sEPTEMBER 24, 2026

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

We are serving a delicious buffet

Location: The Walden Club, 633 Chestnut St # 2100, Chattanooga, TN 37450 (Inside Republic Centre)

Tickets: $30

Bio:

Dr. Rachel Williams-Smith is a master communicator and life lessons coach who loves to share thoughts, insights, and stories that encourage others and help them to flourish. Drawing from unique perspectives gained from her unusual background of growing up in true isolation due to religious extremism, she shares her story with diverse Christian, secular, and professional audiences. Her candid communication style allows her to speak openly and practically about her experiences, captivating audiences and inspiring them to apply her compelling lessons to their own lives.

Dr. Rachel’s many roles include being an author, speaker, consultant, coach, wife, mother, and grandmother. She has served as Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Southern Adventist University for the past nine years. Before coming to Southern, she served at Andrews University as a department chair and graduate program director, and prior to that, she was the director of the LEAP Adult Degree Completion Program at Oakwood University. She holds degrees in Educational Leadership and Management (Ed.D.), Communication (Ph.D.), English (MA), and Language Arts Education (BS). For more information, visit https://www.rachelwilliamssmith.com/.

 Rachel Williams-Smith’s 2023 memoir, Born Yesterday (New Edition), traces her personal journey. Though born in 1965, Rachel’s story could have been set in the 1800s. Wearing long dresses and bonnets and living without electricity, modern medicine, or indoor plumbing, she and her two older brothers were shaped by the extreme religious view of her iron-willed, Vietnam veteran father and malleable mother. The family separated from society and lived in an abandoned house atop a remote hill in Tennessee, awaiting the end of the world. At age 16, Rachel was forced to enter the modern world. She struggled to adjust without casting aside the good along with the bad. Eventually she found her way to a full, balanced, and vibrant life. An accomplished storyteller, Rachel takes you on her incredible life journey and shares how she was restored by God's faithful, loving care.

 In 2023, Dr. Rachel released a new edition of her gripping memoir, Born Yesterday: The True Story of a Girl Born in the 20th Century but Raised in the 19th, the story of her radical upbringing in religious extremism. Here is a sample of what readers have to say about it:

• "At a time when the United States grapples with the polarizing grip of extremism, Born Yesterday serves as a roadmap to redemption. It's an inspiring story for the challenging times in which we live.”— Alva James-Johnson, award-winning journalist and co-finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

• "A very powerful personal, frank testimony about someone overcoming stark odds against them. If you need encouragement; if you need to see the reality of faith and what it can do in your life, then you need to read Born Yesterday. You won't be sorry!"— Clifford Goldstein, writer, author, and editor

• "Dr. Rachel Williams-Smith is a master storyteller! She has truly elevated her memoir with riveting details that hold one's attention from page one. Such an uplifting and thrilling life history is a must read! So, grab a copy and come along for the ride! You won't want to put it down!"— Pat Smith, freelance writer

 Born Yesterday New Edition, is available on Amazon in ebook, paperback, or hardcover formats. To view the book trailer, use this this link.

To learn more, visit www.rachelwilliamssmith.com.

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