2006 Woman of Distinction
Key Note Speaker

Trisha Meilli
Inspirational Speaker
Author,
I am the Central Park Jogger

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Trisha Meili’s story is about the capacity of the human body and spirit to heal. It is a story of hope and possibility. It didn’t begin that way.

On April 19, 1989, Trisha went for a run in New York’s Central Park shortly after 9 PM.  Hours later, two men wandering the park found her near death from a brutal beating and rape.  In a coma, with 75 percent blood loss, a fierce blow to the head and severe exposure, doctors at Metropolitan Hospital worried that this young woman might not survive. The story seized the headlines, not only in New York, but around the world as people contemplated what the savagery of the attack said about our society.

Fourteen years later, Trisha, known to the world as The Central Park Jogger, revealed her amazing story of survival and recovery in her best-selling memoir, I am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility.

Born in Paramus, New Jersey, raised there and in Pittsburgh, Trisha was a Phi Beta Kappa economics major at Wellesley College and a double graduate degree recipient (MBA and MA) at Yale University.  After graduation, she went on to work as an associate at the Wall Street Investment Bank Salomon Brothers, until her life was violently interrupted that terrible night in Central Park. Amazing her doctors and colleagues, Trisha returned to Salomon eight months after the attack, became a Vice President and continued her career there for another eight years. She then ran a nonprofit in New York City before writing her story.

I am the Central Park Jogger is not a story of an attack, but rather, one of healing. The horror of her attack brought an outpouring of support and love from her family, friends, healthcare workers, co-workers and strangers. Trisha credits this support as part of the miracle of her recovery as she relearned how to do simple things, such as rolling over, telling time, buttoning her blouse or identifying simple objects. The support allowed her to move from victim to survivor, reclaim her life and become whole.