Michael Franklin is the co-founder and executive director of Speechwriters of Color, a community of expert and aspiring communicators helping to give voice to leaders at every level of the public, private and non-profit sectors. As a proud partner of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, the organization has placed dozens of candidates in both full-time and contract roles as speechwriters across the Biden-Harris administration.  

“We are definitely understanding and realizing the power of words to make a difference,” Michael says.  

As the founder and chief thought leadership officer of Words Normalize Behavior, a Black- and Gen Z-owned and certified LGBT Business Enterprise, Michael has developed a reputation as a leading communications strategist, working with clients in higher Education, political advocacy, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, sports and Entertainment.  

Michael’s commitment to telling stories through coalition building, targeted outreach and inclusive communications practices has its roots in his commitment to public speaking and debating.  While a student at Howard University, he was the inaugural HBCU Speech and Debate League National Champion in both Parliamentary Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking and helped to lead the school’s debate team in 2019’s “Great Debate” against Harvard University. 

Learn more about Michael Franklin:

• LinkedIn
• Website
• Twitter
• Instagram

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Daniel Paisner Daniel Paisner - author, collaborator, podcaster

Daniel Paisner is an author, collaborator and podcaster. He is the author or co-author of over 80 books, including four novels and numerous works of non-fiction, and he is the ghostwriter behind 17 NYT best-sellers, written in collaboration with such celebrated personalities as Whoopi Goldberg, Serena Williams and Denzel Washington. He is the host of the podcast “AS TOLD TO: The Ghostwriting Podcast,” a production of the Writers Bone Podcast Network, which features conversations with his fellow ghostwriters, as well as songwriters, speechwriters, screenwriters and other artists who work in service of someone else’s voice or vision.