As the author of 20-Something, 20-Everything: A Quarter-Life Woman’s Guide to Balance and Direction and The 20-Something Manifesto, Christine Hassler is dedicated to teaching students life skills not offered in college.
By age 25, Christine was one of the youngest television agents working in Hollywood, a rising young industry star—and she hated every minute of what she was doing.
She quit her job to follow her passion, only to find out that it wasn’t able to hold her interest. Although she was well-educated, motivated and had many great opportunities, she sank into a mire of unexpected depression fueled by unrealized dreams, an engagement called off, family tension and mounting debt.
Why in the world was she in crisis at an age where everything should have been in high gear? The exploration of her personal crisis led to the book, 20-Something, 20-Everything: A Quarter-Life Woman’s Guide to Balance and Direction. Based on her first-hand experience and interviews with hundreds of young women, Christine learned that the issues facing young women today vary widely from those experienced by their mothers. From epidemic eating disorders, earlier use of birth control and the glut of opportunities and expectations, today’s 20-something women needed solutions for getting past their generation’s unique problems. The old ways of coping were no longer working. Some new approaches were needed.
Christine has become a spokesman for today’s 20-something women. She has appeared on The Today Show and CNN, speaking about the issues inhibiting today’s young professional women.
In her campus keynotes, Christine shares the stories, conundrums, tears and laughter that she has discovered in her quest for answers for the quarter-life crisis. She helps young women discover paths that lead to lives with more contentment, balance, and direction. The keynotes hit on many of the most critical issues facing today’s young women: self-image, finances, dating and relationships, careers and spirituality. Most of all, Christine helps young women understand the importance of living with integrity.
The student leaders were hanging on every word. They've tried so hard their entire lives to be what the world wants them to be—to get into the right school, date the right person, land the right job, etc. It was absolutely empowering for them to hear Christine's message and understand that happiness and success truly starts and ends with themselves.
Beth Searcy, Delta Gamma Fraternity
Expectation Hangovers
Christine’s keynote deals with a challenge facing today’s college students: expectations. Whether from parents, professors, peers or themselves, the expectations that students feel can be overwhelming.
Christine’s keynote is both interactive and reassuring. She leads a discussion about why decisions are hard to make and shares her “Cheesecake Factory” theory. In a gentle and often humorous way, she advises students about things to expect after graduation like culture shock, an adjustment to independent life, heartbreak, competition and unavoidable forks in the road. Her message to students is that it is 100% okay (and quite normal) to NOT know what you want to do with your life! She will dispel myths like “your first job has to be perfect and dictates the career path you will stay on.”
From Christine’s keynote, students feel relieved of some of the pressure that fuels expectation hangovers and armed with real world tips and tools to prepare them for life post-graduation. They will also learn that life is a journey of answering the questions of “who am I, what do I want and how do I get it?” and it’s not a test they can study for.
The Myth of Having It All
Opportunities and Challenges Facing Today’s College Woman
Today’s college woman has a lot on her mind: relationships, family, academics, job searching, finances, her body and questions about what her future will entail. She is told she can “have it all” but what does that really mean and, furthermore, is it possible?
In Christine’s keynote, the questions women are struggling with become opportunities to identify and explore dreams and values. Rather than feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, college women learn to turn these questions into maps that lead toward a life that fits just like a favorite pair of jeans rather than a life that fits into a box of “having it all.”
In her funny and heartfelt keynote, Christine candidly shares her own stories of her tumultuous 20-something years that left her unfulfilled and depressed. She was able to transform her life and is passionate about sharing what she has learned and works as a life coach to 20-something’s. Her message to young women is to not worry about “having it all” by anyone else’s standards or checklist, but rather focus on creating a life that you want.
Topics addressed in the keynote include:
- The role of women today
- Why today’s young woman is facing more struggles than in the past
- Expectation hangovers
- Paralysis by infinite options
- Body image and nutrition
- Sex and STD’s
- Relationships
- Our mothers
- And, of course, the myth of “having it all”
Christine's Bio
After being inspired by her own unexpected challenges and experiences, Christine realized her journey was indeed her destination. In 2005, she wrote the first guide book written exclusively for young women, 20-Something, 20-Everything: A Quarter-life Woman’s Guide to Balance and Direction. Her newest book, The 20-Something Manifesto, written for men and women, stems from her experience counseling 20-something’s.
Christine’s training is from the Communication Arts Company and she holds a master’s in Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Christine received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University where she was initiated as a Kappa Alpha Theta.
Christine began her evolution as a 20-something expert with a discussion group for 20-something’s in Los Angeles struggling with questions about themselves, their careers and their relationships. As she continued her investigation of herself and others, she began to craft a roadmap for how to transform “20-something” into “20-everything.” She has dedicated over six years in researching and speaking about this rite of passage.
As a professional speaker, Christine leads seminars and workshops to audiences around the country. She has appeared on The Today Show, CNN and PBS, as well as various local television and radio shows, speaking about life issues and “Expectation Hangovers”—a phenomenon she identified and trademarked.
Christine is a yoga enthusiast, travel junkie, wine and food enthusiast (even vegetables!) and loves to be outside. She lives in Los Angeles.
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