About the Author

Dr. Jamie T. Pleasant is an educator, entrepreneur, business professional, and community leader with over two decades of experience and accomplishments in academia and corporate America. Dr. Pleasant is currently a Professor of Marketing at Clark-Atlanta University and the Chief Executive Officer of Kingdom Builders Christian Center, a multi-cultural faith- and member-based community organization in Norcross, Georgia. He serves as an educator and speaker to over 500 individuals each week. Dr. Pleasant's extensive knowledge of marketing, consumer behavior, and economics changes the lives of those who desire to achieve their self-defined successes. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Physics from Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Pleasant transferred to Clemson University where he earned an athletic scholarship for football, while studying business. He further advanced his education by achieving an M.B.A. in Marketing from Clark Atlanta University. Dr. Pleasant then advanced to pursue his Ph.D., where he achieved a Georgia Tech milestone by becoming the first African American to graduate with a Ph.D. in Business Management in the school's 111-year history. Dr. Pleasant's academic tenure includes over 13 years of coaching, teaching, and mentoring students and entrepreneurs. He has taught a myriad of courses such as Principles of Marketing, Advertising, Consumer Behavior, Sales Management, Marketing Research, New Product Management, and Statistics. He is published in the Journal of Business and Economic Issues and the Journal of Healthcare Marketing, and most recently, in 2006, he became the founder and senior editor of the Journal of Ethnic Marketing. He currently lives in Alpharetta, Georgia with his wife Kimberly and is the father of Christian, and Zion and Nacara.