Good News Speaks to Author Demetri Kornegay

Do you have anything for the boys? That was the question that seemed to confront Author Demitri C. Kornegay at least once on every book tour or reading for his bestseller, Dear Rhonda Life Lesson from A Father to His Daughter. Despite his commitment to mentoring, coaching and the passion that lead him found an award-winning Rites of Passage program called Men Under Construction, mothers everywhere still seemed to be crying out for help in the form of a mentor for their sons whose fathers were not there. Once again, the man known simply as, The Deacon, boldly steps forward answer the call with his latest book, MAN UP! No Excuses! Do the Work! Life Lessons for Men Under Construction. In this book you will find invaluable advice and information on subjects such as, the importance of knowing your history, peer pressure, racism, handling disappointment, when you should fight, the N word and so much more. Like Dear Rhonda, each chapter is written in letter form, from a father to a son. These chapters include topics such as: Love, Heartbreak & Marriage, The Importance of Fatherhood, and Money. The chapter on Dating is hilarious and yet still manages to make its point. This book will not only serve as a partial guide to life for both young and old men alike, but it also encourages conversations between children and parents to go further into the topics addressed. Finally, the prayers of that mother that has been desperately searching for a mentor or an understandable reference book for her son on how to be a strong, productive, positive good man has been answered by a man who has had over 20 years of experience in supporting and encouraging men. For more information, visit http://demetrikornegay.com http://demetrikornegay.com More About Demetri Kornegay: For as long as anyone who has known him can remember, Demitri, or Meti (pronounced MEE-TEE) by his close friends, has been the go-to guy whenever something important was on the line. Some would suggest it began when he ran the winning touchdowns two weeks in a row in two separate senior high school championship games. Others would claim it was his willingness to take on jobs others would shy away from and bring about successful conclusions, such as his volunteer work as a tutor to children in crowded elementary schools for the Washington Urban League’s “Operation Rescue” or the City of Richmond’s campaign to Stamp out Sexually Transmitted Diseases. His parents, Elisha and Emma Kornegay, had migrated North from Jones County, North Carolina, when Demitri was born in Washington, D.C. Demitri and his siblings were sent back to Jones County every summer until they were 13. His mother worked as an employee in the federal government’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity while his father was a police officer with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. His uncles, James and Lewis, were star athletes in high school and college and they and the many other positive male role models he had in his life, influenced him greatly. Despite the fact some of his elementary school teachers believed he was simply not bright or light enough to do the more challenging work (remember this was the early sixties), Demitri was reared by his mother to always do his best no matter what it was, and by his father to “speak the king’s English.” Emma Kornegay would never accept, “I ain’t got no homework” for an answer and insisted her children turn off the television and devote their school evenings to expanding their minds and imaginations. The evenings with educational games, her refusal to entertain mediocrity, and her belief in her children’s intelligence soon paid off. A bit of his character was revealed when he was playing a pickup game of football (the game was his first true love) and his team, losing badly, decided to throw the ball to their opponents and just lay down at the snap. When the ball was hiked, Demitri refused to lay down and took on as many as he could. Although his team didn’t win, his team mates knew Demitri was a “guy who would never quit on them” and, from that point on, he was always the first one picked when choosing up sides. The next year, his junior high school team was eligible to play football in the tournament at school. Demitri wrote the playbook his team used to win the championship two consecutive years. While in college, at the University of Richmond on an athletic scholarship, he tutored juvenile offenders at the Richmond Penitentiary. A member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., he has hosted one of the first “Quiet Storm” formatted radio programs in the Richmond area at the school’s radio station, WDCE-FM. It was there, in Richmond, he became WTVR channel 6’s first intern ever by telling General Manager, John Shand, “if he could get four people to take 15 minutes out of their lunch hour to show him something about television, he’d be able to run his station one day.”. Shand, impressed by Demitri’s “moxie,” gave him a chance after watching him come to the station on his own the entire summer and the next year, invited him to join the station as a summer intern. Of course, after he graduated from the University of Richmond in 1979, Shand offered him a full time job at WTVR. Demitri progressed moving up the ladder from one television and radio station to another until, while married and the father of an infant daughter he was laid off by a television station in Washington, D.C. He, like his father’s and uncles, then became a police officer. He’s been assigned undercover narcotics work with the Special Investigations Division, served 5 years with the SWAT team, a background investigator, a shift commander and an investigator with the Internal Affairs Division. As a Deacon with the Galilee Baptist Church in Suitland, Maryland, when complaining about the perceived irresponsibility of African American males was becoming vogue, Demitri spearheaded the “Let’s Celebrate Our Men Project” which established a “Proud Fathers Roll Call of Honor” in 1991. In 1992, he developed an award winning 12 week, Rites of Passage program for young men called “Men Under Construction.” It’s classes, 18 classes in 15 years, with approximately 480 students and 280 graduates have been credited with providing a blueprint for success for young men who were desperately in need of direction. Disturbed by the number of young women he was constantly seeing fall prey to abusive husbands, boyfriends, and associates, he decided to, once again, encourage change for the better by making available to young ladies without fathers, a reference book on how to deal with men, depression, death, love, God and much more. In 1997, “From Servitude to Self-Reliance, The Kornegay Chronicles,” the book he wrote detailing his lineage, was added to the North Carolina Collection at the library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Dear Rhonda” – Life Lessons From A Father To His Daughter, is causing a tidal wave of common sense everywhere it is read. Not content to rest there, he has conducted workshops on “Successfully Moving The African American Family Into the 21st Century,” for adults, “The Importance of the Father-Daughter Relationship,” for fathers, and “Mapping Out Your Own Success” for young adults. While some call it motivation, he calls it coaching. Where some see a problem, he sees a challenge. Demitri Kornegay is determined to continue proving his creed of strength through intelligence, uplifting his fellow man by showing if you can read there is nothing you can’t learn, and encouraging others to step forward when the question is asked with the answer, “Here am I. Send me.” https://videos.whiteblox.com/gnb/secure/player.aspx?sid=33069