A Celebration of Women™

 

 is elated to Celebrate the Life of this celebrated award winning author, a woman of Iranian origin residing in the west that has devoted her life as activist to the betterment of human rights of women, with a focus on issues related to Islam, Iran, human rights and/or mental health. We are elated to announce this powerhouse is now here to help the Women of our World !

 

 

 WOMAN of ACTION

 

 

Melody Moezzi

 

 

Melody Moezzi is an Iranian-American writer, activist, attorney and award-winning author.

Melody Moezzi (Persian: ملودی معزی‎; born 1979 in Chicago, USA) is an Iranian-American Muslim writer and attorney. She writes and speaks about religion, public health, politics and culture in Iran. She is the author of War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims and is the Executive Director of the Atlanta-based interfaith nonprofit 100 People of Faith.

Melody Moezzi was born to Persian parents at the height of the Islamic Revolution and raised amid a vibrant, loving, and gossipy Iranian diaspora in the American heartland. When at eighteen, she began battling a severe physical illness, her community stepped up, filling her hospital rooms with roses, lilies, and hyacinths.

But when she attempted suicide and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, there were no flowers.

Despite several stays in psychiatric hospitals, bombarded with tranquilizers, mood-stabilizers, and anti-psychotics, she was encouraged to keep her illness a secret—by both her family and an increasingly callous and indifferent medical establishment.

Refusing to be ashamed, Moezzi became an outspoken advocate, determined to fight the stigma surrounding mental illness and reclaim her life along the way. Moezzi often speaks openly about having ‘bipolar disorder‘ and is a regular columnist for Bipolar Magazine.

 

“From the moment I was admitted to my first psychiatric ward, I was desperate to get out. I hated the smell, the food, most of the staff, the routines, the magazines. I hated the sagging mattresses, the glassless funhouse mirrors, the furniture, the isolation rooms. But as much as I despised the place, there was one saving grace for me there: the other patients.” CNN

Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that is also called manic depression or manic depressive disorder.

It causes shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels that are much more severe than the ups and downs everyone experiences now and then. With bipolar disorder, these shifts can be so severe that a person can’t carry out the tasks of daily life…

It is thought that bipolar disorder develops as a result of several factors. Genetics, environmental influences, and brain chemistry may each play a role…

There are several conditions that may coexist with bipolar disorder, though it’s not entirely understood why or how these conditions are linked to bipolar disorder.

Possible coexisting conditions include substance abuse, anxiety disorders (such as post-traumatic stress disorder and social phobia), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. …

She is a United Nations Global Expert with the UN Alliance of Civilizations; a member of the British Council’s Our Shared Future Opinion Leaders Network, and a member of the U.S. State Department’s Generation Change initiative.

Her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, earned her a Georgia Author of the Year Award and a Gustavus Myers Center for Bigotry and Human Rights Honorable Mention.

 
Both an irreverent memoir and a rousing call to action, Haldol and Hyacinths is the moving story of a woman who refused to become torn across cultural and social lines. Moezzi reports from the front lines of the no-man’s land between sickness and sanity, and the Midwest and the Middle East.

A powerful, funny, and poignant narrative told through a unique and fascinating cultural lens, Haldol and Hyacinths is a tribute to the healing power of hope, humor, and acceptance.

This book, a memoir entitled Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, is scheduled for publication on August 1, 2013 by Penguin/Avery.

She has written for the Washington Post, CNN.com, Parabola, The Huffington Post, NPR, Ms. Magazine, and others.

She was also a columnist for the short-lived Muslim Girl Magazine, is a blogger for The Huffington Post, Ms. and Bipolar Magazine. She is also a featured columnist for Bipolar Magazine’s print edition.

Her writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, NPR, Al Arabiya, Parabola, and the Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine, among other outlets.

Moezzi has provided on-air commentaries for NPR’s All Things Considered, Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Georgia Gazette, BBC, CNN, HLN’s Dr. Drew, the Ricki Lake Show, PRI’s To the Point with Warren Olney, Air America’s Montel Across America, the Laura Ingraham Show, and other radio and television programs.

 
The ACTIVIST: Melody Moezzi on Ricki Lake – Virginity 2.0

It’s the most secretive surgery in the world. Find out what lengths women around the globe will go to, to appear to be virgins, risking their own lives. Muslim author Melody Moezzi joins us and goes head-to-head with Dr. Robert Moore, who admits to performing re-virginization procedures. You won’t want to miss the debate.
 

 

Moezzi has worked as a corporate and non-profit consultant and attorney.

She has worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reporting to the U.S. Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom. She has also served as a federal congressional intern for former Representative Tony P. Hall and an intern covering health and human rights for The Carter Center.

Moezzi regularly gives lectures and seminars on issues related to Islam, Iran, human rights and/or mental health.

She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Emory University School of Law, as well as the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Melody’s Mission

War on Error brings together the stories of twelve young people, all vastly different but all American, and all Muslim.

Their approaches to religion could not be more diverse: from a rapper of Korean and Egyptian descent to a bisexual Sudanese American to a converted white woman from Colorado living in Cairo and wearing the hijab.

These individuals, whether they were born to the religion or came to it on their own, have made their own decisions about how observant they’ll be, whether or not to fast, how often to pray, and what to wear.

Though each story is unique, each is also seen through the searching eyes of Melody Moezzi, herself an American Muslim of Iranian descent. She finds that the people she interviews are horrified that, in a post-9/11 world, they have seen their religion come to be represented, in the minds of many Americans, by terrorism.

These thoughtful and articulate individuals represent the truth about the faith and its adherents who are drawn to the logic, compassion, and tolerance they find in Muslim teachings.

Moezzi, ever comfortable with contradiction and nuance, is a likable narrator whose underlying assumption that “faith is greater than dogma” is strengthened as she learns more about her religion and faces her own biases and blind spots.

This fresh new voice, combined with the perceptions and experiences of her fellow American Muslims, make for a read that is both illuminating and enjoyable.

 

 

 

• Representation: Ayesha Pande Literary | 128 West 132 St., New York, NY 10027 | Phone: (212) 283-5825 | Email: ayesha [at] pandeliterary [dot] com
• Speaking engagements:Matthew Lenard | Phone: (404) 697-6299 | Email: matthew [dot] lenard [at] gmail [dot] com
• To download a Press Kit, click here. Note, the press kit is out of date…so for most recent articles and interviews, just browse around this website.

 

 

 

A Celebration of Women™

welcomes this powerhouse into our Alumni of WOMEN of ACTION with open arms and celebrates her work!

 

 

Brava Melody!