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Episode 29: Jen Singer

Nov 22, 2022

Jen Singer is a ghostwriter, speechwriter, writing coach and developmental editor with a whole bunch of stories to tell.  As a writing coach at TEDx Cambridge, one of the world’s largest independently-organized TED platforms, she has helped dozens of speakers get their stories “on their feet” in front of an audience. Whether writing for the page or the stage, she believes the message is the medium. “A good speech is a good performance,” she says, “but it starts with good writing.” 

One of the original “mom bloggers,” Jen wrote on parenting issues for over fifteen years on www.mommasaid.net – a gig that led to a two-year stint as the author of the “Good Grief” blog for Good Housekeeping. Over the years, she has also written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Parents, Woman’s Day, and McSweeney’s, while writing several books of her own and launching her career as a book doctor and collaborator.  Somewhere in there, coinciding with her own diagnosis of Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, she shifted her focus from parenting issues to medical issues – a shift that came about while she was blogging on potty training issues for Pull-Ups. 

“June is National Potty-Training Month,” she recalls, “and I was in the hospital measuring my urine for my doctor…It was surreal.”  

Jen saw the humor in that surreal moment, but she also saw opportunity, and she started working as a medical writer for NYU Langone Health, Northwell Health, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Her experience as a cancer survivor led her to write a series of e-books called "The Just Diagnosed Guides: What You Need to Know Now (without Googling it)," designed to help patients and families navigate the uncertainty that finds them after a difficult diagnosis.

In addition to her work with TEDx Cambridge, Jen also works as a writing coach and editor for Heroic Public Speaking, a leading public speaking training program, where she has worked with a wide range of clients, including CEOs, Olympic athletes, educators, fighter pilots, marketing experts, physicians, psychologists, Ivy League researchers and professors, and undercover FBI agents.

For more on Jen Singer, visit her official website, like her Facebook page, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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