Oh, the joys of being in Deutschland….

I’m in Germany right now, helping cover the Women’s World Cup for espnW. Always love being back here. It’s a strange trip, as I am not here with my family or to see my family, I’m covering a team that I am not overtly connected to (England), in a town I’ve never been to before (Wolfsburg).

Outside of the rains, it’s been a good trip. Wolfsburg is the home of VW, and there are tons of car fans who pilgrimage here to see their favorite car. Just like being in Detroit. And I just saw a huge, glamorous wedding reception start for a lovely Egyptian-German couple, so it felt like I was back in Detroit again, on the West-side.

Some of the best things of Germany:
– every body knows how to pronounce my last name correctly. Joy!
– the bread, as always is killer.
– and people seem to love the things I love – flowers from every window of the house. 🙂

until next time…see ya!

The 411…

Joanne C. Gerstner is an award-winning multimedia journalist, author, college professor and Fulbright specialist. She extensively covers, and is an expert, on sports, concussions in sports, the global business of athletics, women in media, and journalism/social media for outlets such as The New York Times, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the BBC, USA Today, ESPN and Detroit News.

She is the co-author of “Back in the Game: Why Concussion Doesn’t Have to End Your Athletic Career”, with Dr. Jeff Kutcher (Oxford University Publishing, 2016), an Amazon No. 1 hot seller on youth sports and concussions. She has also written five children’s books.

In 2019, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appointed her to the state’s first Women in Sports Task Force. The group served three-years, making recommendations for legislation and other private sector changes in the state to assist girls and women in playing sports, and finding careers in athletics.

Gerstner is a sought-after expert, speaker and panelist, appearing at SXSW Sports, CoSIDA, the University of Michigan, Jacobs Foundation, the American Academy of Neurology’s Concussion conference, the Association for Women in Sports Media, and numerous media appearances (BBC, NPR, etc.)

She is the Brandt Fellow Sports Journalist in Residence at the School of Journalism at Michigan State University, and has won fellowships with Knight-Wallace at the University of Michigan (2012-2013), Jacobs Foundation (2015) and Steve Saler-Medill (1995).

Gerstner is the recipient of Oakland University’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2020); the Association for Women in Sports Media’s Ann Miller Award (2014); Faculty Impact Award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University (2017); the inaugural MSU ComArtsSci Brandt Fellowship for Faculty Excellence (2021), and the Headliner Award from the Association for Women in Communications Detroit chapter (2017). She was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2021.