Good fortune
seems t
Telisa Franklin
at every turn on
her journey to
entrepreneurial
success. For
those who
subscribe to
Christianity,
“good fortune”
could be interpreted
as “blessings”
from God,
sub
Chr
go
cou
pre
ing
which Franklin Franklin can can attest. In In June 202
2021, while the
country country was commemorating Juneteen
Juneteenth as a
national national holiday, Franklin, president o
of the Memphis
Juneteenth Festival, orchestrated a move that
caught the attention of media types: She moved the
28-year-old festival from Robert R. Church Park
on Beale Street to Health Sciences Park (formerly
Forrest Park), where a slave owner and trader –
Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest – and
his wife were buried.“Our purpose was to reclaim
the park for freedom and to eliminate the negativity
surrounding the park and what it once stood
for,” Franklin said. “So, it is our mission to move
forward to freedom with mind, body and soul.”
In 2012, Glenn Johns Reed, founder of the
long-running Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage
Festival in Douglass Park, tapped Franklin to
succeed her as the festival’s executive director.
Prior to rebranding Juneteenth and following its
successful move, Franklin launched radio station
WAVN the Trend on FM 104 and AM 1240 in the
fall of 2020 with the Ricky Smiley Show (the No.
1 morning show) and the Telisa Franklin Show.
Raised in an environment where crack addiction
was all too common, her father was brutally
murdered, and her grandparents, who did not
graduate from school, did their best to provide
for her and protect her after they became her
guardians. “My grandparents saved me from
becoming a statistic and a prey to the evildoers in
my environment who sought to destroy me,”
Franklin said.
Although the aforementioned attributes were
pillars that she leaned on to survive a dicult
childhood, they have become the hallmarks of her
success as an entrepreneural designer, motivational
speaker, philanthropist, TV talk show host,
radio host, author, minister, owner of her own TV
network, president of the Memphis Juneteenth
Festival, and now the owner of her own radio
station.
She is the mother of a 15-year-old son, Charles
Edward, whom she is grooming as a young
entrepreneur.
31
With more than
30 years in
marketing communications
and
eight years
in broadcast
journalism,
Faith Morris
has worked with
and and
counseled
business busi
leaders
and and
inuencers in
various vari
sectors -
corporate,corp
media,
entertainment,ente
legislative legi
and
as marketing
nonprop
t. She has built a reputation as a m
strategi
g
rands, establishe
st who re-energizes established br
g
s inuencer relation
strategist who energizes established brands, builds
new new brands,b
establishes relationships and
creates innovative campaigns that drive audience
engagement to exceed marketing and business goals.
As Chief Marketing & External Affairs cer for the
National Civil Rights Museum, Faith positions the
Museum globally as the institution chronicling the Civil
Rights Movement most comprehensively. Through her
work (and that of her colleagues), the Museum is
considered more than a museum with its diverse
outreach initiatives, programming and issues-based
platforms. Faith leads the museum’s communications,
branding, advertising, audience engagement and
revenue generation. She was executive lead for the
MLK50 commemoration for the 50th anniversary of
Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, which lured 110
media outlets to Memphis (national and international)
and engaged community, organizational, corporate
and civic partners all over the world in commemorative
activities. She concepts and produces several of the
Museum’s signature events including serving as
managing director/producer for the Freedom Award
that honors individuals who have contributed greatly
to advancing civil and human rights. She keeps the
museum in the news and top-of mind achieving billions
in audience reach. She co-authored the book, A Story of
A People, a storytelling pictorial of the National Civil
Rights Museum.
A Memphis native, Faith moved to Chicago in 1990,
where she served as a marketing communications
consultant for Golin Harris, a global communications
agency. In 1990, Faith joined Burrell Communications,
the leading agency for multi-cultural marketing, as
public relations manager. She soon became head of
the PR operation going from director to senior vice
president/General Manager of Public Relations &
Engagement Marketing. Faith served as CEO/Chief
Strategist for Merge Consumer Marketing and Owens-
Morris Communications from 2005 – 2013. She led the
marketing launch for TV One, creating break-through
strategic campaigns to establish the new network. She
was the chief agency executive for TV One’s consumer
and aliate marketing responsible for building awareness,
boosting new market network acquisition, ratings
0and tune-in. She’s also served as consulting producer
for TV One Specials.
Her passions include mentoring young women
and men interested in being a driving force in
impacting the future of our communities, our world.