The 2019 Phenomenal Woman Recipient: Debbie Cole — Multilingual & Philanthropic Inc.

Hello Everyone!

Happy Women's History Month! As we wrap up the end of the month of March, every year we will be taking the time to recognize exceptional women in our community who are making an impact in our community. With our organization called, Multilingual & Philanthropic Inc., our goal is to promote foreign language education as a way to connect and impact others which is the philanthropy part of our mission statement.

This year's recipient is none other than Mrs. Debbie Cole, VP, COO and Co-Founder of the African American Forum Inc., a proud human rights commissioner for the state of Kentucky, and a radio host for Conversations Around The Table at WLXU 93.9 FM Community Radio. Not to mention, she is also a beloved wife and mother of two beautiful children and we are beyond excited to share her story.

Debbie Cole was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky where she graduated from Bryan Station High School. All her life she's always been perceived as a very sociable being who can start a conversation with anyone; a personality trait that has followed her thus far. After finishing high school, she decided to pursue an education in communications through radio broadcasting where she ended up on a few radio stations as well as becoming a freelance DJ during much of her early adult life.

Not too long after her career was taking off, she met her husband John E. Cole III in which they initiated the African American Forum Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating arts, culture, and entertainment in their local community. She and her husband hosted the African American Ball for 26 years along with partnering with Lexus to produce the Lexus Smooth Jazz Fest for 12 years featuring some of the biggest names in Smooth Jazz.

They were eventually married in 1996 producing a daughter and son in which they raised to become educated and career-driven. On account of her children, she and her husband dearly love and support their children as well as encouraged them to pursue whatever they wanted to do in hopes they'd be successful in the process of doing what brings them joy.

We are very proud to honor Debbie Cole as the very first recipient of the 2019 A Phenomenal Woman Award. We hope she will continue to serve her community and spreading her impact as well as inspiring others to do great things to achieve great goals.