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Contact us for your next event. The publisher and writers are available to speak to your audience regarding ministry, education and parenting, health and fitness, faith and religion, diet and nutrition, and more.
Meet the Publisher
 Iris Raeshaun earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois. She has reported news for more than a decade for local and national publications, including USA Today, The Crisis, and Gospel Today. She has also been cited for the same, including being highlighted in ESSENCE magazine on various occasions regarding travel, parenting, and financial management.
She was inspired to begin motivational speaking after being awarded the Maya Angelou Phenomenal Woman Award in 1997 by the Chicago Black Woman’s Expo.
Raeshaun began publishing OUR NEWS Christian magazine in 2004, two months after being laid off from her job as a public relations director for a Mississippi school district.
She enjoys photography, reading, writing, sewing and knitting. She resides with her family in Hattiesburg, MS. |
Meet the Writers
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 Floanne Kersh is a licensed social worker, writer, and counselor. She works as the Recreational Director for Adults the YMCA of Hattiesburg. A lover of performing arts, (a songwriter who’s been singing since the age of four), Kersh loves animals and loves to collect camel figurines. Her philosophy of life is “No matter how things start out in Life, things will always get better if you just believe.” |
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 Rodney Sessions is a retired school superintendent and principal. He has also served as a Captain in the United States Army and for 7 years as a Methodist Pastor. He has travel all over the world and lived in Japan, Alaska, Turkey, Honduras, and the former Soviet Union. Rodney has had over 600 articles published in newspapers and magazines. He has given over 500 motivational presentation. His presentations have been carried on Mississippi Public Radio and Television as well as Radio and television stations in the former Soviet Union. Rodney is a two-time winner of the Eudora Welty Writing Award for Creative Non Fiction. Rodney currently lives with his wife on 6 acres of land outside Petal, Mississippi. They are the proud parents of 3 children and spent a lot of time with their 3 grandchildren.
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 Taralynn Hartsell, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at The University of Southern Mississippi teaching instructional technology courses for the Technology Education Department. Areas of interest include distance learning, instructional design, and computer integration into the classroom.
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 Pam Snowe is a licensed dietitian employed by Forrest General Hospital of Hattiesburg, Miississippi. A resident of Hattiesburg, Pam enjoys working out and spending time with her family.
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 Michelle Banks works as a personal trainer and fitness instructor. A contributing writer and general manager, Michelle founded the Pine Belt’s Healthiest Success Regime, a personal training program that helps individuals develop healthy lifestyles through wholistic living.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from The University of Southern Mississippi. She is also a singer and songwriter.
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 Donna McClean works as a columnist, writer and proofreader for The Magee Courier/Simpson County News in Magee, Mississippi. Before turning to journalism as a second career, she taught English at the secondary level for 31 years. Donna has a bachelor’s degree from Delta State University and a master’s degree in English education from Mississippi State University. She has also written for Mississippi Magazine, Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin and other publications. In addition, she teaches an adult women’s Sunday School class at First Baptist Church of Magee and is a volunteer instructor for Christian Women’s Job Corps in Simpson County. |
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 Asia Ranelle Speights is a contributing writer and student at The University of Southern Missisisppi majoring in political science, and minoring in journalism. As a high school student, she has had articles and poems published in The Hattiesburg American newspaper. |
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