Cancer Survivor Delivers Laughter with a Message

Embracing 40 with gusto, Brenda began her comedy, writing, and speaking career, and found a message using humor that resonates with every audience she meets. She has spoken to leaders of eight and to crowds of thousands, and every size in between! Her content is rich in the science of humor and how the way it’s used can benefit both the workplace and daily life.

An entrepreneur for over 20 years, her skills as a small business owner sharpened her sense of humor which created an atmosphere that was fun and dynamic for clients and staff. Marriage, motherhood, and mayhem as she dealt with unexpected challenges, shaped more life experiences. She shares these perspectives with candid humor that her audiences find refreshing. Fascinated by the human spirit, and a collector of stories, Brenda interacts with the audience and delivers new ways of thinking about courageous conversations on humor, health and happiness. She understands first-hand the struggles of not enough hours in the day, parenting, owning a business, cancer, weight loss, weight gain, and the havoc all these challenges can create with self-esteem, health, serenity, and mismatched socks.

“Balance,” she says, is “overrated!” Brenda’s philosophy is to “find something to laugh about so everything’s easier to get through!” Her stories are filled with hope, hilarity, healing; encouraging audiences to embrace their lives in this moment with all its imperfections while daring to envision more. Brenda’s style of delivery is conversational and leaves the audience feeling the positive effects of an honest chat with a good friend.

She has produced five books, all which deal with life from the funny side. In her book, If the Battle is Over, Why am I Still in Uniform? she takes a serious subject, faces it head on with irreverent humor and includes the reader into her intimate vista as a cancer survivor. Her other book titles are, I’d Like to Buy a Bowel Please!, Bedpan Banter, and It’s in The Bag and Under the Covers. Her latest book (2015),  Your Glasses Are on Top of Your Head! is a Midwest Book Award winner.  These funny stories are about life and longevity.

If you want a speaker who can relate to your group and provide a mixture of entertainment and education, Brenda delivers.

Most Requested Topics:

Surprises Don’t Always Come Gift Wrapped

Humor and Adversity…Bring it on!
Humor is like breath…it’s needed at work, home and play.

(Suitable for women’s business groups, corporate leadership trainings, community events, public sector initiatives. 45 – 90-minute keynote, 1 – 3-hour workshop available upon request )

Brenda dares audiences to laugh about taboo subjects and challenges them to dig deeper for the gems in their own lives that need excavating. She knows every hour is precious and doesn’t waste time with superficial discussions. This is what courageous conversations are all about. Takeaways:

• Coping; mixing humor, tears and conversation
• Find the funny in a current crisis.
• Face adversity with less fear
• Lighten up, people will still know you mean business

Humor and Healing from the Patient’s Perspective

This talk is available for 1 CEU Credit.

(Suitable for nurses, doctors, therapists, hospital community health organizations, healthcare. 45 – 90-minute keynote, 1 – 3-hour workshop available upon request)

Who knew a patient could teach healthcare professionals something they didn’t know they needed to learn? Exuding wit and energy, Brenda brings you into the moment of interaction with a patient in a way that makes them think differently. A rare look “behind the scenes,” with numerous and humorous insights for healthcare professionals, they will walk away assured they make a difference in the lives of their patients.

Brenda’s stories illustrate the need for humor with patients and their families to use as a coping tool through the laughter and the tears. The great side effect is that the healthcare professionals benefit too making the work place a healthier place to be. Takeaways:

• Understanding a patient’s perspective
• Discover how patients use laughter to cope
• Ideas on how to use humor to relax patients and caregivers
• Use self-care to benefit yourself and the patient

Coping With Cancer

or

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Adversity

This talk is available for 1 CEU Credit.

(Suitable for cancer support groups, cancer hospitals, community healthcare events, expos, women’s events. 45 – 90-minute keynote, 1 – 3-hour workshop available upon request)

Brenda brings you on a journey of laughter with a respite from the realities of life dealing with cancer. Daring to say things that people without cancer never say, she relates to her audience in the special language of people in the trenches of cancer. In her fox hole, is an arsenal of laughter that leaves the survivors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals with an overall sense of well-being and understanding. Hope is her biggest weapon and she throws it out with encouragement along with huge doses of hilarity changing the focus to the bigger dimension of living life to the fullest with all we’ve got. Takeaways:

• Remember it’s okay to laugh in serious situations
• Choose how you spend each hour
• Discover that illness doesn’t define who you are
• Move on in life with a new normal

Your Glasses Are On Top of Your Head

(Suitable for community events, church groups, long-term care professionals, senior leadership professionals, hospice professionals/volunteers, library volunteers celebrations, senior expos and celebration events. 45 – 90-minute keynote, 1 – 3-hour workshop available upon request)

Brenda shows audiences how to find the funny in the little things. While laughing through the “joys of aging” and technology she brings it back to the basics of self-care and acceptance of where we’re at today. Brenda’s talk teaches us how important it is to use humor to stay engaged in the business of living, and grateful for the challenges we face with grace and humor each day. Takeaways:

• Discover coping strategies that help you laugh through the challenges of aging
• Learn how to appreciate your quality of life
• Find the funny in little things
• Embrace technology without losing your mind or your humor

Life, Lessons, and Laughter

(Suitable for women’s healthcare events,  Ladies Night Out, women’s leadership events, women’s expos)

In Life, Lessons, and Laughter, Brenda Elsagher will help empower women to find humor through the challenges in their lives. Impactful, authentic, funny and engaging; this message is for women from 15 to 90!

Brenda Elsagher is a dynamic keynote speaker, award-winning author, and 20-year veteran of comedy who encourages us to lighten up as we juggle life. She gets it. As a former business owner, and launching a new career at age 39 she understands the pull of too many directions, the strive for balance, the demands of a career and home, weight, money, stress and aging. And she tackles it in a way that makes you laugh!? A Certified Humor Professional, Brenda brings a genuine, uplifting message, and reminds us that each day has only 24 hours and what we do with each hour can change our life. Be bold, go forward and have fun!

Brenda’s Life, Lessons and Laughter keynote encourages personal action steps, and the audience walk away feeling energized. Takeaways:

• 4 practical ways to feel better each day.
• How to cope with stressful situations using humor.
• If we can laugh at it we can live with it.
• How to find balance and lighten up in life.