Montreal, August 22, 2012 – Best-selling author, educator and entrepreneur Stedman Graham will present a conference entitled “The Nine-Step Plan for Success” at the 8th annual Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) on September 27, 2012. He will also receive the 2012 Career Achievement Award in recognition of his entire professional career. Thus, the Festival recognizes his extraordinary contribution to corporations and non-profit organizations through training in identity development, leadership, diversity training, personal wellness and personal and professional branding. The Festival will also pay tribute to his community involvement and philanthropy, particularly concerning youth.

“Stedman Graham is one of today’s leading authorities on emotional intelligence. His training seminars are highly effective because they make you focus on maximizing the true leader within yourself.” – David M. Reynolds, CFM, Former Vice President, Associate Director – Merrill Lynch.

The Montreal International Black Film Festival is much more than a festival. It exposes viewers to international Black realities through cinema and other forms of expression. “We want the festival to be a place of inspiration, motivation and development for filmmakers, but also for individuals who want to further their professional and personal lives. We have the privilege of hosting Stedman Graham as the first of what is sure to be many great speakers, and to award him with the Festival’s Career Excellence Award.” – Fabienne Colas, President – MIBFF Founder.

STEDMAN GRAHAM – BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

As an executive, best-selling author, educator and speaker, Stedman Graham works with corporations, organizations and non-profits in the areas of identity development, leadership, diversity training, personal wellness, and personal / professional branding. Clients have included Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, Georgia Pacific, Pro-Line International, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Manpower, CNN, GlaxoSmithKline, Plains Capital Corporation, American College of Sports Medicine, YMCA, U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps, Credit-Suisse First Boston, Harvard and Wharton business schools and the U.S. Department of Education.

Graham has authored ten books, including two New York Times bestsellers, You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success and Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success. Graham’s new book, Identity: Your Passport to Success, published by Pearson Education, was released in 2012. Within two weeks of its release, Identity: Your Passport to Success reached number six on the Wall Street Journal Business bestseller list.

Stedman Graham is a former adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he taught a leadership course based on his Nine-Step Process. Graham also taught management strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago, Illinois. He is a distinguished visiting professor at several colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Graham has shown a lifelong commitment to youth and community. In 1985, he founded AAD Education, Health and Sports (formerly, Athletes Against Drugs), a non-profit organization with over 500 professional athletes and other civic leaders committed to developing leadership in underserved youth. Graham serves on several boards, including Corporate Voices, the National Board of Junior Achievement (JA), the 7-Eleven Education Is Freedom Foundation and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

He is also actively involved in leadership efforts and programs in South Africa and is the Founder of Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro and Concerned Citizens of Lake Waccamaw, NC. Graham holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Hardin-Simmons University. He received a master’s degree in Education from Ball State University and an honorary doctorate in Humanities from Coker College, where he is also a distinguished visiting professor.

Stedman Graham has been honored to receive the following awards in recognition of his professional and community achievements:

Franklin Covey Humanitarian Service Award

National Urban League Community Service Award

Drum Major for Justice Award

American Advertising Federation Industry Influential

H. Naylor Fitzhugh Award of Relevance

The 8th annual MIBFF will take place from September 19 to 30, 2012!

About the Montreal International Black Film Festival – MIBFF

Presented by Global Montreal, the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) was created in 2005 by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting cinema, art and culture.. The mission of the Montreal International Black Film Festival is to stimulate the development of the independent film industry and to foster the creation of more films on international Black realities. The Festival wants to promote a different kind of cinema:, cinema that hails both from here and abroad, that is not always on the silver. We showcase groundbreaking cinema that moves us, raises awareness and takes us by surprise. MIBFF films deal with issues and raise questions, that provoke, make us smile, leave us perplexed and shock us. Join us for a fresh look at Black cinema from all four corners of the globe! www.montrealblackfilm.com .

Get festival news on:

www.montrealblackfilm.com / www.facebook.com/blackfilmfestival / www.twitter.com/filmblackmtl

-30-

 

Director of media relations: Carla Beauvais – carla@montrealblackfilm.com – (438) 868-5450

Francophone press agent: Fadwa Lapierre – fadwa@montrealblackfilm.com – (514) 884-9545

Anglophone press agent: Dany Payne – dany@montrealblackfilm.com – (514) 621-8657

Ethnic and community press agent: Aimée Kassi – aimee@montrealblackfilm.com – (514) 621-7178