Terrie Williams

Terrie Williams (born May 12, 1954) is an American public relations speaker, author, therapist, and philanthropist.

Williams was born to parents Charles and Marie.

Charles, one of five siblings, was educated in the military.

Marie, the only one among her nine siblings to complete high school.

Williams, after completing her high school, continued her education at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts where she received a BA in Psychology and Sociology.

She received an Alumni Achievement Award in 1988.

Upon completion of her bachelor's degree, she went on to obtain a Master's of Science in Social Work at Columbia University.

After completing her MS degree, Williams worked as a medical social worker at New York Hospital (now called Weill-Cornell Medical Center) counselling terminally ill and disabled patients.

Later, she met and befriended jazz musician Miles Davis, who encouraged her to open her own business.

The Terrie Williams Agency (TTWA), founded in 1988 by Terrie Williams, is a public relations firm.

In start, it represented Miles Davis and Eddie Murphy, TTWA expanded to offer employee training and motivational speaking for various organizations.

The agency's clientele includes figures such as Prince, Chris Rock, Janet Jackson, Louis Gossett Jr.., Al Sharpton, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Mo'Nique, Ntozake Shange, and Johnnie L. Cochran.

Corporate clients have included HBO, Revlon, Time Warner, Essence magazine, and Forest City Ratner Companies.

Her work in public relations has been referenced in textbooks, business guides, print editorials, social media, and pop culture.

From its creation in 1988 to closure in 2018, the public relations firm provided many services on a pro bono basis to underserved communities.

In 2003, Williams suffered from severe depression that impacted her public relations career.

She publicly discussed this in a 2005 Essence magazine interview, emphasizing the stigma around mental health treatment in the African-American community.

Transitioning into a mental health advocate, Williams spoke nationally to encourage open conversations on mental health issues.

In 2005, Williams founded the Stay Strong Foundation (SSF)—now dissolved.

SSF aimed to raise awareness of teen issues, promote the personal well-being of young people and enhance educational and professional development.

The foundation encouraged corporate and individual responsibility, developed educational resources for youth and youth organizations, provided and coordinated internships, set up mentoring opportunities, and facilitated visits by prominent individuals and business professionals to schools, libraries, youth organizations, and group homes.

In 2008, she wrote Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting, which examines the role of unaddressed mental and emotional illness in spreading physical disease, substance abuse, violent crime, and broken families among African Americans.

In March 2008, the Stay Strong Foundation launched the "Healing Starts With Us" campaign.

She wrote a book, Black Pain, in 2009 that is focused on mental health challenges in the black community.

Williams has written four books.

Her first, The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today's Fast-paced Business World offered "an excellent primer on the basics of building and maintaining business relationships."

The second book, Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens formed the basis of Williams' non-profit Stay Strong Foundation.

A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues, offers advice on how to insert core values into business practices.

In 2010 SSF collaborated with the Ad Council and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to introduce a campaign entitled "Share Ourselves: Healing Starts With Us."

To date, the campaign has garnered $2.5 million in donated national advertising space and 11 million media impressions to significantly heighten awareness of the importance of mental and emotional health.

In October 2012, Williams was a featured speaker on mental health for World Mental Health Day.