Deborah L. Plummer, PhD is a psychologist, university professor, author, and speaker on topics central to racial equity and mutual respect. Her book Some of My Friends Are…The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross-Racial Friendships (Beacon Press) presents an insightful look at how cross-racial friendships work and fail within American society. She is also the editor of the Handbook of Diversity Management (Rowman and Littlefield).
Deborah L. Plummer, PhD is a psychologist, university professor, author, and speaker on topics central to racial equity, inclusion, and mutual respect. Debbie draws her energy from engaging others in workshop settings, book salons, and through her writings and blog posts.
An international leader in the field of diversity and inclusion, she brings her deeply humanist and Gestalt-trained skills to workshop participants and readers to examine themselves as social beings in relation to our programmed fear of “otherness.” Her work and writings introduce a relational model for managing differences that support the development of the competencies necessary to live authentically out of one’s core identity as a human being and master the challenges of diversity dynamics.
Her book, Some of My Friends Are…The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross-Racial Friendships (Beacon Press) presents an insightful look at how cross-racial friendships work and fail within American society while encouraging readers to examine their friendship patterns and have more enlightened, meaningful conversations about race. Debbie is also the editor of the Handbook of Diversity Management (Rowman and Littlefield) and author of Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships (Pilgrim Press) which received the publisher’s Mayflower Award for best publication in the category of Church and Society. She has authored several book chapters and published numerous journal articles to the professional community on racial identity development, diversity metrics, and managing diverse work environments. She has published articles in Diversity Executive and the Boston Globe Magazine. Other publications include Advancing Inclusion: A Guide for Effective Diversity Council and Employee Resource Group Membership (Half Dozen Publications) and her essay, “The Girl from the Ghetto” published in the anthology All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World—Essays on Equality, Justice and Freedom (NBTT Publications). She currently writes essays for Medium publications, An Injustice! and Age of Awareness.
She lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her husband, Michael Bussey. In her next life, she plans to come back as a master chef (think Ina Garten) or a singer, dancer and entertainer (think Beyoncé).
