Christine Clifford is an American author and professional speaker based in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Minnesota. She is most known for her books ''Not Now…I’m Having a No Hair Day!'' which was released in 2005 and ''YOU, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself'', which was released in 2007. In 1994, after Clifford was diagnosed with cancer, she started writing and drawing and ultimately left her job as a marketing executive. She has written eight books since. She is the CEO and owner of Christine Clifford Enterprises, an umbrella under which she operates four companies.

Early life

Clifford was born in Michigan and raised in California. When she was 15, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died of cancer, four years later, when Clifford was 19.

Career

During the early 1990s, Clifford was the Senior Executive Vice President of SPAR Marketing Services, a division of The SPAR Group, a merchandising and information services firm in New York City. In 1994, when she was diagnosed with cancer, she started writing and drawing about her cancer, which led her to quitting her job and becoming a full-time author. The books and cartoons led her to starting her first company ''The Cancer Club'', an organization through which she arranges seminars and support groups as well as sells humorous and helpful products for people with cancer. She later became a professional speaker about a year after her cancer went into remission. Clifford received her Certified Speaking Professional designation from the

National Speakers Association The National Speakers Association (NSA) is a US based association that supports motivational and other public speakers. It is the oldest and largest of 13 international associations comprising the Global Speakers Federation. History NSA was f ...

in 2002. Clifford started a celebrity golf tournament called ''The Christine Clifford Celebrity Golf Invitational'' in 2006. The proceeds of the tournament were used for breast cancer research. By 2011, Clifford donated $1,000,000 through the money collected from the tournament. In 2013, she was informed that she got the cancer again, for which she had a double mastectomy. While going through treatment for cancer, this time she wrote her book ''Laugh 'Til It Heals: Notes from the World's Funniest Cancer Mailbox''. After her second divorce in 2010, Clifford founded Divorcing Divas with her friend Barbara Greenburg. Divorcing Divas produces seminars for the newly divorced. It also sums up her own post-divorce story. In 2011, the organization partnered with Tubman, a non-profit shelter in Minneapolis for abused women. Clifford owns and operates Christine Clifford Enterprises, an umbrella under which four companies reside, offering motivational speaking and other services on sales, marketing, divorce and cancer.

Books

Clifford has written eight books. Five books have been about her battle with cancer, humorous portrayals of what she went through while she was sick. Her first book was ''Not Now…I'm Having A No Hair Day!'' published in 1995, followed by ''Our Family Has Cancer, Too!'' in 1998 and by ''Cancer Has Its Privileges: Stories of Hope & Laughter'' in 2002. In 2005, she wrote ''Your Guardian Angel’s Gift'' and her latest book on cancer was ''Laugh 'Til It Heals: Notes from the World's Funniest Cancer Mailbox'', which she wrote in 2011. In 2007, Clifford published ''YOU, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself''. The book received positive reviews. The book is written in bite-sized chunks and contains 160+ lessons on various topics. The Time wrote about the book that, "You’ll want to keep this guide within easy reach on the desk, the credenza, or next to the bed" and BlogCritics wrote that "If you buy it, I'll bet you'll read it more than once, too." Her latest book, ''Let's Close a Deal! Turn Contacts into Paying Customers for Your Company, Product, Service or Cause'' was released by Wiley & Sons in 2013. Clifford has also written a book about divorce, titled ''The Clue Phone's Ringing...It's for You! Healing Humor for Women Divorcing'', which was published in 2011. She wrote the book after she ended her second marriage. She was a contributing author to ''Chicken Soup for the Survivor's Soul'', ''Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul'' and ''Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul.''

Awards and honors

*In July 2002, Christine was awarded The Order of the Delta Gamma Rose from the

Delta Gamma Delta Gamma (), commonly known as DG, is a women's fraternity in the United States and Canada with over 250,000 initiated members. It has 150 collegiate chapters and more than 200 alumnae groups. The organization's executive office is in Columbus ...

fraternity.

Bibliography

*''Not Now I'm Having A No Hair Day!'' (1996). University Of Minnesota Press. *''Our Family Has Cancer, Too!'' (1998). University Of Minnesota Press. *''Inspiring Breakthrough Secrets to Live Your Dreams'' (2001). Aviva Publishing. *''Cancer Has Its Privileges: Stories of Hope and Laughter'' (2002). Penguin Putnam/Perigee. *''Your Guardian Angel's Gift'' (2005). Bronze Bow. *''You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself'' (2007). Grand Central Publishing. *''The Clue Phone's Ringing...It's for You! Healing Humor for Women Divorcing'' (2011). Anshan. *''Laugh 'Til It Heals: Notes from the World's Funniest Cancer Mailbox'' (2011). Anshan. *''Let's Close a Deal: Turn Contacts into Paying Customers for Your Company, Product, Service or Cause'' (2013) *''Your Guardian Angel's Gift'' (2017)

References

External links

Divorcing DivasThe Cancer ClubLifeVantage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Christine Living people American women writers American motivational speakers American women motivational speakers Writers from Minneapolis Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women