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Letters from the Heart: How Words Change Lives
Jennifer Richmond |
TEDxSouthCongress
• January 2020
When is the last time you received a hand-written note or letter? Jennifer Richmond shares an idea of reconnecting our world by writing compassionate letters to family, friends, or even someone you've never met!
About Jen:
Jennifer Richmond’s life changed when her family moved to Burma, now called Myanmar when she was 10. It was there that she received her first Russian bear hug at the height of the Cold War. Since her experiences living in Myanmar and later, Indonesia, Thailand and China she became determined to find ways to connect across cultures.
She received her B.A. in Asian Cultures from Trinity University, her M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and did her doctoral studies in International Relations at the University of Texas at Austin. She speaks Mandarin, Chinese and has taught Chinese Politics at Trinity University and was the China Director and Vice President at the geopolitical firm, Stratfor.
Jennifer recently co-founded The House United Academy, an initiative to teach viewpoint diversity and critical thinking in high school, emphasizing mutual respect, tolerance and collaboration.
She is the CEO and Co-Founder of American Culture Consultants, helping foreigners connect in the United States. Jennifer is also the founder of Truth In Between, a project to help bridge divisions in America, connecting people across distance and difference through letters. She is currently working on a book of letters with a prolific pen-pal.
Jennifer lives in Austin with her husband, son and pug. She frequently daydreams of the day she can start her Pug & Pony Pub – where the price of a pint is a penned letter to another patron in the company of propitious pets.