Travels from Indiana, USA
Jill Bolte Taylor's speaking fee falls within range: $30,000 to $50,000
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a healthcare professional with an extraordinary and inspiring story of overcoming personal difficulties.
An expert neuroanatomist, Dr. Taylor suffered a rare form of stroke, an arteriovenous malformation, and had to have major brain surgery to remove a blood clot the size of a golf ball from her brain. For eight years she worked to rebuild her brain; she found that with the pressure the stroke had placed on her dominant left hemisphere her creative right hemisphere came to the fore, and she now creates unique art pieces and has written a New York Times bestselling memoir, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey.
After giving a presentation at the renowned TED conference Dr. Taylor’s video was viewed by millions across the globe, and she became a popular public speaker. TIME magazine nominated her one of the hundred most influential people in the world, and has recounted her incredible story on Oprah Winfrey’s Soul Series web cast and also on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Dr. Taylor is the CEO of My Stroke of Insight Inc and also is Chairman of the Board of the not-for-profit Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS Inc. This organization is dedicated to the provision of educational services to raise the awareness of brain function and provide programs for recovery after impairment. More books and a film of her life are being planned.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a trained and published neuroanatomist. Her specialty was in the postmortem investigation of the human brain as it relates to schizophrenia and the severe mental illnesses. Because she has a brother who has been diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia, Dr. Taylor served for three years on the Board of Directors of National NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) between 1994-1997. (Currently she serves as President of the Greater Bloomington Affiliate of NAMI in Bloomington, Indiana.)
Because there is a long term shortage of brain tissue donated for postmortem research by individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, Dr. Taylor travels as the National Spokesperson for the Mentally Ill for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Harvard Brain Bank) located at McLean Hospital. As the Singin′ Scientist, Dr. Taylor delivers a very popular keynote address titled “How To Get Your Brain To Do What You Want It To Do.”
But as irony would have it, on December 10, 1996, Dr. Taylor woke up to discover that she was experiencing a rare form of stroke, an arterio-venous malformation (AVM). Two and a half weeks later, on December 27, 1996, she underwent major brain surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to remove a golf ball size blood clot that was placing pressure on the language centers in the left hemisphere of her brain.
It took eight years for Dr. Taylor to successfully rebuild her brain – from the inside out. In response to the swelling and trauma of the stroke, which placed pressure on her dominant left hemisphere, the functions of her right hemisphere blossomed. Among other things, she now creates and sells unique stained glass brains when commissioned to do so. In addition, she published a book about her recovery from stroke and the insights she gained into the workings of her brain. The New York Times bestselling memoir is titled My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist′s Personal Journey.
Dr. Taylor gave a presentation at the prestigious TED Conference. A video of that presentation was posted on the TED website which was immediately viewed by millions of people around the world. The response to the video launched Dr. Taylor into becoming a highly sought-after public speaker. She was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008 and was the premiere guest on Oprah′s Soul Series web-cast. In addition, she was interviewed by Oprah and Dr. Mehmet Oz on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October, 2008.
Dr. Taylor now serves as the CEO of My Stroke of Insight, Inc. and as the Chairman of the Board of the not-for-profit Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS, Inc. She is working on the creation of a Serious Game for Health for neurological recovery as she feels passionate about helping others find their way back from neurological trauma. In addition, she is working on her next book and is excited about the upcoming feature film of her life. She has just created Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing educational services and promoting programs related to the advancement of brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health, as well as other activities that support this purpose. She travels extensively as a keynoter at conferences around the world and is having a wonderful time helping others learn more about their own brains and how to realize that peace really is just a thought away.
Dr. Jill Taylor explains her fascination with the workings of the human brain. Speaking of her brother, a diagnosed schizophrenic, she says, “As a sister and a scientist, I want to know why I can take my dreams, I can connect them to my reality, and I can make my dreams come true. What is it about my brother's brain and his schizophrenia that he cannot connect his dreams to a common and shared reality?"
Talking of the vision that her study of psychology in the brain has given her, she explains that in the right brain hemisphere, “Right here, right now, we are brothers and sisters on this planet, here to make the world a better place, and in this moment we are perfect, we are whole and we are beautiful."
The left hemisphere, she explains, is very different: " Our left hemisphere is all about the past, [it's] designed to take that enormous collage of the present moment and start picking out details, and more details, and details about those details, it then categorizes and organizes all that information."
