Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWire) -- 02/10/2017 --TUESDAY FEB 14 at 2PM PST on "The Real Deal With Danielle Delaney on the VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel, Oscar Winning Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. and Keith A.Somers discuss Racism in America and each of their respective Foundations, Gossett's "ERACISM" Foundation and Somers' KASIF. Somers' life's mission is to change the future of our world by empowering the youth of today. Gossett's Foundation is dedicated to eradicating racism, violence and ignorance, and creating programs to give at-risk children a helping hand. He has dedicated his life to an all-out offensive against ignorance, violence, and racism. Together, these two fascinating and accomplished men share their rich, deeply important histories and their wisdom with Dr. Danielle Delaney and with the world.
About Dr. Danielle Delaney, Th.D.
Dr. Danielle Delaney, Th.D., is a Certified Crisis Intervention Counselor, specialist in Addiction & Recovery Aftercare, Rape Crisis Counselor, Spiritual Counselor, and is also a Sober Coach and an Interventionist. She also specializes in the area of Adults Molested as Children as well as LGBT issues and drug-assisted rape and survivors of domestic violence. Danielle works with individuals, families and couples seeking healing and resolution of their challenges, and helps them to more clearly see the path to their holistic wellness and to their higher selves. She hosts "The Real Deal With Danielle Delaney" on VoiceAmerica, the World Leader in Internet Media, on Tuesdays at 2PM PT. She is the award-winning author of "Expect Delays: How to Reclaim Your Life, Light and Soul After Trauma" and is currently working on her second book.
Danielle Delaney holds the distinction of being the youngest and the only woman of color to own a Sober Companioning business in the United States of America. She is soon to be featured in a "Top 50 Under 50" piece about American Female Entrepreneurs as well as appearing as a specialist & consultant in an upcoming documentary about healing and retraining the brain.
In addition to her work as a counselor and as an Interventionist with numerous inpatient facilities internationally, Danielle maintains her private practice in Hollywood, California and works with crime survivors with the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) for The City of Long Beach and works as a State Certified court advocate. She works as a volunteer on the hotlines for suicide and rape. Her practice as a concierge counselor often involves going to the homes of high-profile individuals so that they may maintain their privacy whilst seeking help. Danielle can be found listed in Psychology Today. She is also a writer and is a contributor to numerous health journals including those for the Minority Health Institute, The Association of Black Cardiologists, and the National Medical Association, and has been filmed for a segment for the television series "The Doctors." Danielle works with the boards of The One Wish Foundation and The Joyful Heart Foundation, and was on the Board of Directors for Dr. Frank Ryan's Bony Pony Ranch Foundation for at-risk youth. The County of Los Angeles Office of Protocol has hailed Danielle as a "proven asset to the City and County of Los Angeles." She has made numerous appearances on Radio MD, Rewired Radio with Erica Spiegelman, Dr. Barbara Young's international syndicated show "Transformation For Success" and appeared on five-time Emmy award winner Sheila Hamilton's radio show in Portland, Oregon. Danielle's media, voiceover work and appearances can be found under Delangerous Productions. She will be launching her International Sobriety and Recovery Lifestyle Brand of clothing in October of 2017.
Danielle is being featured in In Recovery Inc. Magazine for the "Strong Women in Recovery" special Issue for Fall 2017. Dr. Delaney has been named Director of the H.E.R. USA Conference for International Humanity Education and Rights, in Los Angeles for September of 2017. She will also be a headlining speaker at the Conference.
Danielle holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from UCLA as well as doctorates in both theology and divinity, and has earned additional certifications and degrees at the Sexual Assault Crisis Agency in Orange County and Esoteric Interfaith Theological Seminary. As a survivor herself, she is uniquely qualified to understand and to assist her clients. Through her work and contributions, Danielle is deeply dedicated to assisting people in affecting enduring & beneficial changes in their lives and in making sense of the chaotic world around them.
