Founder

Debert Cook, CMP
Publisher, African American Golfer’s Digest
Headquarters: New York City

Ms. Cook is a media expert and launched the African American Golfer’s Digest as a nationally distributed print publication in March 2003 focusing on news, information, and activities in the ‘soulful’ world of golf. Headquartered on Wall Street in New York City’s Financial District, the magazine has been PGA of America Diverse Supplier since January 2009.

Ms. Cook is the first Black woman to wholly own a golf magazine in the U.S.A. which serves avid Black American golfers.  Launched in 2003, Ms. Cook prides herself in providing balanced editorial that showcases in print and digital formats the individual and collective successful efforts, achievements and lifestyles of Black Americans playing and enjoying both leisure and competitive golf; the sport of a lifetime.

In April 2011, Ms. Cook through her publication designated April as National Black Golf Month to celebrate and grow interest in the sport among African Americans.  Each year, the concept continues to excel in providing news and information on programs and events held nationwide during the month of April where individuals can learn, play and become involved in golf for free.

On Sunday, June 4, 2017, Ms. Cook was honored by the Wake-Robin Golf Club at its 80th “Diamond & Pearl” Jubilee Banquet.  The Wake-Robin is the oldest women’s golf club in America, not just the oldest African American golf club, and it will celebrate its 80th Anniversary with a grand Diamond and Pearl Jubilee.  Honorary Chairwoman for the distinctive program is Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.  To celebrate, the organization will be hosting a two-day event that is open to the public.

The magazine is subscription-based and serves a controlled circulation of over 80,000 readers each quarter, with added distribution to over 250 African American-focused golf events around the country.  National Media Partnerships help golfing groups, along with nonprofit and for-profit organizations, with a variety of affordable advertising and marketing campaign strategies to promote their tournaments and outings to this niche golf targeted marketplace.

As the nation’s leading publication for avid Black American golfers, the magazine has been featured on The Golf Channel, ESPN, BBC, BBC London, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Golf For Women, Meetings & Conventions Magazine, Black Enterprise, Ebony Magazine, Jet magazine, ESSENCE magazine, The Network Journal, Crain’s New York business, GolfWeek, The New York Amsterdam News, Sports Business, The Chicago Observer, The Detroit Free Press, Rolling Out and many others.

The publication has been featured on the big screen and received billing in the documentary “Rainbow On The Green” which included golfers Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Lee Trevino, Renee Powell and Nancy Lopez.   The 45-minute documentary highlighted the contributions of women and people of color to the sport of golf over the last 112 years, and air in three of the USA’s largest television markets, New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles, in March 2008.  The publication was also included in the opening scene of “Baggage Claim“, An American Comedy Film Directed By Award-Winning Writer, Director, Producer, Author, David E. Talbert.

As President/CEO of Event Planners Plus NA Inc., a corporate and small business meeting management and solutions firm that she founded in 1998, where she oversees daily operations at the company which specializes in developing and managing programs and events for up to 2,500 attendees, including public and private seminars, workshops, conferences, training programs, incentives travel, festivals, cruise meetings, awards galas, fundraisers and more. Ms. Cook is a Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) as distinguished by the Convention Industry Council (CIC). Additional services provided by her firm include logistics planning, entertainment, and venue sourcing, group activities/tours, transportation, food and beverage, décor design, team building, gift sourcing, VIP experiences and the facilitation of city insider tours.

Clients served by Event Planners Plus have included Philip Morris USA, General Services Administration (GSA), The National African American Insurance Association, Empire State Medical Association (EMSA), Medgar Evers College (HBCU), State of the Black World Conference, Black Expo New York, Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Foundation, Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program (BBHOP), Office of the New York State Comptroller, the Kente Cloth Festival, The Network Journal, the MONY Group, New York’s African Burial Ground, Celebration of Heroes, Cutt Team LLC, and WBLS Radio, to name a few.

Ms. Cook was born in West Virginia and she is the great-granddaughter and granddaughter of hardworking coal miners who build their lives around their faith in God, and, whose lineage begat a strong, independent, entrepreneurial family.

Ms. Cook grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and following graduation from college in 1988, relocated to New York City.  She holds an A.S. Degree in Music Business from Georgia State University, a Certification in Radio/TV Production, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication from Youngstown State University, a Master of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies/History from the City University of New York (CUNY) and she has served as an adjunct professor teaching courses in African American Music and African American Art History at the South Bronx (NY) campus of The College of New Rochelle.

Prior to opening her own firm in New York City, Ms. Cook served in positions with several corporate entities including Philip Morris USA, BusinessWeek Magazine, Esquire magazine, ChemicalWeek magazine, Avrette, Free & Ginsberg advertising agency.

Ms. Cook has held and holds professional memberships with numerous organizations including the United States Golf Association (USGA), National Minority Business Council, NY/NJ Minority Purchasing Council,  Black Americans in Publishing, Golf Writers Association of America, Metropolitan Golf Writers Association, National Urban League, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), International Network of Golf,  National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners, the Black Jewels Ladies Golf Association-Brooklyn, NY Chapter (BJLGA) and Sisters Across America.

Ms. Cook is a frequently invited speaker at programs and her achievements have been documented in these books, “The African American Woman Golfer, Her Legacy” and “Heroines of African American Golf,” both authored by M. Mikell Johnson, Ph.D.

Heritage and Bi-Coastal Living

A resident of Staten Island, NY, she spends half of the year at her home in Greater Accra, Ghana, West Africa. She enjoys golf, tennis, hiking, bicycling, and adventure travel.  She has visited 14 African countries and has met 5 African Head of State: Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, Sudan, Nigeria.  Through the help of AfricanAncestry.com and DNA research she has traced her paternal family lineage back to the Ewondo people of Cameroon and the Tsogo people of Gabon.  Her maternal lineage is of European ancestry and among the Haplogroup K, a non-African lineage believed to have originated around 12,000 years ago in Western Asia.

Love of Travel

Ms. Cook enjoys adventure travel and crosses borders as if she’s crossing streets!  A nature lover at heart, she has traversed all seven continents, 53 countries (including 13 African countries, and experienced five of the seven Wonders of the World.  

Awards and Recognitions

Ms. Cook has received numerous awards and honors for her professional work including:

• Recipient of the Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Trailblazer in Publishing Award at the One Hundred Black Men of New York’s 14th Annual Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Golf Classic on August 2, 2021, at the beautiful and historic Ardsley Country Club located in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
• Named “Business Leader of the Year” by the African American Chamber of Commerce of Westchester and Rockland Counties
• Recipient of the President’s Award by the New York Professional’s Club
  
• North American Excellence Award by the Certified Meeting Planners of N.A.
• Outstanding Leadership Away by the Darby Foundation
• The Pioneer Award from the Inner City Youth Golfer’s Association of West Palm Beach, Florida, and others.  
• Ms. Cook has been recognized by telecommunications giant Verizon during National Small Business Month (2009). 
• In June 2017, she was honored by the Wake-Robin Golf Club, the oldest women’s golf club in America
  
• She is an Advisory Board Member of the Elite Ladies Golf Club (Dallas, TX)

To learn more about the African American Golfer’s Digest and its many programs, events and partnership opportunities, or to subscribe visit the website: AfricanAmericanGolfersDigest.com or call (212) 571-6559.

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