ABOUT US
NORMA T. HOLLIS
As founder and CEO of SPEAKERS ETCETERA
and Black Speakers Online, Norma Thompson
Hollis values the Power of Voice®. She assists
speakers to find their voice and express
it, and assists meeting planners to find
speakers who share the voice of their organizations
and speak it. Founded in 1996, SPEAKERS
ETCETERA is the largest African American
owned speakers bureau in the country. Representing
notable speakers such as Alice Walker, Tavis
Smiley, Jeff Johnson, Judge Mablean Ephraim,
Yolanda King, Les Brown, Patricia Russell-McCloud,
and Mother Love, the company is a one-stop
shop for meeting planners who are seeking
speakers for their events.
Norma has constructed
this one-stop speaker’s bureau to meet a
variety of speaker needs. The speaker services
division provides training and marketing
services to assist new and aspiring speakers
to navigate their way through the speaking
industry. Her conferences and seminars feature
her book “The Process to Become a Professional
Speaker” and are a valuable asset for speakers.
The company’s Black Speakers Online division
offers an online directory of Black Speakers
from various topics, fees and geographic
locations with a current listing that exceeds
200 speakers. The company is known for its
exceptional customer service, integrity and
professionalism.
Prior to opening SPEAKERS ETCETERA, Norma
was a giant in the field of early childhood
education. She was known for reversing long-standing
fiscal and programmatic deficits in large
urban Head Start programs, including a $10
million, 1500 child program in Los Angeles
CA. Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 1979,
Norma designed an early intervention program
for preschool children and operated it in
Detroit and Southfield Michigan, and Cleveland,
Ohio. This innovative program assisted parents
to identify potential learning disabilities
in their young children and provided activities
to enhance development. After leaving Head
Start in 1995, Norma was the early childhood
consultant for the Los Angeles Roman Catholic
Archdiocese, where she assisted religious
instructors to understand and meet the spiritual
needs of preschool children. She is a certified
spiritual director and presented a seminar
at the first International Conference on
Children’s Spirituality on the topic “When
Children Walk the Labyrinth” (the labyrinth
is a walking meditation tool dating back
to 2500 BC). During this period she also
wrote the book “Teach Your Child to Honor
God”.
Norma received her B.A. from Michigan State
University, Masters from Walden University,
attended Wayne State University and was a
management fellow at UCLA Anderson School
of Management. She is a member of the International
Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB), Meeting
Planners International (MPI), National Speakers
Association (NSA) and the National Head Start
Association (NHSA).
For a brief time Norma hosted her own talk
radio show “Managing Life’s Mazes” where
she interviewed guests on ways in which they
navigate their way through life. She is
a columnist for Turning Point Magazine and Black
Meetings & Tourism. Her articles
have appeared in Rhythm of the Drum Magazine, Child
Spirit, Verititas Newsletter,
the Black Business Association Magazine and
others. She is an unparalleled coach who
mixes her pragmatic management and entrepreneurial
experiences with a reliable intuitive nature
to get at the heart of client needs. Her
trademark, Power of VoiceTM, assists people
to become legends within their community
by blending their intuitive nature with their
life experiences and creating their authentic
voice.
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