Called "a conduit of awakenings" by Cheryl Strayed and praised by Anne Lamott, Monica Lewinsky, Kiese Laymon, Maggie Smith, and more, Jennifer Pastiloff is a national bestselling author, speaker, and visual artist. Her books On Being Human and Proof of Life (Dutton/Penguin Random House) have resonated with hundreds of thousands of readers through their radical honesty, sharp wit, and the hard-won conviction that you don't have to prove you deserve your own life.
Jen is deaf, reads lips, and mishears almost everything, but what she hears is usually funnier (at least she thinks so). She has transformed that experience into one of the most distinctive frameworks for her work: that listening with your whole body, not just your ears, is the path to genuine human connection.
Jen has taught her signature workshops to thousands of people worldwide, including her sold-out annual retreats in Ojai and Italy that offer a hybrid of writing, yoga-related movement, sharing out loud, making art, mind-blowing communal meals, letting the snot fly, and the occasional dance party-turned-prom.
As a keynote speaker, Jen provides experiences, not lectures. She blends memoir, humor, interactive participation, and radical vulnerability to create something audiences carry with them long after they leave the room.
She is also a mixed media visual artist who began painting at 47 and hasn't stopped since. Her layered, textured works built from gold leaf, collage, and embedded text have found homes in private collections across the country.
She has been featured on Good Morning America, CBS News, People, New York magazine, The Rich Roll Podcast, Katie Couric Media, and the Design Matters podcast with Debbie Millman, among many others.
She lives in Southern California with her partner actor Henry Czerny and her son, Charlie Mel. Join her Proof of Life Substack community, and follow her on Instagram at @jenpastiloff and @jenpastiloff_art.
FOLLOW ME @JENPASTILOFF & @JENPASTILOFF_ART
