JODEE'S BULLYING BIO

Jodee Blanco, author of the New York Times Best-Selling memoir, Please Stop Laughing at Me…, as well as the Creator and Executive Producer of the It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™ anti-bullying education program understands how it is to be the school outcast, and knows first-hand what it’s like to contemplate “retaliation.”

From 5th grade to the end of high school, she was shunned and tormented by her peers, simply for being different. As an adult, she decided to go public with her story, because she was frustrated with the nation’s perception of the true cause of the school tragedies in Columbine, San Diego, AZ, and dozens of other locations across America.

Since the release of her book, Jodee has committed her life full-time to turning her pain into purpose. Inspired by the thousands of letters and speaking requests she receives from students, parents, and teachers, Jodee travels from coast to coast sharing her story of survival and forgiveness in schools, communities, and organizations. In addition to her landmark strides in middle and high schools, she is taking her unprecedented approach to university campuses in an effort to help fraternities and sororities survive and prevent hazing incidents with her program, The Desperate Freshman™. One of the nation’s most sought-after keynote speakers and seminar presenters, Jodee’s anti-bullying initiatives redefine the scope of possibilities for curbing suffering in our schools from kindergarten through college world-wide.

Some of her most note-worthy accomplishments include:

• In the last year alone, she and her team successfully intervened on thirteen suicides and averted a school bombing

• Her book Please Stop Laughing at Me…, released on the day war was declared in Iraq, shot straight to the New York Times Best-Seller list in less than 48 hours, on word-of-mouth alone

• The United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Interior recently sponsored Jodee to speak at schools and conventions. The National Crime Prevention Council and the United States Department of Health and Human Services have also endorsed her anti-bullying program It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™

• Special Olympics named Jodee as the first regular columnist for SPIRIT magazine – the official international publication of the organization

• The National Catholic Educational Association reached out to Jodee to conduct an unprecedented series of seminars which generated standing-room crowds and marked a turning point for the organization and their approach to bullying. The April/May issue of the NCEA Momentum, the official journal of the organization, featured an article bylined by Jodee on using Compassionate Discipline™ as a method to curb school violence

• The “Anonymous” bullying-reporting function on the website www.jodeebanco.com is the first of its kind worldwide, and continues to redefine the role of technology in adolescent outreach.

• Jodee is regularly sought after as a crisis management expert and consultant by schools, families, legal professionals, government officials, and the national media including CNN, Newsweek, NBC, and FOX to help America understand the emotional reasons behind the behavior of American students

• Please Stop Laughing at Me… is required reading in hundreds of middle and high schools, colleges, and universities coast to coast

• Jodee was the inspiration behind, and served as the key consultant for “The Bully Project,” a combined effort of The Blanco Group, FOX6 Milwaukee, and the University of Wisconsin. The Bully Project included a landmark survey that was distributed to 20,000 students in the School District of Milwaukee and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee with results that dramatically emphasized just how desperate American students are to be understood by those who surround them.

• Jodee’s remarkable story has been featured in such influential media outlets as: CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, FOX News, Teen Newsweek, Parade magazine, Teen Guideposts, Hispanic, Teacher Magazine and Scholastic

• Jodee has presented It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™ to hundreds of thousands of students and teachers nationwide; including presenting the Texas FCCLA convention keynote address to over 3,000 enthusiastic student leaders enthusiastic at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX

• Please Stop Laughing at Me… has been published in Japanese, Arabic, French, Danish and Indonesian

• Jodee’s life story is part of a permanent exhibit at the Chicago National Historical Society. She was chosen as one of the most influential teens of her era

• Please Stop Laughing at Me… is nominated for the 2004-2005 Eliot Rosewater Award sponsored by the Association of Media Educators and the Indiana Library Association

• Please Stop Laughing at Me… was selected as a favorite by student members of Chicago’s Mayor Daley’s Book Club. The annual convention keynoted by Jodee brought a sustained standing ovation for both her and the book

• Dramatic interpretations of Please Stop Laughing at Me…are garnering state-winning awards in school competitions

• Please Stop Laughing at Me…has been selected as the One Book, One Community selection for the 2005-2006 school year in Lansing, MI. Over two thousand students will read the book throughout the school year, culminating with a keynote address in March, 2006 by Jodee

While Jodee Blanco doesn’t advocate violence, she understands its inspiration, because it held her in the grip of its temptation. It is her memory of this loneliness and anger, and her willingness to utilize it to reach kids who are hurting as she once did, that is changing the face of bullying prevention in the United States. Her efforts have ignited a grass-roots movement, one whose mission is to remind this nation that when it comes to school bullying, It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™

Finally, someone does understand. Jodee Blanco is honest, insightful, and one of the most perceptive experts on the subjects of peer abuse, hazing and school violence speaking out today. This survivor turned activist will provide a point of view that will open your eyes to a whole new world of understanding about this subject.

Jodee Blanco is on the faculties of New York University and The University of Chicago.

www.jodeeblanco.com