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is passionate about fostering a better understanding of the way in which the brain works and how its immense power can be harnessed. She presents a series of programs drawing on her own experiences of undergoing major brain surgery.
In her fascinating talks, Dr. Taylor shows her audiences how we can help our brains to do exactly what we want them to do. She examines the different types of personalities we have in each brain hemisphere and the ways in which we can use them to be the person we want to be. She also explains how we can make choices and use our thoughts to directly increase our capacity for happiness.
For medical professionals Dr. Taylor provides an insightful presentation about her first-hand experience suffering a major brain illness and what the medical profession provided, both good and bad, in terms of her recovery.
Dr. Taylor is one of those rare speakers who can keep an audience perched on the edge of their seats for over 90 minutes. Dr. Jill projects an amazing positive energy and is committed to educating everyone about the beauty and resiliency of the human brain. She keynotes with the single intention of helping her audience walk away with a better understanding of what is going on inside their heads and how they can get their brain to do what they want it to do. She is a true advocate for the neuroplasticity of the brain and its ability to recover from trauma.
Dr. Jill explains in terms everyone can understand how our brain organizes information and what the differences are between our right and left cerebral hemispheres. She firmly believes that the most important relationship we each have is the relationship between our logical, rational, verbal left brain, and its counterpart - our creative, intuitive, thinking in pictures right hemisphere. Dr. Jill helps us understand how our two brains work together to create a single seamless perception of reality, and what is going on inside our heads when we experience personal conflict.
When colleges, businesses or other groups of people who live or work together hear Dr. Jill speak, there is a shift in the overall understanding about what is going on when people exhibit behavior that is not conducive to team building. Everything changes when we know other people are evaluating our behavior based on our brain anatomy. Entire groups of people learn how to interact with one another both respectfully and effectively.
Dr. Jill loves keynoting and is a master at tailoring her presentation to the interest and skill-set of the audience. Regardless of who she is speaking to – corporate leaders, medical professionals, government officials, or the lay public, Dr. Jill believes we all have much more power over what is going on inside our heads than we were ever taught. Her fascination and love of the human brain is contagious as she clarifies how any of us can embrace and exert the life force power we innately are.
People walk away from these presentations looking at themselves through a much more open and compassionate filter. When we understand who is who inside each of our hemispheres, we can learn to recognize those skill-sets within ourselves and in others. Dr. Jill helps us see that we each really do have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. It′s not that hard when you know what you are looking for. Peace truly is just a thought away.
As an "Advocate for Humanity," Dr. Jill is a compassionate motivational speaker who speaks from her heart, both as a well sibling of a brother who has been diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia and as a neuroscientist who recovered her own mind from a debilitating stroke (AVM) which initially rendered her completely disabled.
Dr. Jill has dedicated her career to the advancement of research into the human brain and neurological recovery from trauma. Her passion is to educate everyone about the fragile, yet resilient nature of this incredible organ. By sharing her science and her unique personal journey, she communicates a message of hope, education, and celebration in a way that people can truly understand, and they walk away not only moved but shifted in their perception of who they are in the world and what they are doing with their power.
Presentation topics include:
My Stroke of Insight This presentation focuses on the content of Dr. Jill′s book My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist′s Personal Journey.
How to Get Your Brain To Do What You Want It To DoThis presentation focuses on how we can create a healthy environment for the cells making up our brain so they can exhibit optimal health and performance.
Who′s Who Inside of You?This presentation focuses on identifying the two very different personalities, talents, and skill-sets within each of our hemispheres with the intention of developing our ability to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world.
90 Seconds to HappinessThis presentation focuses on understanding how the choices we make and the thoughts we think directly influence our level of joy.
Compassion in Medicine This presentation focuses on the paradigm shift which understands that neuroplasticity of the brain not only supports neurological recovery but is our means for manifesting it. Medical professionals learn first hand what it was like for another medical professional to experience this level of illness and recovery, as well as what was needed and what interfered with neuronal recovery.
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My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist′s Personal Journey
On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all within four hours-Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was completely lost. It would take her eight years to fully recover. For Taylor, her stroke was a blessing and a revelation. It taught her that by “stepping to the right” of our left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelined by “brain chatter.” Reaching wide audiences through her talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference and her appearance on Oprah′s online Soul Series, Taylor provides a valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and an inspiring testimony that inner peace is accessible to anyone.
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