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Monica Lewinsky
Social Activist & Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair
Monica Lewinsky
Social Activist & Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair
Biography
Monica Lewinsky is a producer, social activist, global public speaker, and contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Her focus is on storytelling that moves the conversation forward—around shame, reclaiming identities, and justice for women. As an activist, Lewinsky advocates for a safer social media environment and addresses such topics as digital resilience, privacy, and cultivating compassion online.
Most recently, Monica was a producer on Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment: American Crime Story for F/X, as well as an executive producer on the documentary 15 Minutes of Shame for HBOMax.
After a decade of silence, in 2014, Lewinsky authored the essay “Shame and Survival” for Vanity Fair in which she reexamined her personal experiences at the center of a political, legal and media maelstrom in 1998 connected to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and challenged the often-misogynistic culture of shame that continues to cannibalize the powerless. The piece was nominated for a National Magazine Award.
Monica was a speaker at the 2015 TED Conference in Vancouver. Her speech, “The Price of Shame,” has been viewed over 20 million times. She has also spoken at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit and delivered the Ogilvy + Inspire Lecture at the Cannes Lions Festival.
In 2017, for National Bullying Prevention Month, Monica created the #ClickWithCompassion campaign and released an award-winning PSA in collaboration with the advertising firm BBDO New York. "In Real Life," which asked people to rethink their online behavior in an offline social experiment, was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Commercial. Monica and BBDO collaborated again in 2018 and 2019 on award-winning campaigns.
She is a founding board member of the Childhood Resilience Foundation, on the advisory board of Project Rockit, Australia’s premiere anti-bully organization, and is an Ambassador for The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Program in the UK. Monica holds a master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Speaker Videos
TEDTalk: The Price of Shame
The Internet's Reputation Shredder
#DefyTheName
The Epidemic [Trigger Warning]
In Real Life #BeStrong [Trigger Warning]
Speech Topics
The Price of Shame
Based on her TED talk that has been viewed over 10 million times, Monica discusses how through online content, shaming others to make a profit has become commonplace. At the age of 24, she went from a private citizen to a humiliated public figure due to the expansive nature of the internet-centered news cycle. Now, in the age of social media, Monica provides insight into the painful realities of cyberbullying and online harassment. In her speech, she mixes her own experiences of public humiliation enhanced by the digital revolution with ways to find compassion and empathy through social media.
Testimonials
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