DEBRA LEE FADER
LIS ANNA- LANGSTON is an internationally recognized entertainer, author, and community leader. As a servant of God, she emphasizes the importance of faith in all areas of life, believing in the power to start anew and rebuild, regardless of age or circumstances. As the founder and president of Kindness Alliances, known as the queen of kindness, she finds joy and fulfillment in sharing the value of giving and teaches others how to use kindness as a way to give back to their communities through acts of generosity. Debra Lee served as mayor of Montevideo, MN, from 2010 to 2018. She also served as vice president of the Minnesota Mayors Association from 2016 to 2018, representing over 700 mayors statewide, and advocated for rural economic development while serving on the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission Board of Directors for six years. A graduate of the United States International University School of Performing and Visual Arts in San Diego with a degree in music and theater, she is the owner and operations director of Lionessa Records and Entertainment. In the 1990s, associated with Carnival Cruise Lines, she sang, danced, and entertained as a headliner performing her internationally acclaimed cabaret act. Known to her Latin American and Puerto Rican audiences, Debra Lee Kristian was the first Minnesotan to be featured as a regular weekly guest on the variety show in the Caribbean. She starred on stage in Las Vegas at the Stardust Hotel production,“ Lido de Paris,” and played principal roles in major American musicals both in the U. S. and Canada. She has appeared in films, commercials, and cable TV programs. I am honored to have Debra Lee share her heart-centered and passion-driven story,“ My Nana’ s Journey: What a Trip!” in our Nana’ s Wisdom section.
is the author of five novels, has won eighteen book awards, is a three-time Pushcart nominee, and has been published extensively in literary journals. She graduated Magna Cum Laude. Midwest Book Review praises her as“ an author with a genuine flair for originality,” and Publishers Weekly describes her as“ a lovable, engaging, original voice...” Raised along the winding Mississippi River on a steady diet of dog-eared books, Lis attended a Creative and Performing Arts School from middle school through graduation, then studied Literature at Webster University. Her novels have earned the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, Moonbeam Book Award, Independent Press Award, Benjamin Franklin Book Award, and NYC Big Book Award. Her work has appeared in The Literary Review, Emerson Review, The Merrimack Review, Emrys Journal, The MacGuffin, Sand Hill Review, and many other literary journals. Most are award-winning, and all are unflinching. Her novels and screenplays have been optioned, and films have screened worldwide. Lis enjoys writing fiction on fault lines— places where borders meet, where memory collides with myth, and silence is broken. Survival is her love language. She spends her days in South Carolina’ s wilderness, pulling stories from thin air. I am honored to have Lis share her heartfelt personal experience story,“ Two Diplomas, One Dream: How Going Back to School with My Daughter Changed Everything,” in our Notes From The Fridge section.
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