I'm an internationally recognized stress management expert with more than 30 years of experience. My particular expertise is positive psychology and the use of humor as a coping mechanism. I was recently awarded the National Humor Treasure Award by The HUMOR Project, Inc. I am single and have three children, 11 grandchildren, and a rescue cat named Mr. Boo!

Interests:
Cooking, painting, gardening, dancing, working out, reading, traveling, writing, singing, and observing societal absurdities.

Activities:
Visiting friends and family, strength training, walking, Pilates, fund-raising for the homeless, domestic violence counseling, leukemia foundation and others, and (equally important) having fun.

Favorite books:
Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert; The Art of Happiness, by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler; What Happy People Know, by Dan Baker; In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollen; Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John Ratey; I Feel Bad About My Neck, by Nora Ephron; and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski.

Favorite movies:
Shirley Valentine; Being There; Out of Africa; Casablanca; When the Devil Knows You’re Dead; Vicki, Christina, Barcelona; The Savages; Elizabeth; Little Miss Sunshine; La Vie en Rose; and The Edith Piaf Story.

Favorite TV show:
Dancing With the Stars

Favorite quotes:
“Don’t eat anything bigger than your head.” -- Miss Piggy

“In the end everything is a gag.” -- Charlie Chaplin

“Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.” -- Richard Bach

“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.” -- Eartha Kitt

professional background
Loretta LaRoche is an adjunct faculty member at the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston and is on the council for the Massachusetts General Center for Anxiety and Depression. In addition, she writes "Get a Life," a weekly newspaper column, and is featured on Eons.com, a website celebrating life on the flipside of age 50.

LaRoche's energetic meeting openings, trainings, and keynotes serve to improve learning skills and put a room in an enthusiastic frame of mind. Clients such as IBM, The New York Times, Fidelity Investments, Microsoft, the U.S. Dept. of Labor, and NASA, to name just a few, have used her material to defeat stress in the workplace.

The best-selling author has written seven books, the latest of which, Lose Your Fat Pants and Gain a Huge Life, will be released in May of 2009. Her six PBS shows have aired in major PBS markets and have been nominated for prime time Emmy awards. Her seventh show, Juicy Living, Juicy Aging, will air in August of 2009.

Associations:

• Adjunct Faculty Member, The Mind/Body Institute of Boston
• Founder and President, The Humor Potential, Inc.
• Council Member, Massachusetts General Center for Anxiety and Depression
• Keynote Speaker, Consultant, Lecturer

Awards:

• Local and prime time Emmy Award nominee
• The National Humor Treasure Award
• Honorary Ph.D., LaSalle University, Newton, Massachusetts
• Humanitarian Award, MSPCC
• Woman of the Year, Massachusetts Girl Scouts
• Alumni of the Year, Hofstra University

Appearances:

• Six one-woman television specials on PBS
• CNN, ABC, NBC

Publications:

• Author, Kick Up Your Heels Before You're Too Short to Wear Them
• Author, Squeeze the Day
• Author, Life Is Short: Wear Your Party Pants
• Author, Life Is Not a Stress Rehearsal
• Author, Relax: You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left
• Author, Joy Journal
• Author, Happy Talk
• Audio CD, How To Be a Wise Witty Woman