Meet Demeterius "FLITE" Smith
Demeterius “FLITE” Smith guides organizations and individuals in making sustainable transformational change. He is a master strategist and a dynamic communicator who inspires and empowers others to become the best version of themselves. He does this through business consulting services, corporate training, workshop facilitation, keynote speaking, life coaching, and more.
Demeterius graduated as the valedictorian of his class from Harleyville-Ridgeville High School. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with an emphasis in entrepreneurship from Clemson University, a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from Columbia College, and a Master of Arts in Ministry Studies from Columbia International University. He is a Certified Diversity Professional through Diversity Executive Leadership Academy and has a Certificate in Economic Development from The South Carolina Economic Development Institute.
He also has the privilege of impacting the lives of others as an author and publisher. He has written and published three books, Strength 2 Shine, Faith Flow, and How To Fail At College. Demeterius has an uncanny ability to help people take aspects of their lives and shape it into a story. He uses that gift to coach aspiring authors and provides them with publishing services.
Demeterius is huge on family, community, and doing what is within his power to do to help people from every walk of life. He contributes this to his upbringing in the small rural town of Dorchester, SC where his early years were infused with the small town value of hard work, the importance of family and the strength of faith. He has served the communities in which he has lived in multiple capacities as an ordained minister. Demeterius has received ordination credentials from three different organizations and has over twenty years of experience as a minister.
Throughout his decades long career, Demeterius has been active in people development by serving in many capacities. As an operations manager with a unit of a Fortune 500 company Demeterius oversaw training for employees in that unit and managed a multimillion dollar budget.
As an experiential education manager at a four-year research institution Demeterius work directly with supervisors at many companies across multiple industries to ensure that both the companies and university students were having the best experience related to their internship and co-op programs.
As a college professor one of the classes Demeterius taught was, “The World of Work”. It was a 3-credit hour course that took students through a holistic experience of individual career assessment, work readiness preparation, and strategic planning for career attainment. As a professor in a nationally recognized University 101 program, Demeterius’s book, How To Fail At College, was part of his class curriculum.
Demeterius has an in depth knowledge of student services and what it takes for students to succeed. He has experience in recruiting, admissions, student activities, career services, mentoring, orientation, academic coaching, enrichment camps, and residential life. This experience comes from helping students at four year colleges, two year colleges, and high schools. Demeterius even had the experience of literally living at a high school. He lived at a residential high school for students gifted in the arts and help to ensure their development and well being while they were away from home.
His professional background also includes working with businesses of all sizes and from any industry to develop customize apprenticeship programs that standardizes training within their organization. Those programs are recognized nationally after being registered with the United States Department of Labor. He also works with key community stakeholders such as chambers of commerce, economic developers, technical colleges, the K-12 system, city and county officials, non-profit organizations, community based organizations, professional associations, and state agencies to develop and implement regional workforce development strategies.
Demeterius’s skillset, training, education, and experience in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, economic development, consulting, coaching, sales, recruitment, organization and change management, entrepreneurship, student services, career services, teaching, publishing, community service, and customer service allows him to bring a wealth of insight to each organization and individual that he provides assistance to.
On any given day Demeterius can be found meeting with CEOs, presidents, returning citizens, high school students, parents, college students, plant managers, HR directors, career seekers, and individuals with incredibly varied backgrounds.
Demeterius says, “I really appreciate the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and to be reminded that at the end of the day we all have in common that we want better for ourselves, our families, and our communities.”
Demeterius founded FLITE Smith Enterprises LLC with that thought in mind. His desire is to help others obtain and become the “better” that they desire.