“Where the hell am I? How did I get here?"
 
Beginning at the age of 12, our next guest asked herself these questions many times after waking from alcohol-induced blackouts. During her teens and early twenties, she turned to alcohol to deal with the traumas in her life. In addition to alcohol, she also experimented with drugs, and eventually began using crack to deal with the deep black hole of sadness, loss, and unworthiness that she felt inside herself. That is, until she awoke in a hospital psych ward and saw bandages on her wrists. "The doctor came in and said I was a very lucky girl to be alive," she explains, "and for the first time in my life, I believed it." Today we will talk about her book “Blackout Girl: Growing up and dying in America”. It is our pleasure to have on our show, the Executive Director of the Victim/Witness Assistance Program in Harrisburg, PA, she was also appointed commissioner to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, she has been featured in Rolling Stone and Time magazine, and we welcome author Jennifer Storm to our show today. 

Jennifer Storm was born and raised near Allentown, PA and attended Northampton High School. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Services and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from The University of Phoenix.

In August 2002, Ms. Storm joined Victim Witness Assistance Program as the organization’s second Executive Director. Before joining VWAP, Ms. Storm was the first full time director of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition, a non-profit coalition dedicated to securing and defending fully inclusive civil rights for LGBT people in Pennsylvania. During her tenure at Pennsylvania Rights Coalition, Ms. Storm worked diligently on obtaining inclusive hate crime legislation.

In 2002, the Pennsylvania legislature passed one of the most inclusive hate crime statues in the country. Governor Edward G. Rendell appointed Ms. Storm as a commissioner to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. She was later appointed to the Homeland Security, Law Enforcement and Justice Systems Advisory committees where she also serves on the Terrorism Prevention and Local Law Enforcement Subcommittee.

Ms. Storm is active in many local committees and on boards such as: The Greater Harrisburg Foundation EGAL Board, Dauphin County Domestic Violence Taskforce, Joint Investigative Taskforce, Dauphin County Elder Abuse Taskforce, Northern Dauphin Human Services Advisory Panel and Criminal Justice Advisory Board of Dauphin County.

Her media appearances are vast, and include frequent appearances on all major networks including, ABC, FOX, NBC, NPR, CBS and PBS as the county spokesperson for victims rights. She had done over 500 media & radio interviews, both taped and live, in the past five years. She has appeared on local and national talk shows including The Harrisburg View and WITF’s prime time public affairs show SMARTTALK, Dr. Drew Live, Recovery Coast to Coast and many more.  In 2002, Ms Storm also publicly debated Oliver North live on his syndicated talk show Common Sense with Oliver North. She has been profiled or appeared in the following publications; Curve Magazine, The Advocate, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, WE Magazine, Women Magazine and many more.

Ms. Storm is very comfortable giving interviews both taped and live. This is Ms. Storm first book She is available for all speaking engagements including keynote presentations, workshops, panel discussions and book signings.