Our Team
Janice S. Ellis: Publisher & Executive Editor
Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D., is Founder and Publisher of a series of online educational resources and tools to increase understanding across race and ethnicity. USAonRace.com , an online educational magazine was conceived and developed in 2007. The magazine covers important topics about race and ethnicity in the areas of education, business, health, politics, and cultural uniqueness. USAonRace.com also hosts an online dialogue, the National Collegiate Dialogue on Race Relations, with participating professors and students from some of the nation’s major colleges and universities. USAonRace.com has additional features and resources to help us understand our differences, bridge our divisions, and celebrate our commonalities.
The second installment of the educational series on race and ethnicity, the web pavilion YouthonRace.org, was launched in 2011. YouthonRace.org is produced by the Youth Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. The mission of the Youth Institute on Race and Ethnicity is to assist parents and educators in building awareness and understanding of race and ethnic diversity among children and students.
The final installment of the educational trilogy, RaceReport.com, was launched in 2012. RaceReport.com publishes, on a daily basis, the most current race relations news and events across the United States and around the world.
Dr. Ellis brings 30 years of public and private sector experience to the leadership of this work. She has written for professional and trade publications, and has been a newspaper, radio, and currently online, columnist throughout her career.
Dr. Ellis holds a Ph.D. in Communication Arts, and two Master of Arts degrees, one in Communications Arts and a second in Political Science, all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Contact: jellis@usaonrace.com
Vice President, Business Development:
Christopher S. Ellis
Christopher S. Ellis has over 13 years of experience in marketing. He has worked in a variety of industries including Architectural/Engineering, Public Relations, High-Tech, Health Care and Small Business Development. Mr. Ellis has been the chief architect of the business plan which will guide and focus USARiseUp's success in the national and global marketplace. Contact: cellis@usaonrace.com or christopherellis2011@gmail.com
Managing Editor:
Katherine Nussberger
Kathy joined our team in October 2009 after more than 15 years as a journalist in both Arizona and Idaho,and managing editor of two hardcopy newspapers in North Idaho. She was also the online editor for a website news source in the same region, which she later developed into a hardcopy publication for her local community. Kathy worked as a co-editor of a professional print and online newsletter that delved into the issues surrounding the struggling teens industry of private schools and programs throughout the world. In her spare time, Kathy worked as the regional director for a non-profit organization that strives to close the multicultural gap between our American youth and high school students from over 75 countries throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Central America, and several states from the former Soviet Union, which added to her knowledge of racial, ethnic, and cultural issues througout the world. Contact: knussberger@usaonrace.com or knussberger@nidaho.net
Our Contributors:
Jodie Blankenship is devoted to exploring issues through meticulous investigation and provocative discussion so that more than just facts are delivered, and the impact of an issue is thoroughly questioned. Blankenship has contributed to local, national, and global publications on politics, culture, environment, business, travel, and race. Blankenship’s work can be found are at www.USAonRace.com! Blankenship has a MA in Communications Arts-Journalism and a BA in English-Communications.
Chris Benguhe, an internationally published author and columnist is a former PEOPLE Magazine writer and tabloid editor of The National Enquirer, The National Examiner and the Globe. His syndicated columns and articles have been carried in dozens of newspapers across America as well as globally in the Messenger. He currently writes for the Catholic Sun, SperoForum.com, and is a contributing editor for Rebel Magazine.
Marlene Caroselli is the author of 60+ business books, including Jesus, Jonas, and Janus: The Leadership Triumvirate (available on Kindle and Nook). After earning her doctorate in education at the University of Rochester, Marlene Caroselli left the public classroom and her native New York State in 1980 and headed to the West Coast. She soon began working as a manager for Trizec Properties, Inc. and as an adjunct professor for UCLA and National University. She has also conducted programs for Clemson University, University of Rochester, Michigan State University, and Southwest Missouri State University. In 1984, she founded the Center for Professional Development and began adding books to her list of professional achievements. Her first book, The Language of Leadership, was chosen a main selection by Newbridge's Executive Development book club. In addition to books, Dr. Caroselli writes frequently for Stephen Covey's Executive Excellence, for the Employment Times, as well as for numerous other print and electronic publications. She has conducted training in more than half the states in the United States and has presented programs as well in Guam, Singapore, Montreal and Sao Paolo, Brazil. Her corporate clients include Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Mobil, Chevron, Rockwell, Hughes Aircraft and Magnavox. Numbered among the federal agencies with which she has worked are the Departments of Defense, Labor, Transportation, Agriculture, Interior, the General Services Administration, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Rita Cook is a writer/editor specializing in writing on a variety of subjects including health, travel, eco-friendly, and lifestyle. With over 1200 articles to her credit in the past 13 years and six books, Cook is also the Editor of The Insider Magazine and Managing Editor for Celeb Staff Magazine. She started her career in Chicago working with the well-known Sun Times Columnist Irv Kupcinet. She writes a weekly eco-friendly column called “The Green Life” for the Dallas Morning News, and has worked on many other national and regional publications. Cook, a member of the Texas Auto Writer’s Association, can also be heard on the radio Sunday morning in Los Angeles’ on KPRO’s The Insider Mag Radio Show’s featured segments, “I’m Standing Here” and “Behind the Wheel.” Her latest book, published by History Press titled “A Brief History of Fort Worth” was released in May 2011.
Eileen Hodges has been writing and teaching for over ten years. She is a freelance writer and ghostwriter and her current projects include a book on parenting as well as the novelization of a screenplay. Her work has been in literary journals and travel books including Traveler’s Tales “The World is a Kitchen.” Hodges has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College, writes poetry on Facebook, and is a devoted vegetarian foodie.
Jane Leder writes feature articles, such as the Cultural Leadership program in Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, posted last April: http://www.usaonrace.com/feature-stories/cultural-leadership-nurturing-o.... Other feature articles by Jane include a full range of topics with publishing in Psychology Today, Woman's Day, McCall's, Vegetarian Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, North Shore Magazine, Good Housekeeping, and others.
Dan Millott, President-Millott Communications in Florida, has published articles in: Florida Trend, Boca Raton Magazine, BusRide, St. Petersburg Times, Times of the Islands, Naples Daily News, Gold Coast Magazine, South Florida Business, Fun World, Amusement Business, Coral Gables Living, Southwest Florida Builder-Architect, Florida Design Review, Florida International Magazine, Produce Business, Florida Super Lawyers, Skylights (Spirit Airlines in flight), USF Alumni Voice, N, the magazine of Naples and M.D, News.
Laura Monroe is a writer, editor, and mother of two. She has a master’s degree in history and cultural studies, with a focus on postcolonial studies and the history of the Southwest. Her work has been syndicated by the Tribune, and she has been published in USARiseUp, Mother’s Movement Online, and Agora Gallery’s ArtMine.com. She is also a staff writer for the biannual magazine ArtIsSpectrum, and a regular contributor/editor for DoOver.com. She currently lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Amy O’Loughlin is a freelance writer and award-winning book reviewer. For 10 years, she authored her own book review column for MotherTown Magazine until the publication closed in 2008. Her writing has appeared in Adjunct Advocate, American History, Calyx, World War II, and other print publications, as well as in numerous online publications including FenwayNation, Hoops Addict, IntheFray Magazine, Strange Horizons, and USARiseUp. O'Loughlin contributed to the anthology Women Forged in Fire (1st Books Library). She serves as a judge for the annual Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award contest and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
Rita Rizzo is the Principal of Rizzo & Associates, an Ohio based consulting and training firm. She is a Certified Management Consultant with a Masters Degree in Training and Human Resource Management. Rita has over 27 years experience as a trainer and has provided training and consulting services for over 8000 audiences from corporations, associations, and government. A prolific writer, Rita has authored two books, co-authored two books, and ghost written seven books. She is also the author of over 100 articles for web and print magazines.
Russell Roberts is an award-winning fulltime freelance writer. He has written and published over four dozen books for both children and adults, including the best-sellers Down the Jersey Shore and Discover the Hidden New Jersey. Roberts lives in New Jersey with his wife, daughter, and a fat, fuzzy, diabolical Calico cat named Rusti.
Alonzo Weston joined the News-Press in 1989 as an intern. He currently covers education and mental health and is an award-winning columnist. A 2002 graduate of the inaugural class of the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., he has been voted the city's favorite newspaper columnist for the past 13 years. He’s won numerous Missouri Press Association awards for his columns, features and investigative reporting. He's been published in magazines and has had byline stories in the Nashville Tennessean and the New York Daily News. He received the YWCA/NAACP Kelsey Beshears Racial Justice Award in 2005. The East Side Rotary Club also presented Alonzo with its Community Service Award in 2004. He received a Department of Mental Health Media Award in 2002 for a series of stories on local mental health issues, and created a journalism workshop for minority youth called Reporting L.I.V.E.
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