Terrie M. Williams, Author, Public Relations, Social Activist

Terrie Williams

African American Literature Book Club - The #1 Site for "Readers of Black Literature"

Home • Back • Author Home • Up • Next • Author Profiles • Book Profiles • Writer's Resources • Reviews • Events • About Us • Buy Any Book • Advertise

"To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Required"

Terrie is a social worker by training. She is a public relations professional by her own design. She is a published author, a sought-after lecturer, a dealmaker, a mentor, an executive coach, a community activist. But first and foremost Terrie Williams is a people person-one who cares about other folks and one who passionately believes that we are here on the planet to hold each other up. And she takes to heart-and to action by the things that she does-the quote above.

Terrie Williams is a success story-one built on the foundation of the countless friends, contacts, mentors and business associates that have helped her rise to the pinnacle of her profession. "I have been blessed," Terrie says. "And I know that the best way to say thank you to all those who have done so much for me is to give something back and pass it on to those who will follow us."

Mosaicbooks Founder, Ron Kavanaugh, Terrie Williams and AALBC.com founder, Troy Johnson

When Terrie opened the doors of her Agency in 1988 it wasn't as much the launch of an entrepreneurial genius as it was a way for Terrie to use her expertise as a social worker and a people person to help others help themselves (and others). "I knew I had to have my own business. It was in my blood. Public relations-or people relations as I call it-seemed a natural progression."

Over the years Terrie's Agency has handled the biggest names in entertainment, sports, business and politics. And today the Agency is considered one of the country's premiere public relations and communications firms.

Terrie is also one of the country's most highly sought-after speakers, and has shared her own brand of success and personal development strategies with numerous Fortune 500 companies, and organizations such as New York University's Continuing Education Program, the New School for Social Research, and The National Hockey League, The National Basketball Association and The National Football League.

Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting
Click to order via Amazon

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Scribner (January 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743298829
ISBN-13: 978-0743298827

Read an AALBC.com Review

Terrie Williams knows that Black people are hurting. She knows because she's one of them.

Terrie had made it: she had launched her own public relations company with such clients as Eddie Murphy and Johnnie Cochran. Yet she was in constant pain, waking up in terror, overeating in search of relief. For thirty years she kept on her game face of success, exhausting herself daily to satisfy her clients' needs while neglecting her own.

Terrie finally collapsed, staying in bed for days. She had no clue what was wrong or if there was a way out. She had hit rock bottom and she needed and got help.

She learned her problem had a name -- depression -- and that many suffered from it, limping through their days, hiding their hurt. As she healed, her mission became clear: break the silence of this crippling taboo and help those who suffer.

Black Pain identifies emotional pain -- which uniquely and profoundly affects the Black experience -- as the root of lashing out through desperate acts of crime, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, workaholism, and addiction to shopping, gambling, and sex. Few realize these destructive acts are symptoms of our inner sorrow.

Black people are dying. Everywhere we turn, in the faces we see and the headlines we read, we feel in our gut that something is wrong, but we don't know what it is. It's time to recognize it and work through our trauma.

In Black Pain, Terrie has inspired the famous and the ordinary to speak out and mental health professionals to offer solutions. The book is a mirror turned on you. Do you see yourself and your loved ones here? Do the descriptions of how the pain looks, feels, and sounds seem far too familiar? Now you can do something about it.

Stop suffering. The help the community needs is here: a clear explanation of our troubles and a guide to finding relief through faith, therapy, diet, and exercise, as well as through building a supportive network (and eliminating toxic people).

Black Pain encourages us to face the truth about the issue that plunges our spirits into darkness, so that we can step into the healing light.

You are not on the ledge alone.

The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today's Fast-Paced Business World
Click to order via Amazon

ISBN: 0446671584
Format: Paperback, 256pp
Pub. Date: December 1995
Publisher: Warner Books, Incorporated

One of today's leading public relations entrepreneurs shares her unique, personal philosophy for professional success, based on refreshingly down-to-earth principles.

Terrie Williams, the president of one of America's most successful public relations firms, outlines her basis for getting ahead: to do well in business you must do good. In this straightforward, user-friendly guide she tells how she began her powerhouse agency with Eddie Murphy as her first client. Using concrete examples from her own experience, she provides invaluable information and advice on building and maintaining relationships, developing a sterling reputation and—most importantly—giving back to the community a portion of one's personal success.

A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues
Click to order via Amazon

ISBN: 0446691208
Format: Paperback, 300pp
Pub. Date: November 2003
Publisher: Warner Books, Incorporated

Forewords by Iyanla Vanzant and Susan L. Taylor

She was president of one of the country's top publicity agencies, with a Who's Who-in-entertainment client list that included Eddie Murphy, Miles Davis, and Janet Jackson. The bestselling author of The Personal Touch, she was a popular speaker for Fortune 500 companies and academia alike. And socially she knew everyone—and was everywhere—that mattered. But Terrie Williams felt more stressed-out than successful, frantic instead of fulfilled. She felt there had to be something more than rushing to meet constant deadlines and be in endless places, and she found it somewhere she never expected...

A PLENTIFUL HARVEST

One sleepless night, Terrie found a Kwanzaa card under her bed. She had always revered the holiday for the special values it celebrated. But right then she realized that its cornerstone seven "Living Virtues" were a powerful way to rediscover joy, meaning, and balance. Now, she helps you find your personal "plenty"—how to reconnect basic, time-honored truths with your deepest needs to yield harmony and satisfaction in your life. Step by step, through meditations, weekly practices, and journal exercises, she shows you how to:

• Learn your true calling and take small daily steps to live it to the fullest

• Discover real wealth by taking control of your finances and learning the difference between what you desire, want…and actually need

• Use your creativity for more fulfilling work, play-and even emotional healing

• Find love's true meaning-from valuing yourself for who you are to honestly opening up to others

• Define what community means to you and discover the most rewarding ways to "give back."

• Straightforward, practical, filled with invaluable mother-wit and warmth, A PLENTIFUL HARVEST shows you how to balance life's many "seasons"—and to reap their most satisfying rewards.

REAP JOY, FULFILLMENT, AND BALANCE
FROM SEVEN SIMPLE IDEAS:

• Calling
• Responsibility
• Thrift
• Love
• Community
• Spirituality
• Creativity

They are known as the seven "Living Virtues," the cherished, time-tested spiritual values behind Kwanzaa. Let The Personal Touch's Terrie Williams show you how to turn them into an empowering life plan—and ultimate fulfillment.

Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens
Click to order via Amazon

Queen Latifah (Introduction)

ISBN: 0439129729
Format: Paperback, 240pp
Pub. Date: March 2002
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

At the core of STAY STRONG is the idea that with the right attitude and strategies, kids can truly accomplish anything. And Terrie Williams is the ideal person to encourage and inspire. Her solid advice about ambition, goals and making real, personal connections speaks to readers without a hint of preaching. Urging them to stick to just a few simple but powerful rules--tools that have successfully served Terrie's famous clients - Janet Jackson, Wesley Snipes, and Boyz II Men, for example. Terrie also lends insight into real teens' lives, and captivates with true rags-to-riches success stories. People will respect you if you respect them, she urges - as long as you can have that courage not to conform. As Terrie says at the closing of every conversation, above all else, "Stay Strong."

Related Links

The Terrie Williams Agency
http://www.terriewilliams.com

Time Warner Book Group
http://www.twbookmark.com/authors/18/18/