Introducing myself and my journal: The Secret Weapon



About Me:
Joan Bryna Michelson has been leading record-breaking growth in companies and non-profits - driving innovation - through communications, especially with outreach to and about women. Sure, she's won awards for this, but most proudly, she's helped raise the level of awareness of talented women across industries and sectors who are making a difference.



Joan shares the lessons of these successes through public speaking and leadership training, and through her writings. Her appearances have included at the U.S. Naval Academy, the National Institutes of Health, and national conferences including for the National Association of Women Business Owners, as well as chambers of commerce. She's also addressed the public policy and political issues related to women voters for national audiences including for Executive Women in Government and Women Impacting Public Policy.



Advancing the cause of women in leadership and self-sufficiency has been her avocation, working through corporations as diverse as Chrysler and American Express and organizations such as the World Academy for the Future of Women, Executive Women in Government, National Association of Women Business Owners, and Women Impacting Public Policy. She is helping mentoring leadership in young people through her presentations at universities and working actively with the World Academy for the Future of Women, reaching college-age women worldwide, especially in developing countries.



One of the most pressing issues today - and one that drives everything else in many ways - is growing the "green" economy. The "green" economy is about making sure we have the resources we need to survive and thrive. It's about sustainable entities that support humanitarian operating practices and justice.



Joan has worked with the top "green" private equity firm, Global Environment Fund, and the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), particularly their prestigious 2010 conference on "The New Green Economy.” This conference brought together top leaders in the Obama Administration, Congress, academia, journalism, non-profits and business. She has also authored numerous articles, including two on driving demand for electric vehicles published in the leading international business/policy magazine, The New Economy.



One of the most fun gigs for Joan was driving “best year ever” growth at the 12-year old electric car division of Chrysler, Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) through creative, strategic and integrated media relations, branding, advertising and print and online marketing initiatives. Successes include: earning positive Page One coverage in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and top coverage in Time magazine, Consumer Reports, CNN Money, CBS, "The Today Show," The LA Times, Yahoo!, Edmunds.com, and other print, television and online media nationwide and globally.



Using creative business development techniques - including a campaign targeted to successful women - Joan helped generate millions in revenue for professional services firms, such as American Express and Deloitte.



Joan has also been reporting on these and other great stories with media organizations across platforms, from CBS, ABC, NBC to online and print, such as the international business and policy magazine "The New Economy." She's also written a recurring column on leadership for a regional business journal and penned an excerpt on women in government leadership for the non-fiction book If Women Ruled the World, published by Inner Ocean Publishing in 2005.



Michelson has been an Adjunct Professor in the Communications and Journalism Department of Columbia Union College in Maryland, and actively involved in her community, including affiliating with the Women's Council on Energy and the Environment and the Wharton DC Club Green Business Roundtable. Her service includes the National Press Club and advisory boards, marketing committees and boards of a number of community organizations, including universities, industry groups and charities, such as America On Wheels museum, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Nevada, University of Nevada School of Business, CinewomenNY and Skid Row Development Corporation.



A Bachelor of Arts in English from UCLA, a Master of Business Administration from Bernard M. Baruch College, City University of New York in the executive program, and various post-graduate studies - including in leadership at Harvard University and The Aspen Institute - round out Ms. Michelson's portrait…..so far.



I guess you might say that Joan might have come by this through her DNA.....her great-great aunt was Miriam Michelson a leader in the women’s suffrage movement as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer. One of Miriam's brothers was Albert A. Michelson the first American scientist to win the Nobel Prize (physics, 1907), one of their brothers was Charles Michelson the first White House Communications Director/Press Secretary (under FDR).



My Passions:
travel, expanding opportunities for women, "green" issues, innovation, communication, public policy, business growth



My Areas of Expertise:
communications, public speaking, innovation, business growth, "green" economy, driving demand

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