In additional to being a versatile actress, Mariann is also a a much sought-after motivational speaker. Keynotes include the Chicago Dept. of Human Services, Executive Women International and the Screen Actors Guild. Additionally, she has been interviewed on ABC’s Nightline and Tony Brown's Journal on PBS for her views on the influence and impact of diversity in the media and written essays forThe Los Angeles Times and Soap Opera Digest on the subject.
Along with writing the humor-infused “ethnic etiquette” advice column, Dear PeopleLikeUs with fellow Chicagoan, Karen Greyson for several years for the online magazine, BlackBerrySpeak, she was cited by the State of California and named "Volunteer of the Year" by the Los Angeles Dept. of Children's Services for her work with at-risk youth.
A graduate of Southern Illinois University and the prestigious Negro Ensemble Company theatrical training program in New York, Mariann is also an honors graduate of the Hypnosis Motivational Institute in Tarzana, CA, where she spent a year in post-graduate training to learn to use hypnosis therapeutically.
As a certified hypnotherapist, she is an advocate of Milton Erickson’s “teaching tales” methodology for affecting positive behavioral change, believing that where lives intersect at the sharing of a story, new understanding and courage are fostered. It is a philosophy with which she infuses all her work as a performer, writer and motivator.
One disturbing malady she witnessed among many of her female clients was fear and depression at the prospect of aging. It set her on a new path...and brought out the "Ginger Peechee" in her.
"As a culture, we've been hypnotized into believing that women lose value as they get older...and that we become less viable as sexual beings with each new gray hair and wrinkle. I'm on a mission to blow that notion right out of the water with the strongest weapon in my arsenal...my sense of humor. Think Oprah meets Dr. Ruth meets 'Mary Richards' meets 'Claire Huxtable' meets 'Lucy Ricardo'."
(L-R) as "DiDi Bannister" with the cast of the ABC soap opera, EDGE OF NIGHT -- as "Julie Pinderhughes" with Meshach Taylor in the cult-comedy film,
CLASS ACT -- & as "Elizabeth Royal Winston" in the CBS sitcom,THE ROYAL FAMILY, with Redd Foxx and Della Reese.
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