Dr. Suzan Denise Johnson Cook (born 1957) is the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, pastor, author and presidential advisor.

Biography

Johnson Cook was the first woman to be elected president of the Hampton University Ministers' Conference (in 2002) a conference which represents all of the historically African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 denominations. She was also the first female senior pastor in the 200-year history of the American Baptist Churches USA, and the first woman to serve as a chaplain for the NYPD (beginning in 1990). She founded the Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in 1996. She served as a domestic policy advisor under President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 (see One America Initiative

One America Initiative

On June 14, 1997, U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton announced One America in the 21st Century: The President's Initiative on Race. This initiative, established with , was a critical element in President Clinton's effort to prepare his country to embrace diversity...

). Dr. Johnson Cook is a senior pastor at the Believers Christian Fellowship in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. She is also the editor of Sister to Sister and the author of Too Blessed to Be Stressed. She lives in New York with her husband, Ronald, and their two sons.

On June 15, 2010 she was nominated by president Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 for the post of United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom in the State Department. However, her nomination was put on hold in the Senate and therefore expired without a vote at the end of the 111th session of Congress on January 3, 2011.

She was renominated and confirmed on April 14, 2011. She was sworn in and began work on May 16, 2011. She is the first woman and first African-American to hold the post.

Books

• Live Like You're Blessed: Simple Steps for Making Balance, Love, Energy, Spirit, Success, Encouragement and Devotion Part of Your Life, Doubleday, 2006. ISBN 978-0385-51719-5
• Moving Up: Ten Steps to Turning Your Life Around and Getting to the Top!, Doubleday, 2008. ISBN 978-0385-52492-2