Lerner, Helene

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Lerner, Helene

(Helene Lerner-Robbins, Helene D. Lerner)

PERSONAL:

Education: Pace College (now Pace University), M.B.A.; City College, New York, NY, M.Sc.Ed.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—helene@womenworking.com.

CAREER:

Author, television producer, consultant. Producer of television specials, including Out of the Darkness: Women and Depression, Proud to Be a Girl, Heart Disease: A Woman's Story, Blazes of Light: Women Living with HIV/AIDS, Grab Hold of the Reins: Women in Cancer, Pure Magic: The Mother-Daughter Bond, and Best Friends: The Power of Sisterhood. New York, NY, public school teacher; New York Times, New York, NY, sales and marketing, 1980s; New Woman, columnist; New York Post, columnist; Creative Expansions, Inc., CEO.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Emmy Award, 1999, for Out of the Darkness: Women and Depression, and 2004, for Proud to Be a Girl; Gracie Award, 1997, for Heart Disease: A Woman's Story, 1999, for Out of the Darkness: Women and Depression, 2000, for Blazes of Light: Women Living with HIV/AIDS, 2003, for Grab Hold of the Reins: Women in Cancer, 2005, for Pure Magic: The Mother-Daughter Bond, and 2007, for Best Friends: The Power of Sisterhood; National Media OWL Award, 1997, for Osteoporosis: Your Bones, Your Life; 24th Annual Media Awards Competition, National Council on Family Relations, for A Special Face.

WRITINGS:

(With Roberta Elins) Stress Breakers, CompCare Publications (Minneapolis, MN), 1985.

Embrace Change: Entrusting Intuition, Hazelden (Center City, MN), 1992, published as Embrace Change, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992.

My Timing Is Always Right, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992.

Creativity, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

Trusting Intuition: Finding Balance, HarperCollins (San Francisco, CA), 1993.

Our Power as Women: The Wisdom and Strategies of Highly Successful Women, Conari Press (Berkeley, CA), 1996.

Time for Me: A Burst of Energy for Busy Women, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2005.

What Makes a Strong Woman? 101 Insights from Some Remarkable Women, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 2005.

Smart Women Take Risks: Six Steps for Conquering Your Fears and Making the Leap to Success, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Helene Lerner has made a career out of helping women empower themselves. As an author, television producer, and consultant, she covers a host of issues in her work relating to women's health, relationships, and self esteem. Born in 1946, she received an M.B.A. from Pace College and a master's of education from City College, both in New York City. Although she began her career working as a teacher in the public schools of New York City, by the 1980s she had switched her focus to sales and marketing as an employee of the New York Times.

A significant event in her life was her successful struggle with a weight problem. Her ability to gain control over her weight helped her to change both her personal and professional lives and inspired her to help other women achieve mastery over their lives as well. This resolve led to her starting her own company, Creative Expansions, Inc., designed to provide women with the tools they require to empower themselves and reach their highest potential in whatever area they choose. The company produced books and television specials intended to supply women with the support and information they might need to overcome obstacles in their paths and achieve their dreams. Lerner also provided service as a coach to individuals and groups, covering many of the same issues.

Lerner's television specials, many of them focused on women's health issues, have won her two Emmy Awards, given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of excellence in television, and many Gracie Awards, named in honor of comedienne Gracie Allen, given to encourage positive and realistic portrayals of women in the media. Her many books discuss issues such as stress, life changes, intuition, creativity, personal power and strength, and risk taking.

Smart Women Take Risks: Six Steps for Conquering Your Fears and Making the Leap to Success tells inspirational stories of many successful business women, women who have achieved their success by taking calculated risks. Lerner proposes a six-step program toward achieving individual goals and provides exercises and examples to help the reader determine if a risk is worth taking. The steps Lerner recommends for success include being committed to your goal, evaluating the risks, building a team, taking action, acknowledging your success, and then moving forward.

In her review of Smart Women Take Risks for Booklist, Barbara Jacobs wrote that she enjoyed reading accounts of successful women and that Lerner "sparkles" when she tells the stories of women such as fashion designer Liz Claiborne and Jan Babiak, managing partner of the accounting firm Ernst & Young. She further commented that the book "espouses common sense and the art of truly listening to one's mind and heart."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2006, Barbara Jacobs, review of Smart Women Take Risks: Six Steps for Conquering Your Fears and Making the Leap to Success, p. 58.

Dallas Morning News, July 31, 2006, "Don't Fear Risk, Author Advises."

Library Journal, April 15, 1996, Mary-Ellen Mort, review of Our Power as Women: The Wisdom and Strategies of Highly Successful Women, p. 100.