To contact Dr. Danielle Delaney, please go to http://www.ExpectDelaysBook.com or http://www.DanielleDelaneyCounseling.com.
About Louis Gossett Jr.
Mr. Louis Gossett Jr. is one of the most treasured and respected American African (his preferred terminology which will be discussed, tune in!) actors of stage, screen, and television. One of our most talented artists, he made his Broadway debut at age seventeen in "Take a Giant Step,"winning the Donaldson Award as the year's best newcomer. His Emmy-wining 1977 performance in the landmark miniseries "Roots" made him a star, and in 1982 he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "An Officer and a Gentleman." In 2006 he launched Eracism Foundation, a foundation dedicated to eradicating racism, violence,and ignorance and especially to creating programs to give at-risk children a helping hand. He was heavily involved in campaigning for Barack Obama, especially raising money and involving other celebrities in the campaign.
Mr. Gossett looks back over his fifty-five year career in theater, film and television with some singing, guitar and basketball on the side, in his book, "An Actor and A Gentleman." He tells stories of his twice weekly games of poker with Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman, friendship with James Dean, and other poignant and personal tales. He reveals how his fantastic journey has at times been marred by the scourge of racism. He is not your average movie star, and mentors and educates millions by using his knowledge and experience to pay it forward.
About Keith A. Somers
Keith A. Somers, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Keith A. Somers International Foundation, (http://www.keithasomersfoundation.org) was born in the 60's and raised in the suburbs of Southeastern Pennsylvania, thirty minutes outside metropolitan Philadelphia and just two hours away from Lancaster County, PA, also known as "Amish Country." Keith's community was predominately Jewish with smaller clusters of Italians, Germans, Poles, and a very small enclave of Afro-Americans. He was raised with traditional, Catholic family values in an all-American household complete with biological mother, father, and an older brother. His childhood, judging from the outside, was basically unremarkable. Keith participated in all sorts of extra-curricular activities, such as Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Eagle Scouts. He was a Cadet in the USAF-Civil Air Patrol, he played trumpet in the Stage Band and High School Marching Band. He turned professional photographer by age 12, working free-lance for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Ambler Gazette Newspapers.Yet internally speaking, his reality was not so idyllic. Being the byproduct of the multi-ethnic union between his Afro-American father and his Italian/East-Indian mother, Keith had to endure significant ethnic and class prejudice from his peers, and his community at large. He battled many deep seated, emotional issues throughout his childhood and on into his teenage years, at which time Keith found relief from his demons through drugs and alcohol consumption.
After years of being a teenage celebrity and working as a professional performing artist (singing, dancing and acting), Keith decided at the age of 21 to turn his dreams into reality and moved to Southern California.Needing to survive while simultaneously pursuing his dream of becoming a successful actor, Keith began work as a security guard. Becoming quickly disillusioned with that job's prospects, he sought employment elsewhere, and quickly converted vocations within the security field as a trained, licensed and bonded Executive Protection Specialist (aka: body guard). After nearly six consecutive years of working as a body-guard to the rich and famous, Keith landed his most lucrative contract in November 1992. The very next day, he decided to go out and celebrate his good fortune at a popular restaurant/nightclub on the infamous Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.At 2 o'clock the next morning, Keith and his friends left the restaurant/nightclub, and shortly thereafter, he was the initiating party in a multi-car collision which resulted in the death of another young man and multiple injuries suffered by the survivors.Keith was charged and convicted of Second Degree Murder, and given a life sentence in the State Prison. Determined to come to terms with the magnitude and gravity of his actions, Keith embarked on a lifelong quest for complete spiritual and physical recovery. While incarcerated on his life term, Keith availed himself and benefited from every available form of rehabilitation inside or outside the prison walls.Then, after serving in excess of 10+ years of imprisonment and having done so 100% disciplinary-free, Keith appeared before the Ca. Parole Board, only to be illegally denied parole. Not allowing himself to be deterred, Keith stayed the course and returned before the Ca. Parole Board 14 mos. later only to net the exact same outcome, parole denied absent any reasonable nor legitimate evidence to support their denial of his parole suitability. Only then did Keith come to grips with his status as a life term inmate within the Ca. penal system, a fate which the then seated Governor coined as "Pine Box Parole". The Governor publicly stated that the only way Keith, or any other life inmate would be legally released during their watch as Governor would only occur once deceased, adorning a "toe tag", and encased within a pine box (aka coffin), hence the term "Pine Box Parole". Determined to defy his death sentence, Keith voluntarily gave up everything in his life except for the study of law from inside his prison.
