Bio and Press Kit
There’s nothing more inspiring to me than watching someone discover she’s braver than she thought — and nothing that moves me more than helping someone realize she is not alone in her struggle.
I wrote Odd Girl Out to heal myself after being targeted as a child, but in the process came to terms with my own behavior as a bully—a story I have told all over the world to girls and boys alike. After co-founding the national nonprofit Girls Leadership, I spent nearly a decade teaching leadership skills to girls and interviewing them about the pressure to be perfect. I wrote The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Girls with Courage and Confidence, also a national bestseller. As I grew up, so did my students, and I now work with universities and corporations on leadership development. Today I am a parent to a girl myself, and I am passionate about coaching parents to model self-compassion and courage to their girls; that’s the message of my latest book, Enough As She Is.
Rachel’s Bio
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Rachel Simmons is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Odd Girl Out and The Curse of the Good Girl , and Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy and Fulfilling Lives. As a leadership development expert, Rachel teaches girls and women skills to build their resilience, amplify their voices, and own their courage.
Rachel serves on the faculty of the Google School for Leaders and is currently the Director of the Phoebe Lewis Leadership Program at Smith College. She is co-founder of the national nonprofit Girls Leadership, and her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Atlantic, Slate, and The New York Times.
An ABC News Contributor for Good Morning America, Rachel appears often in the national media. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her daughter.
Even More About Rachel
Rachel and her daughter live with Charlie, a rescue dog who is part greyhound and part yellow lab, and Rachel and Charlie are avid trail runners. As a lifelong learner, Rachel loves trying new things, partly because it helps keep her “failure muscle” strong. Since turning 30, she has learned how to ski, sail, and play tennis. Since turning 40, she has learned how to cook and garden. She hopes to get her pilot’s license by the time she’s 50. One of her favorite things to do is make people laugh. Rachel loves karaoke, dance parties, and chocolate chip cookies. She quotes regularly from Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kelly Clarkson and Lorde during her assemblies, wishes she could text entirely in gifs, and considers herself a New Yorker at heart, even if her zip code doesn’t match.