Melissa Etheridge and Jewel

Known for her confessional lyrics and raspy, smoky vocals, Etheridge has remained one of America’s favorite female singers for more than two decades. In February 2007, Melissa Etheridge celebrated a career milestone with a victory in the “Best Song” category at the Academy® Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. As a performer and songwriter, Etheridge has shown herself to be an artist who has never allowed “inconvenient truths” to keep her down. Earlier in her recording career, Etheridge acknowledged her sexual orientation when it was considered less than prudent to do so. In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer, a health battle that, with her typical tenacity, she won. Despite losing her hair from chemotherapy, Etheridge appeared on the 2005 Grammy® telecast to sing “Piece of My Heart” in tribute to Janis Joplin. By doing so she gave hope to many women afflicted with the disease.
Jewel’s unique story began on an Alaskan homestead- with no electricity- where her family survived off the land. Her New York Times best-selling memoir Never Broken chronicles how she used hard work, grit and grace to survive and thrive under extreme circumstances.

Jewel discovered a variety of mental health tools as a child living in adverse circumstances, helping her to go from homelessness to happiness. She has built her career sharing her wisdom through music, poetry, books and a wellness curriculum that inspires physical, emotional and mental health. Her lyrics calmed a generation of listeners with the phrase, “If I could tell the world just one thing, it would be that we’re all ok.” And “worry is wasteful in times like these.”

For over thirty years Jewel worked with the top psychologists, experts and practitioners to create her System which has 10 Pillars of Healing and Growth and 30 tools to inspire physical, emotional and mental health. Jewel’s System has been used to create curriculum and products for nonprofits, school districts, corporations and consumers.