This interview took more than a while to consolidate.

Have a look at the timeline:

• Sometime in February: I send an email to Debert Cook
• April 23rd: Debert responds that she would like to participate
• June 2nd: I finally get the questions to Ms. Cook
• Today: our interview goes live

As one who initiated a smallish golf publication/website in the early 2000s (BuffaloGolfer.Com) I can relate to the steps and stumbles that Ms. Cook has endured along the way.

A publication that speaks for a people and a culture is especially important to golf, and this is what makes Debert Cook such a worthy personage for this introspective.

Time to step out of the way and let the light shine on Ms. Debert Cook.

1. You are Debert (pronounced DAY-bear or DUh-bear) Cook, the publisher of African American Golfer’s Digest. Please tell us a bit about yourself, outside of the story of AAGD (we will get to that story, we promise!)

DC: I am the grand-daughter of a West Virginia coal miner who lost both of his legs in a mining accident at age 22. In our home, two pictures hung on the wall: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and President John F. Kennedy. I worked my way through college playing trumpet and alto saxophone in a R&B band and auditioned at Detroit’s Motown. Love to travel: I’ve traveled to six continents, nine African countries, met 5 African Heads of State and will be in Antarctica in Nov. 2021.

2. Now it’s time for the story of African American Golfer’s Digest. The magazine is 17 years old. What compelled you to start a magazine in 2003, and what was the beginning like?

DC: I opened my company, Event Planners Plus NA Inc. in 1998, after working 20-years in corporate America as a meeting planner, and started receiving invitations to charity golf outings. Recalling how my previous bosses had received some of these same invites and returned with hands-full of business cards (for me to input into their sales databases), I decided that attending may also be good for my new business and help me to get business leads.

So, I signed up for six weeks of beginner golf lessons at Chelsea Piers in New York City. After learning the basics, buying a set of ladies right-hand clubs, glove and balls at K-Mart, I packed up my gear and headed off to a Meeting Professionals International Golf Tournament in Las Vegas. There, I had a great time, met some nice people and yes, returned to my office with a stack full of business cards! Making calls, some of those new contacts turned into advertisers in my magazine.

It was thrilling to learn this new game, because I have always been active in sports like tennis, softball, basketball and even won third place in our city track meet at South High School (Youngstown, Ohio, 1976) for discus…my golf instructor told me that this is one reason my long drive wins at many tournaments.

3. Is publishing a magazine in 2020 at all similar to what it was like in 2003?

DC: Heck no! Digital is king (queen) nowadays. In 2003 everything was paper, print, paste-up, copy, fax. These days, none of that is a part of our business operations. Yet, my readership, which skews older (70% age 50+) are adjusting to the digital landscape, and to our digital platform—yet still calling me to renew their print subscriptions at $48/annually (previously $18).

4. Define your audience for us. It is too simple to look at the title and restrict your readership. Let us know more about whom African American Golfers Digest seeks out.

DC: Yep, it 89% African American readers. Others are either Hispanics, Asians, or curiosity seekers.

5. At what point did AAGD get into the internet game?

DC: We launched our website in 2003, about four months before the first magazine was even printed. I knew there was going to be demand, because subscription started coming in as soon as the website went live.

6. What have been the greatest success stories of African American Golfer’s Digest?

DC: No. 1: I count being a PGA of America Diverse Supplier as one of our greatest achievements.

Second…Our Diversity Pavilion that exhibited for six years at the PGA Merchandise Show & Convention in Orlando, Fla. It attracted over 300 visitors daily and helped connect and network like-minded individuals, from that, the PGA started holding “diversity roundtables” and featuring a diversity and inclusion component in the annual Show. I guess I showed them, “Look, there is an overlooked audience in the midst of this now $84 billion industry.”

Third, good success has been seen for our annual group destination travel programs which have taken over 400 people across the globe for golf, culture, and enjoyment, to places such as Ghana, South Africa, Cuba, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Alaska, Panama, Martha’s Vineyard.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview with Debert Cook!