Keith learned how to perform legal research, study case law, prepare and file legal pleadings following the proper codes for both criminal and civil procedure. Keith filed in excess of 30 cases between the state and federal courts challenging his ongoing illegal state of incarceration, and continued to file legal court actions until he was finally vindicated.Then, after 18 1/4 consecutive years of model behavior and after nearly a half-dozen parole hearings, Keith was finally released from state prison on parole.After serving nearly two decades and making a successful re-entry back into his community, Keith is determined to take every ounce of experience, strength, hope, and wisdom that he gleaned through his "trial by fire" and give back to the world at large by paying it forward through all of his remaining days.His life's mission is to effectively change the future of our world beginning with the piece of our society most responsible for our future: the youth of today. Keith has already seen how vitally important and urgent it truly is that he get his story out to the masses, particularly to today's at risk youth, for reasons like those few detailed here below:
November 2011: KASIF Founder, Keith A. Somers, was invited to be the Guest Speaker at the Young Person's meeting, titled "Holdstrong" on Abbott Kinney Blvd., in Venice, CA. At the conclusion of Keith having shared his personal testimony, a 16 yr. old female approached Keith at the end of his speech and proceeded to inform him that only at the behest of her best friend, did she attend his presentation. But what her best friend didn't know, and wasn't told, was that she was planning on going home immediately following that evening's meeting at "Hold Strong", and slit her wrists, in the hope of ending her life. But as a direct result of Keith's testimony, she decided not to kill herself, and to instead seek immediate and effective clinical help.
June 5, 2014 -KAIF Founder, Keith A. Somers, once again was the noted Guest Speaker at a young person's gathering, on this particular occasion it was aptly named, "Over-comers Society", in West Los Angeles, CA. On this particular evening, Keith spoke on overcoming depression and suicidal tendencies. Then, at the end of that evening, after nearly everyone in attendance had shaken Keith's hand, thanking him for being their guest speaker, one young girl waited until everyone else had thanked Keith, and gone home, before she decided to approach Keith.
She began crying violently, sobbing uncontrollably, while repeatedly saying, "You don't know what you just did to me, you don't know what you just did to me"!, over and over and over. Keith asked her, "What did I do to you"? She responded, " I wasn't supposed to be here tonight, I had given up, but my friend wouldn't stop asking me to attend tonight's meeting until I had promised her I'd come, and I did. But what my friend didn't know, was that after I had attended tonight's meeting, I was going home to ingest two full bottles of Oxycontin, and drink a half gallon of vodka, and end my life, I just wanted the pain to stop, I just wanted to die"! But Keith, after you've gone through what you've gone through, and you're still here, I don't know how I will survive, but if you can do it, I guess so can I, even though I haven't the slightest clue how!" Luckily, there was a woman in attendance that evening, who not only had Keith known previously, but who also had training in teen crisis intervention, and Keith facilitated an introduction between his acquaintance, and this young, at-risk teenaged girl, who only moments earlier had every intention of committing suicide before listening to Keith's speech/testimony.
No matter the socioeconomic status, youth are carrying immense pain, and insecurities, and Keith has been successful in shifting their perspectives and perceptions for countless others, allowing them to change the way they view not only themselves, but others and life in general. Keith's speeches have successfully, and repeatedly saved lives! What higher purpose is there?
