in his region.
Cheryl Jackson
Cheryl Jackson is a freelance correspondent who has worked for CNN, PBS, and Racing Towards Diversity magazine.
Highlights of her work for CNN include coverage of the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal, where the bodies of many African Americans were ripped from their graves, left in piles, and their graves resold. Also, for CNN, the hour-by-hour live coverage of the Christmas Day “underwear bomber.” She is very proud of the project, “For Colored Girls,” she produced for PBS.
Cheryl interviewed both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as they campaigned in 2008.
Cheryl is a contributing writer for Racing Towards Diversity magazine and has written numerous profiles and features, including a story analyzing the role of race and poverty in collecting data for the U.S. Census.
She is also a visiting professor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and has taught newspaper writing and broadcast classes at Indiana University and DePaul University.
Cheryl Jackson started her journalism career as a features reporter and newspaper diversity columnist. She wrote her column, "It Takes All Kinds," for the Columbus Republic for more than a decade. The content of the column was designed to promote understanding through diversity writing on race and culture in a positive way.
Her first job in television was as a convergence reporter, working for both WSBT/TV and the newspaper, the South Bend Tribune. She did a live report for WSBT five days a week and then flipped many of those stories into print for the Tribune. She often shot the photos that accompanied the print piece. She continued her broadcast career at WRTV in Indianapolis before moving to Chicago to freelance for CNN.
Jodi Brockington
Jodi Brockington, as founder of NIARA Consulting, a full-service marketing and business development company, utilizes her more than 15 years of experience in the nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors to consult for individuals, nonprofits, small businesses, and corporations, as well as offer career and college coaching for youth and professionals.
Her work runs the gamut because of her years of experience and her ability to connect with people from various walks of life. Some of her most recent work includes her partnership with Women in the Boardroom, an executive leadership event designed to assist women in the preparation of board service, and 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit that finances, teaches, and mentors entrepreneurs who would otherwise not have access to startup capital, first-class knowledge, or a professional network.
With a passion for diversity and educating young women, Jodi has been featured in books that showcase her myriad skills in networking and branding. She is a featured author for “Sister to Sister: A Guide for African American Girls,” where she penned a chapter titled The Power of Your Social Network and Brand. She has also been featured in “Leading from the Middle—Conversations with Successful Middle Managers,” and “CRAVE NYC—The Urban Girl’s Manifesto.”
She is not only a leader and a master connector, Jodi is a well-sought-after speaker, who has given networking and social media presentations to the New York State Bar Association, presented on Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility to a business class at Baruch College, and talked to the Junior League of Westchester-on-Hudson about networking, to name a few.
Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, as the Vice President of the Center of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Management, Jodi was the Director of Alumni Affairs at the National Urban Fellows, Inc., where she was responsible for social media, fundraising, strategic planning, and executing special events. She is a Class of 2000 graduate of the National Urban Fellows. Jodi was Director of Corporate Relations at the New York Urban League Inc., and served as a senior consultant to California State Senator Kevin Murray.
Recently recognized by NV Magazine as a 2011 Mover & Shaker, Jodi has also been featured on the cover of The Network Journal, as one of the magazine’s 2004 “40 Under Forty.” She has also been recognized by the National Urban League as an Urban Influencer, is a 2010 Young Gifted & Black Entrepreneur honoree, and a 2010-2011 America’s Leader of Change fellow, a National Urban Fellows program in partnership with Wal-Mart. She was also featured in the online magazine, People You Need to Know (PYNTK), as a woman who excels in business.
Additionally, Jodi is a blogger for the BOSS Network, AwakenYourCareerpreneur.com, and NVmagazine.com, where she talks about various topics pertaining to social networking, branding, and the corporate and nonprofit sectors.
Jodi earned Master’s degrees from the University of Southern California in Social Work; from Baruch College in Public Affairs; and from the Hunter College School of Education. She completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA.