Bring All of Yourself To The Table

About RevD

People often wonder how I can be an out African-American lesbian, with an MBA from UCLA in economics and finance, who has successful corporate and social justice careers, who also 25 years ago as an ordained minister founded a church community of 2,000, with a wide array of economic backgrounds, family structures, and walks of life from inter-faith to atheists. How did a Jack & Jill, Links Debutante, 3rd generation USC legacy Delta Sigma Theta, raised in the Black Pentecostal Church of God in Christ in LA during the 60’s, become an acclaimed prophetic voice and influential public leader? I will be most happy to share my story as we go along.

As I get to know you as well, I inquire “Are there aspects of yourself that you are leaving behind, not integrating for fear of what other people will think?” Don’t put yourself in a box; bring all of yourself to the table. Your tests are your testimony; your entire beingness is a gift to the world. BE the gift that you are!!

Official Biography

Throughout her career Deborah L. Johnson has worked with thousands of people in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Her numerous clients have included, MCA Universal, Apple Inc, AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, SBC Communications, Hewlett Packard, CDC, Kodak, Ford Foundation, UCSF School of Medicine, US Coast Guard Academy, and GLAAD. Her work has been featured in numerous books, magazines, radio, internet, and television programs including Essence Conference and Festival, Glamour Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Jet Magazine, Showtime’s Jumpin’ the Broom, Shambhala Sun Magazine, NPR’s Tell Me More/Faith Matters, Shift Network, Science & Non-Duality Conference, the film God and Gays: Bridging the Gap, ABC Night Line, and The Donahue Show.

Deborah was a successful co-litigant in two landmark civil rights cases. In a public accommodations suit in 1984, she set precedent for the inclusion of sexual orientation in California’s Civil Rights Bill, and in 2005 help defeat the challenge to CA’s Domestic Partnership Bill, AB205. The recipient of many lifetime achievement awards, including the inaugural Walden New Thought Award for spiritually guided activism, Lifetime Achievement Award ACLU Santa Cruz, and the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College honoring clergy for their social justice work.

Rev. Deborah L. Johnson is the founder of Inner Light Ministries, an omnifaith spiritual community in Santa Cruz, CA, and is the founder of the former Motivational Institute, an organizational development consulting firm specializing in cross-cultural relations. Deborah is also a founding member of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angles, a member Leadership Council of the Association for Global New Thought, and a board member of The Pachamama Alliance working with indigenous tribes to protect the Amazonian rainforests and sacred headwaters. A legacy member of Delta Sigma Theta Public Service Sorority, Deborah is author of The Sacred Yes and Your Deepest Intent, published by Sounds True. 

A former pension fund Real Estate Investment Manager for Prudential, Deborah holds a BA from USC in economics and political science, an MBA from UCLA in urban land economics and real estate finance, a Ministerial Degree from Holmes Institute, and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Agape University of Transpersonal Studies and Leadership.

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