PRESS & MEDIA
Claire Von Cleveland
Writer, Speaker & Consultant
Cultural writer and keynote speaker whose work draws on lived proximity — not research — to examine power, shame, media, and the gap between institutional language and institutional reality. Based in Palm Springs, California.
AT A GLANCE
BASED IN
Palm Springs, California
BACKGROUND
Fortune 500 director · 21 years in London · 70+ countries
WRITING
Long-form cultural essays, Substack · Memoir in progress
CREDENTIALS
Harvard X· UC Berkeley · Congressional recognition (×2)
TOPICS & ANGLES
Available to speak on, write about, or be interviewed on the following:
Redemption vs. institutional practice
Shame as a social mechanism
Media incentives & belief formation
Survivor narratives & power
Nonprofit & donor accountability
Reinvention after corporate life
Political polarization & language
Neurodiversity & workplace inclusion
TALKING POINTS
1
Redemption is conditional on optics — and that's the problem
Organizations publicly celebrate second chances while quietly enforcing exclusion. The gap between the language and the practice is where the real story lives.
2
Shame doesn't silence the speaker — it silences the watcher
Public shaming of vulnerability isn't aimed at the person who already spoke. It's a signal to everyone else deciding whether it's safe to.
3
What we consume starts to feel like what's real
The problem with media saturation isn't that it's false. It's that it's incomplete — and repetition makes incompleteness feel like the whole picture.
4
The credential is the life
Seventy+ countries. A Fortune 500 boardroom. A pandemic divorce. A cat café built from scratch. The authority to speak on reinvention doesn't come from a framework — it comes from having done it.
““Redemption is widely celebrated as an idea. It is narrowly tolerated as a reality.”
— From the essay “Redemption in Theory, Discrimination in Practice””
CREDENTIALS & RECOGNITION
Two Certificates of Congressional Recognition and one Certificate from the California Legislative Assembly for disability employment and inclusion work
Certifications from Harvard and UC Berkeley in organisational health and the science of happiness at work
Certified Neurodiversity Professional (IBCCES, Grade A)
Founder, Frisky Business Palm Springs Cat Café — first cat café in the Coachella Valley, EmployABILITY Champion
Past speaking engagements: KPMG, Shell, LNG Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Encana
Ghost-writer, Hey White Boy: Conversations of Redemption by Sonny Von Cleveland (published)
Memoir Two Suitcases and a Knowing in progress
Media enquiries & press kit
For interview requests, podcast appearances, and media enquiries, use the contact form: