Jodee Blanco
3660 North Lake Shore Drive, Unit 4309
Chicago, IL 60613
Email: jodee@jodeeblanco.com
Websites: www.jodeeblanco.com, www.thejodeeblancogroup.com
Cell: 312-961-3430
Profile: New York Times bestselling author, consultant and presenter whose landmark work in the anti-bullying and communications arenas has redefined the possibilities for shifting the culture in schools and organizations.
Objective: Leverage my experience as an agent of change and provide clients new tools to foster trust, collaboration, and innovation through transformative communication and leadership strategies.
Career/Employment History:
2000-Present Owner/CEO of The Blanco Group/The Jodee Blanco Group, Inc. Palm Beach, FL Chicago, IL
- Authored eleven books, two of which were New York Times Bestsellers (see addendum for complete list of titles and pub dates), including the seminal work Please Stop Laughing at Me….
- One of the founders and early architects of the anti-bullying movement in America’s Schools and its first voice, spoke in hundreds of schools, reaching tens of thousands of students, teachers, parents and adult survivors worldwide, keynoted international education symposiums, provided expert commentary for major print and broadcast media outlets (see addendum for partial list).
- Identified, nurtured and created support for a previously unrecognized population, The Adult Survivor of Peer Abuse; Defined and cultivated awareness of the typical profile of the bullied student, The Ancient Child and published and spoke extensively on how to understand and help them; Established a three-pronged communication based methodology for eliciting truth from someone in crisis, The Three Tenets of Emotional Credibility in Communication, and lectured and published extensively communications best practices for bullying intervention and prevention.
- Founded the INJJA Program (It’s NOT Just Joking Around!™) that includes age appropriate live student presentations with a supplemental social/emotional learning based curriculum, professional development workshops, seminars and boot camps with corresponding white papers and other collateral materials, and a parent/family seminar with support materials.
- Implemented INJJA in hundreds of schools, consulted for schools on social/emotional learning protocols, and crisis communications policies and procedures. Established the popular seminar series When Parents Bully the School and wrote multiple briefs, white Papers and articles on the subject (see addendum for partial List).
- Hired by the governor’s office in Ohio as a consultant on the creation, development, and roll out of a comprehensive support initiative for disenfranchised parents to help them prepare their children for kindergarten.
- Implemented INJJA internationally through the diocese of Curacao, the Prime Minister’s office of Trinidad/Tobago, government funded private youth advocacy groups in Guatemala, the diocese of Guam, the First Nations/Frontier School Division of Canada in Inuit communities, as well as in Native American Tribal lands including The Navajo at the behest of the U.S. Government, Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- Worked with hundreds of schools on a supplemental approach to traditional punishment, as part of INJJA, entitled Compassionate Discipline, and helped counselors, teachers, and parents integrate it into their existing disciplinary practices, and wrote and lectured extensively on the subject.
1991-2000, Owner, Founder, Partner, Blanco & Peace, Ltd. New York, NY Chicago, IL
- Created, developed and implemented national and International multi-media campaigns for high-visibility Individuals, corporate entities, film studios, publishers, non-profits, restaurant chains, and other clients worldwide; among which included The World Expo in Taejon Korea, Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, Fox Films, HBO, Comic Relief, Simon & Schuster, Warner Books, Styx, Jim Carrey, the late Dave Brubeck, the late Mickey Rooney, among hundreds of others.
- Launched football legend and movie star Jim Brown’s gang Rehabilitation program Amer-I-Can in prisons, half-way Houses, disenfranchised urban communities and schools nationwide and facilitated media blitz to raise funds and expand the program coast to coast. Simultaneously represented rival gangs The Crips and The Bloods, and created neutral media events where they would check their weapons at the door, and communicate with journalists, seeking to facilitate a bridge.
- Handled day to day publicity, public relations and crisis management communications for institutions and individuals in book publishing and entertainment.
- Consulted on entertainment and book publishing projects Including the film Man on the Moon with Jim Carrey, Acquiring, developing and assisting with the publication of the seminal book The China Study by Dr. Colin Campbell, that became the “vegan bible,” among other culturally significant projects.
- Authored The Evolving Woman as the anchor of national anti-domestic Violence awareness campaign, implemented book tour to battered women’s shelters nationwide, efforts awarded by then Senator Joe Biden with the presentation of The Celebration of Hope Award at the 2000 presidential inaugural activities.
- Consulted, trained and set up public relations departments for publishers, corporations and educational entities.
Parallel Track in Education While Running Blanco & Peace
- Developed core classes, curriculum and taught at The Center for Publishing at New York University, including courses on literary publicity, and crisis management consulting, and authored The Complete Guide to Book Publicity, the first book ever written on the topic, that spawned dozens of like publications and was used as the text book for multiple courses.
- Developed core classes, curricula, served on the advisory board and taught at The Graham School at The University of Chicago in the areas of publishing management, publishing PR, and executive leadership.
1986-1991, Senior Publicist/Vice President Diane Glynn Publicity, Inc. NY, NY
- Implemented multi-city media and personal appearance tours for authors, celebrities, sports legends, actors and other public figures; created their public identities, grew their brands and celebrity, and helped many establish not-for-profit foundations, and publicized their humanitarian work.
- Spearheaded all aspects of publicity campaigns that put over a dozen book onto the New York Times bestseller lists (see attached addendum for partial list).
- Did career defining publicity and awareness campaigns that helped to make such self-help icons as John Bradshaw, Dave Pelzer, Barbara DeAngelis, and others at the time, household names. (list available upon request)
Education:
1982-1984 Associates Degree from School of Continuing Ed at New York University
1984 One semester Tisch School of the Arts at New York University
1984-1986 Bachelors of Arts in Journalism from Washington Square School of Arts & Sciences at New York University
Qualifications:
Eighteen years in public relations and communications; twenty years working in the field as an anti-bullying activist, bestselling author, speaker and youth advocate. Powerful communications skills, innovative, entrepreneurial, and brave.
Books Authored:
Anti-Bullying Books
Please Stop Laughing at Me… (Simon & Schuster) (2003)(In its third edition, over 300,000 copies sold
Please Stop Laughing at Us… (BenBella Books) (2008)
Bullied Kids Speak Out… (Simon & Schuster/Adams Media) (2014)
The Please Stop Laughing at Me Journal (Simon & Schuster/Adams Media) (2012)
A Primer on Bullying Intervention (NCEA Publications) (2017)
A Primer on Compassionate Discipline (NCEA Publications) (2018)
A Primer on Handling Challenging Parents (NCEA Publications) (2017)
Misc. Non-Fiction
The Complete Guide to Book Publicity (Allworth Press) (2000/2004)
The Evolving Woman (Health Communications Inc.) (2000)
Both of Us (Random House) (Co-Authored with Ryan O’Neal) (2012)
Instincts of a Talent Agent (ghost writer for Marc Guss) (Cypress House) (2022)
Fiction
I, John Kennedy Toole (Pegasus/Simon & Schuster) (2020)