Happy holidays! – Joanne C. Gerstner

Hey everybody –

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are preparing well for the upcoming holiday season. This is always one of my favorite times of the year. I am a huge sucker for Christmas lights. I will not be a sucker for all the sweets and Christmas cookies this year. I promise.

Finally working my way back into good shape to play tennis and tackle all the things I want to do/try. It takes time to get back to yourself from ACL surgery and rehab. They tell you that, you believe them, but you have no clue what it really means. I was told, at the World Cup this summer in Germany, by a player that she felt she was 100 percent herself about 18-20 months after surgery. And you know what, I think she’s right.

In the meantime, I am doing all my stretches and cardio to kick my butt into shape. It’s actually fun to work out, because you know the alternative of not being able to move 🙂

So I have been busy, continuing to write for the NY Times, contribute as an editor for espnW, and do some fun things for MGoBlue.com. Go check them out.

In the meantime….go get on Santa’s nice list, if you’re not there already!!!

Thanks and love!
Joanne

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.