Patricia Russell-McCloud Speaks and Writes for Audiences Hungry for Inspiration

Patricia Russell-McCloud, J.D.

Asheville’s 36th annual Prayer Breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be held January 14, 2017 at the Crowne Plaza Resort in West Asheville to celebrate the birthday and honor the leadership of American icon and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tickets for the event are sold out however, other King Celebration events will also take place on Monday, Jan. 16, the official federal holiday honoring Dr. King (see Peace Rally & March and Candlelight Ceremony).

The keynote speaker, Patricia Russell-McCloud, J.D., has developed her skills as an orator and writer through the experiences of her own life’s journey. After undergraduate education at Kentucky State University, the Indiana native enrolled at Howard University Law School, one of the nation’s most prestigious historically black universities, to earn her Juris Doctorate. She also studied in an intensive post-graduate law program at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For a decade Ms. Russell-McCloud worked for the Federal Communications Commission, in the heart of the bureaucracy in Washington, DC. As she began more and more to emerge as a public speaker, it was clear that she had discovered her natural bent: to inform, educate, motivate and inspire her listeners, whether they were corporate chieftains or everyday people looking for guidance.

Her first book, A Is for Attitude: An Alphabet for Living, was a best-seller almost as soon as it was in print. The book focuses on showing readers how to discover or develop the courage to face all that life has to offer, both the disappointments and the pleasures. Having found her own path to success, Russell-McCloud teaches readers to stop making excuses and dare to venture beyond where they are, into a place they might never have dreamed of reaching.

Using the alphabet as a touchstone, A Is for Attitude: An Alphabet for Living offers ways to assess strengths and urges readers to commit themselves to fulfill more of their potential. Among the valuable subjects addressed are living with courage, how to tap your genius, the fight for justice and truth, daring to take risks, and the need and methods for developing a personal, guiding vision.

Russell-McCloud more recently wrote a more personal memoir, My Journal: Myself, Inside Out, available in hardcover for $25. My Journal features 365 days of inspirational and self-help techniques, as well as the space to explore introspections. Russell-McCloud states about the book, “Knowing the real you takes courage and determination. Understanding who you are creates a doorway for you to construct ideas, build your plans and execute your dreams.”

She has also created a DVD, Juggling It All, and a motivational CD, Never Give Up! Ms. Russell-McCloud will sell and sign her books and other media following the MLK Prayer Breakfast.

For more information about the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County, visit www.mlkasheville.org. For more details about Ms. Russell-McCloud and her books, visit www.prussellmccloud.com.