Antoinette Broussard

Antoinette Broussard
Antoinette Broussard, whose family has roots in Louisiana and Missouri, is the second generation of her family born and raised in Oakland, California. She is a graduate from San Francisco State University (2003) with a major in English Literature and Black Studies; a graduate from the San Francisco Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (2000) majoring in interior design; and a graduate from the Protocol School of Washington, DC (1990) with a focus in contemporary business and social etiquette.

Ms. Broussard is an avid researcher and writer committed to the pursuit and documentation of her ancestral roots. She is a contributor to the African American National Biography (editor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Oxford Press 2008), writing bios on Lulu Sadler Craig, an early American educator and pioneer of Nicodemus, Kansas, and her great aunt, Dr. Nettie J. Craig Asberry, one of Washington State's civil rights activists. Antoinette presented a paper, The Militant Matron, to The Association for African American Historical Research and Preservation Conference on Dr. Asberry. Columbia Magazine of the Washington State Historical Society published the paper in 2005. Antoinette contributed a bio to Harlem of the West (Chronicle Books 2006), about the Fillmore district of the 1940s and 1950s and about her uncle, Robert Broussard. She is currently writing a family memoir with the aid of her grandfather's manuscripts which were given to Antoinette by her mother telling about her family's journey from slavery to freedom.

Antoinette is the author of African-American Celebrations and Holiday Traditions: Celebrating with Passion, Style, and Grace, (Citadel Press, 2000) which made its paperback debut, in 2004. The book is an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of traditions in shaping families and who we are. More than fifty distinguished contributors including Mrs. Denzel Washington, journalist Belva Davis, song stylist Nancy Wilson, actresses Kimberly Elise and Irma P. Hall, artist Synthia Saint James, American activist Myrlie Evers-Williams, author Dr. Gwendolyn Goldsby Grant, attorney Leola Higgs-Dellums, and Father James Matthews, share their favorite holiday traditions and recipes.

African-American Holiday Traditions was featured in Essence magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post, Oakland Tribune, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous other publications. Ms. Broussard has been a guest on several radio and television shows including, Black Entertainment Television, Dining Around with Gene Burns on KGO radio, ABC-7 Sunday Morning News, KTVU's Bay Area People, and Howard University Television.

Antoinette Broussard is Ms. Etiquette on the Days with Zahrah television show and is the founder and director of L'Ecole d'etiquette, a finishing and etiquette program for children, teen-agers, and adults. Etiquette consulting clients have included Crocker Galleria, McDonald's Corporation, United States Postal Service, Hastings Law School, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, The Links, Inc., Jack and Jill of America, African-American Women on Tour conferences, and many others.