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 (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

currently writing for '' The Cleveland Jewish News''. Her columns are syndicated through Jewish News Service. Brett's debut book "God Never Blinks" has been translated into 24 languages, and she has written 9 books for the Polish market, which have sold 900,000 copies. Her latest book, "Little Detours and Spiritual Adventures: Inspiration for Times When Life Doesn't Go as Planned" will be released in November, 2024.

Career highlights

She was a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

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 Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

. 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; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

'', 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 Jo ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

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) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

affiliate

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

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

NPR affiliate

WKSU WKSU (89.7 FM broadcasting, 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, Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary s ...

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 university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

and a master's degree in religious studies from

John Carroll University John Carroll University (JCU) is a Private university, private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio, United States. Located in a suburb of Cleveland, it is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts college, liberal arts institution compo ...

. In 1998, Brett was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

and included her experiences of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

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, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. 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". Brett released her second book, "Be the Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible" in 2013, followed by "God Is Always Hiring: 50 Lessons for Finding Fulfilling Work" in 2015. Her latest book, "Little Detours and Spiritual Adventures: Inspiration for Times When Life Doesn't Go as Planned" will be released in November, 2024. From 2020 to 2022, Brett hosted the podcast ''Little Detours'', which featured interviews with inspirational guests. In 2024, Brett launched a

Substack Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription-based content, including newsletters, podcasts, and video. It allows writers to send digital content directl ...

titled "Little Detours with Regina Brett, which publishes regularly.

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 association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

*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 Journalists from Cleveland Living people 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers