Regina Brett (born May 31, 1956) is an American author, inspirational speaker, podcaster and newspaper

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

currently writing for '' The Cleveland Jewish News''. Her columns are syndicated through Jewish News Service. Brett launched the podcast ''Little Detours with Regina Brett'' in 2020.

Career highlights

She was a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

finalist for commentary in 2008 and 2009. Her first book, "God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours" was published in April, 2010 by

Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachett ...

. It is now in 26 countries. Her second book, "Be the Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible", was published in 2012. Her third book, "God is Always Hiring: 50 Life Lessons for Finding Fulfilling Work," was published in 2015. All three books have been bestsellers in Poland. From 2000 to 2017, she wrote columns for ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'', Ohio's largest newspaper. Before that, Brett worked as a columnist for the

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon J ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

for seven years. Over the course of her career, Brett has written over 2,500 newspaper columns. From 2006 to 2010, Brett hosted ''The Sound of Ideas'', a radio show on Cleveland

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

affiliate

WCPN WCPN (104.9 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, featuring a public radio format as a repeater of Kent–licensed WKSU. Owned by Ideastream Public Media, the station serves the western portion of Greate ...

90.3 FM. From 2011-2013, she hoste
''The Regina Brett Show''
on

NPR affiliate

WKSU WKSU (89.7 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary signal encompasses the Akron ...

89.7 FM. The weekly program was inspired by Brett's book. Brett has a bachelor's degree in journalism from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

and a master's degree in religious studies from

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3, ...

. In 1998, Brett was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

and included her experiences of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

and her recuperation in her columns in the Akron Beacon Journal. These columns earned her a National Headliner Award. In 2006, Brett wrote a column for ''The Plain Dealer'' entitled "50 Life Lessons", which has since been the most distributed column she has written to date, appearing on blogs as well as social networking websites like

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. In many of these instances, Brett is misidentified as a 90-year-old woman. The "50 Life Lessons" column was expanded to fifty chapters for her first book, "God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours". Currently, Brett hosts the podcast ''Little Detours'', which features inspirational guests who offer tips, tools and takeaways to help listeners create a life they love out of the life they have, and Brett shares some of her own life detours as well.

Awards and honors

*1999 Lifetime Achievement Batten Medal *2009 Cleveland Press Club Hall of Fame inductee *Two-time National Headliner Awards winner. *1998 Northern Ohio Live Magazine'' Award of Achievement. *National Society of Newspaper Columnists Humor Writer Award (she was the President from 1998 to 1999). *2003 The Society for Professional Journalists "Best Columnist in Ohio" Award. *Five-time Ohio Associated Press award winner (including Best Columnist in Ohio in 2008 and 2009). *2009 Liberty Bell Award from the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association *2009 Silver Gavel Award from the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

*2009 Ohio Library Council "Citizen of the Year" *2013 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Award in radio show category *2013 National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest *2014 Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism from the American Jewish Press Association *2014 The Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary for newspapers with a circulation of 14,999 and under *2014 First-place Best of Show Best Columnist 2014 Ohio Society for Professional Journalists *2016 The Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary for newspapers with a circulation of 14,999 and under *2016 Best in Ohio from Press Club of Cleveland All Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards *2018 Best Columnist in Ohio's Best Journalism Contest

References

External links

''The Plain Dealer'' columns

''Cleveland Jewish News'' columns

Regina Brett on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brett, Regina 1956 births American columnists American women columnists Kent State University alumni Writers from Cleveland Living people Journalists from Ohio 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers