Meg Jay Keynote Speaker

Meg Jay is a clinical psychologist and a narrative nonfiction writer. In her books, Dr. Meg Jay weaves the latest research with what she hears everyday: the behind-closed-doors stories of real people. Her books reveal the complex realities that lie behind stereotypes and misconceptions about development, changing how we think about topics such as whether our twenties matter and how resilience works and feels.

In Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience, Dr. Meg Jay explores the secret, inner world of those who are resilient. Contrary to the notion that resilient youth bounce back from hard times, Dr. Jay shows that what they actually do is something much more complicated and courageous. They are nothing if not protagonists in their own lives, often waging fierce and unrelenting battles that continue well into adulthood. Dr. Jay argues that these men and women deserve a better metaphor than the bounce of a ball. They deserve a metastory that does justice to the full experience of being resilient. That’s what Supernormal is all about. It is the amazing, untold story of resilience—the heroic, powerful, often perilous lifelong journey.

In The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now, Dr. Jay elevates what it means to be a twentysomething. She argues that, rather than a developmental downtime, the twenties are a developmental sweetspot: a time when the things we do—and the things we don’t do—will have an enormous impact across years and even generations to come. The Defining Decade has sold more than 250,000 copies in all formats and has been published in more than a dozen countries around the world. Her related TED talk — “Why 30 Is Not the New 20” — has been viewed more than 10 million times.

Dr. Jay earned a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and in Gender Studies, from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned a B.A. with High Distinction in Psychology from the University of Virginia. Her work has appeared in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Psychology Today, and on the BBC, NPR and TED.

Meg Jay is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Virginia, and maintains a private practice in Charlottesville. She is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional as well as a Certified Child and Adolescent Trauma Professional.