Ingrid Ricks is an NYT-bestselling author, writing coach, inclusion activist and inspirational speaker who is passionate about leveraging personal storytelling to foster healing, awareness, empathy and change.
Over the past seven years, she has helped more than 2,000 students of every age find healing and empowerment by writing the deeply personal stories they needed to tell, and has produced seven anthologies in partnership with high schools to raise awareness about the serious challenges today’s youth face.
Ingrid, who views personal storytelling as the key to healing and unity in today’s divided world, regularly presents her Healing Through Personal Narrative workshops in partnership with organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest, and has delivered keynote talks on the subject to educators and social workers across the country. She has also given keynote addresses to audiences ranging from college students to leaders in the business and government sectors on Harnessing Adversity and Rethinking the Disabilities Label. She uses her journey with her blinding eye disease to spotlight the strength and resilience that can emerge from adversity and change harmful perceptions and attitudes heaped on people living with challenges shoved under the disabilities label.
Ingrid’s books include the coming-of-age memoir, Hippie Boy: A Girl's Story, and Focus, a memoir about her journey with the blinding eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa. She has also ghostwritten several memoirs and has shared stories from her childhood on Salon and NPR.
For more information, visit www.ingridricks.com.
