I'm in the business of changing lives. I bring to decades of experience, insight, and innovation to the global conversation about identity, relationships, creativity, and power. I reach audiences through writing and editing books, teaching and speaking at colleges and corporate campuses, blogging, turning the volume up on social media, writing for popular magazines and literary and academic journals, hosting and appearing on national and international radio programs, and developing and appearing in film and television projects. I also found non-profits and start start-ups!
My memoirs include the NY Times Bestseller Black, White and Jewish and the critically acclaimed Baby Love; and I also edited a few anthologies: To Be Real, What Makes a Man, One Big Happy Family, and my latest, BLACK COOL. My writing has appeared in Glamour, The Washington Post, Bookforum, BOMB, Newsweek, Vibe, Real Simple, Modern Bride, Essence, and Interview, and so many other magazines and literary collections I can't even remember them all. I've appeared on Charlie Rose, Good Morning America, Oprah, Fresh Air, BET, and dozens of blogs, sites, and other media.
In a stroke of honor and inspiration, Time Magazine named me one of the most influential leaders of my generation.
I've been fortunate to address audiences at hundreds of universities and corporate campuses including Harvard, Brown, MIT, Oberlin, The University of Utrecht, The University of Linkoping, Rollins College, Union College, JP Morgan Chase, and Microsoft. She has participated in creative collaborations at the Walker Art Center, The Hammer Museum, Headlands Center for the Arts, The Ministries of Gender and Culture of Estonia, The Jewish Museum in New York, Mocca: The Amsterdam Cultural Education Foundation, and the Merz Foundation in Turin.
In another fortuitous moment of grace, Mike Nichols invited me to co-star in his wicked smart film, Primary Colors, with Emma Thompson and John Travolta. I did and had an amazing time playing, well, myself at that age.
When I'm not doing all of the above, I blog at The Huffington Post, frolick with my family in Maui, and LOVE teaching The Art of Memoir, a week-long master class for writers, philosophers, dreamers, type As, and visual artists, at various locations around the world.
