Introducing Shari Graydon

Shari Graydon will be joining us for Weeks 2 and 4 of Season 1:
Week #2, October 22-26: IN YOUR FACE: What is Beautiful?
Week #4, November 5-9: MADE YOU LOOK: Tricks and Tactics of the Ad Trade

As a child, Shari Graydon wasn't allowed to watch TV on weeknights. Nor did her parents ever buy her brand name clothing. Despite these debilitating setbacks, she made the cheerleading squad, was elected to student council and had friends.

After earning a degree in Theatre, Shari worked for the world's largest public relations agency. Her job was to flog stories about fast food chains and drug companies. All she can say now is that she's sorry, and she's been trying to make up for this lamentable lapse in judgment ever since.

Shari has had experience on both sides of the microphone and camera. She produced a TV series, wrote and performed regular commentary on media issues for CBC Radio and TV, and served as the national spokesperson for MediaWatch. She also wrote a weekly column for The Vancouver Sun.

In 2000, she took a break from teaching at Simon Fraser University to serve as press secretary for the premier of British Columbia. The experience inspired her first play, Revenge of the Pressed Secretary.

The popularity of Shari's first book, Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know (2003), has given her the opportunity to speak to many students about the tricks advertisers use to spirit money out of our wallets.

Her second book, In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You (2004), explores all the extraordinary things we do to our bodies in pursuit of looking good. It also sets out to prove that you don't have to look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie in order to get a date, get a job or get a life.

In Your Face has won multiple awards, including the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction.

Shari has just finished writing a new play called Normal about breast implants.

She's currently working on a third book for teens about violence--in the media and in real life.

Born in Montreal, she grew up in Vancouver, but now splits her time between Kingston and Toronto.

To find out more about Shari, visit her online home at http://www.sharigraydon.com/.