Biography
| A former Nickelodeon Online producer & head writer, law school dropout, and doomed Wheel-of-Fortune contestant, Joel Schwartzberg is now an author, essayist, public speaking coach, and Internet executive. Writing Life Joel's collection of essays, The 40-Year-Old Version, was published by Wyatt-MacKenzie in June, 2009. In 2010, the book won First Place in the humor category of the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and Second Place in the humor category of the 2010 ForeWord Magazine "Book of the Year" Awards. The book was also a finalist in the essays category. Joel is also an official blogger for The Huffington Post and The Good Men Project. The father of three, Joel's freelance essays have been published in Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, New Jersey Monthly, The Star-Ledger, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Babble.com, PBS Parents, AOL ParentDish, and in the flimsy pages of regional parenting magazines littering waiting rooms throughout the U.S. and Canada. Joel's awards include placing 2nd in both the 2008 and 2009 National Society of Newspaper Columnists' Column-Writing Competitions. He received 3rd place in 2010. He was also named a finalist for "Best Commentary" at the 2008 Online News Awards and "Humor Writer of the Month" in 2007 by the award-winning Erma Bombeck Writing Workshop. Joel has also judged the prestigious Erma Bombeck Writing Competition since 2010. Joel has won over 25 awards since 2006 from Humor Press' "America's Funniest Humor Writing Contest", including 1st Place, 2nd Place, 4th Place, and 5th Place (Still looking for that elusive third!). Not exactly Pulitzer Prizes, but Joel takes credit wherever he can find it. Joel has ten unproduced screenplays to his credit, including:
Teaching Life A 1990 National Champion in public speaking, Joel was inducted into the National Forensic Association Hall of Fame in 2002. He coached competitive forensics teams at Queens College, St. Joseph's University, Seton Hall University, and the University of Pennsylvania, and is now instructing classes in public speaking for private clients, Mediabistro.com, and The Hired Guns. More about that at successcoacher.com. In his free time, Joel likes to eat, breathe, and watch things move. |