Now scheduling lectures for fall 2010 and spring 2011

Liz Funk has been a speaker at Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Rice University, New York University, Boston University, American University, Whitman College, Hampshire College, the University of Missouri, Penn State University, Hollins University, Hudson Valley Community College, Pace University, Russell Sage College, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, SUNY Buffalo, Lock Haven University, SUNY-Oneonta, the University of South Florida, Northern Arizona University, Molloy College, the Stevens Institute of Technology, and the University of New England.

She has also given keynotes and spoken on panels at countless fundraisers, conferences and summits for non-profit organizations and media groups, including the YWCA Omaha, the College Democrats, Young People For/People for the American Way Foundation, the YWCA, and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.  

Liz would be delighted to prepare the ideal talk for any school, organization, or event.  You can book directly through Liz or for larger-scale events, through the American Program Bureau.  Liz is prepared to speak on panels, give lectures, and teach workshops on the following:

The Supergirls:

Today’s young women have more opportunities than ever before… but they’re also met with much grander expectations for their success.  If the modern teenage girl or college woman is accomplished, charming, and intellectual–but also wildly stressed out, that’s not a 100% win for young women.  They key for young women to be happy and healthy is to learn how to fend off the demands of a culture of overachieving by having a strong sense of self and intrinsic worth.  This lecture would be largely based on the research presented in Liz Funk’s first book, Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls.

How to Be a Savvy Media Consumer:

Today’s young people enjoy a record consumption of media.  But some people don’t know how to digest all this media, and it causes some problems, particularly as it pertains to “media literacy”–understanding that the media is a profit-driven industry that mostly serves as entertainment and almost never as a model of how to live.  This lecture would discuss the portrayal of women in the media, the portrayal of ambition and success in the media, and how to master “media and news literacy.”  There’s an irony that many young women want hair that is as long and shiny as that of the girls on Gossip Girl, and girls skip haircuts and use expensive products to try to get their hair growing longer… even though we all logically know that Blake Lively’s hair is fake from the shoulders down.  When girls are younger, they’re taught that if Barbies were real women, they’d have to walk on all fours from the weight of their breasts… and as girls get to high school and college, they know that they’re not supposed to look like the women of the media, but they still want to and they still hold themselves to these standards.  Luckily, the first step to fixing this problem is talking about it.

Young Writers Breaking In:

The competition for entry-level media jobs is very intimidating right now: there are many more eager applicants than there are jobs in newspapers, magazines, and web publications.  However, aspiring media professionals who approach interviews with clips from professional publications have a large advantage over their competition. Young writers with clips also have the option to make a living writing freelance right out of college if they can’t find (or don’t want) a full-time media job.  There are also more young people than ever getting book deals; in fact, several recent bestselling novels, non-fiction books, and collections of creative non-fiction were written by writers under age 28.

This lecture would give a 101 on freelance writing, pitching articles, writing book proposals, writing books, networking, and other ways to forge a successful career in writing and publishing (before even graduating from high school or college!).  Read what a Boston University student who attended one of Liz’s publishing workshops had to say.

Bullying:

Today’s girls have been raised to be perfect, and it is evident in the rise of impeccably well-groomed, charming, hyper-ambitious sixteen-year-olds across the U.S.  However, overachieving amongst girls isn’t always a good thing and it has one especially damaging consequence: bullying.

When girls are raised to be perfect, their peers are the standard to which they’re compared.  Girls don’t get credit from their communities or peer groups for just being “smart” or “pretty” or “nice”—they need to be “the smartest girl in the grade” or “the nicest girl in the social circle” or “one of the prettiest girls in the school.”  As such, for girls who want recognition, all other girls are competition… and resentment and mocking of their peers is one way that girls try to beat the others.  A girl who is doing particularly well (or worse, a girl who is struggling in her attempts to dress nicely or impress a popular crush) is a target for other girls’ gossip, sarcastic compliments, and anonymous cyberbullying.  Not only is this cruel—some girls’ talent for malicious gossip and snark is jaw-dropping—but it’s also counterproductive.  A lot of girls decry the pressure on them to be perfect, but the only way that girls are going to reverse these high expectations is to confront them collectively.  Girls must dress casually when they feel like it, not finish extra credit homework when they’re tired and need to go to bed, and not strive for all A+’s even in classes that they’re not naturally good at, together for example.  But if girls are still trying to outdo each other or prove one another wrong, girls will never feel that the time is right to go easier on themselves.  Girls need to produce a tidal wave of authenticity and originality in youth culture if they want things to be different… and a big part of it is girls being nicer to each other.

If you are considering booking an event, please contact Liz directly at liz dot funk at gmail dot com.  If you like, Liz can send you an information packet with a copy of Supergirls Speak Out, a sheet of references, and more information about Liz’s programs.