The best and most meaningful things in life cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
My role as a mother is to make them conscious of the things they don't see.
EXPLORER
Beauty is beyond the lotions and potions. Beauty with a big B includes the external and the internal. I speak for the complete woman.
Everybody has something they're fighting for. We all stand for something.
JODIE PATTERSON
MOTHER / ACTIVIST / AUTHOR / BEAUTY EXPLORER
I’m an author, a mother of five and an active LGBTQAI advocate who has been recognized for my activism by Hillary Clinton, GLAAD, Family Circle magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine, Yahoo, Refinery29, and numerous other outlets. I’m a regular speaker at national and international conferences on a variety of topics including identity, business, parenting and gender. In 2017 I gave a TEDx Talk in Germany entitled, Gender is Obsolete.
I hold the position of Board Director with the Human Rights Campaign, and work closely with HRC’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council. I also sit on the Advisory Board of the Ackerman Institute’s Gender & Family Project, where I advise on strategic partnerships and overall goals for the organization. Read More
Advance Praise
“A marvelous book! The Bold World reminds me of the best things we have learned from our uniquely instructive sojourn as black people in America. To be watchful; to pay attention; to make every attempt to comprehend reality; to believe that real life flows in the direction of the real, which is to say, of the true. Not to feel daunted by almost any obstacle for which we have brains and energy to challenge. To rejoice when Life comes through us and has the courage to keep on going.”
“Written with sparkle, charm and refreshing frankness, The Bold World is of great moral purpose, moving and pellucid.”
“Stunning, moving. Required reading for every parent, and anyone who has ever been parented.”
“In a time when everyone is searching, Jodie Patterson shows us the meaning of mastering our authenticity…finely crafted.”
“Our children need us to read this book – to see who we can’t see and to hear what we can’t hear.”
“This isn’t a book just for mothers or mothers of trans children or folks from the trans community. This is the work we all must do to be free. This a story for anyone seeking love.”
“I see myself in Penelope, yearning to be understood.”
“Once I started, I had to read it entirely.”
“Beautifully written, The Bold World is activism at is most pure level.”
Watch Me
Book Jodie to speak at your next event. As a speaker she will help you achieve the goals you’ve set for your event. Email bookings@jodiepatterson.com for more information.
Musings
A Family Portrait – Whatever Wednesdays. Random Jodie Moments
Family is what you gravitate towards. It’s the reason for staying and the impetus for doing. Family is the everything that matters at the close of each day. Michele Crowe visited with us at home in Brooklyn and snapped us as we were that day…a bit of everything. xxjodie my everything it’s chemical it’s unbreakable Read More »
Mother of Four Gives Advice for Raising Transgender Child
Amid unprecedented trans visibility and just days after former Olympic champion, Bruce Jenner went on National television and came out as transgender, I was asked to join the team at PIX Channel 11 to tell my story as a trans-mom, and the mother of a trans-boy, Penel. When my child told me at two years Read More »
Mom, I’m Not A Girl: Raising a Transgender Child
What it's really like when your daughter becomes your son