Beauty Bites Beast: The Missing Conversation About Ending Violence

BEAUTY BITES BEAST is not a “how-to” book, it is a “how-come” book.

As in, “how-come” every woman and girl needs to know how to defend themselves. They, like all females of other species in the world, are capable of defending themselves and their loved ones — if they learn how. It is not the female’s size, it is her culturally induced ignorance that makes her think she is helpless. BEAUTY BITES BEAST is a clarion call to “sleeping beauties,” so they can wake up and take charge of their own self-defense — emotional, verbal and physical. The book also celebrates women (and kids) who fought back and won. Funny and provocative, this is both an irreverent and deadly serious look at how family, religion, history, news, and entertainment keep women thinking they are defenseless. BEAUTY BITES BEAST transforms and saves lives.As in, “how-come” every woman and girl needs to know how to defend themselves. They, like all females of other species in the world, are capable of defending themselves and their loved ones — if they learn how. It is not the female’s size, it is her culturally induced ignorance that makes her think she is helpless. BEAUTY BITES BEAST is a clarion call to “sleeping beauties,” so they can wake up and take charge of their own self-defense — emotional, verbal and physical. The book also celebrates women (and kids) who fought back and won. Funny and provocative, this is both an irreverent and deadly serious look at how family, religion, history, news, and entertainment keep women thinking they are defenseless. BEAUTY BITES BEAST transforms and saves lives.

Ellen Snortland grew up in Colorado and South Dakota and set out early in life to be a Renaissance Woman. She made her way to California by the time she was 17 and has never looked back. And she's made good on the "Renaissance Woman" concept, by getting a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, founding the first all-female theater company in the early 70s, acting in and directing several TV shows during the 80s, attending United Nations world conferences and annual UN meetings as an NGO delegate and journalist, becoming a Goodwill Ambassador for the National Women's History Project, and much more. Ellen's work as an author, self-defense advocate and instructor was featured on Dateline NBC with her book, "Beauty Bites Beast." A regular columnist for the Pasadena Weekly and the Huffington Post, she's a tireless advocate for women and girls and physical safety for all. Her acclaimed one-woman show, "Now That She's Gone," is a comic memoir about growing up Norwegian American; it has been performed all over the world. She has completed writing and directing the feature-length documentary BEAUTY BITES BEAST, based on her ground-breaking book. The film is opening in New York and Los Angeles during November 2016 for Oscar consideration. Ellen serves on several boards, including Consumer Watchdog, IMPACT Personal Safety, and 50-50 Leadership, a non-profit that envisions more women and girls in leadership positions. Her newest book, "The Safety Godmothers: the ABCs of Awareness, Boundaries and Confidence for Teens" -- co-written with Lisa Gaeta and featuring special contributions by "Gift of Fear" author Gavin de Becker -- was completed in 2015. Find out more about Ellen at www.snortland.com

Gavin de Becker is our Nation's best-known expert on the prediction and management of violence. His work has earned him three Presidential appointments and a position on a congressional committee. He was twice appointed to the President's Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of Justice, and he served two terms on the Governor's Advisory Board at the California Department of Mental Health. His 520-member consulting firm advises government agencies, universities, police departments, corporations, and media figures on the assessment of threats and hazards. Gavin de Becker & Associates maintains the world's largest library of threat and obsessive communications, consisting of more than 400,000 pieces of material. Mr. de Becker's first book The Gift of Fear was the Nation's #1 Bestseller, on the New York Times Bestseller List for seventeen weeks. It is now published in thirteen languages. In 2008, Oprah Winfrey dedicated an entire show to commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the book's publication. His second book, Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children & Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane) was the #1 parenting book of 1999. His post-9/11 book on terrorism, Fear Less, was published in 2002 and featured on Larry King Live, The Today Show, The O'Reilly Factor, and The View. Mr. de Becker's most recent book Just 2 Seconds: Using Time and Space to Defeat Assassins, presents the result of a study of more than 1400 attacks and incidents involving at-risk people. Though not written for a general public audience, the book has readers in 25 countries. Mr. de Becker wrote the introduction for To Have Or To Harm, the first book on stalking (Warner Books), and for Beauty Bites Beast: Awakening the Warrior Within Women and Girls, and he's written more than forty articles and white papers, several of which have been reprinted by the Department of Justice's National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Mr. de Becker is the designer of the MOSAIC threat assessment systems used to screen threats to Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, members of Congress, and senior officials of the CIA. Along with the U.S. Marshals Service, he co-designed the MOSAIC system used for assessing threats to Federal Judges and prosecutors. MOSAIC systems are also used by police departments all over America for assessment of spousal abuse cases. Mr. de Becker has shared his philosophies about prevention of violence in several appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, Larry King Live, and 20/20. He has also been profiled in Time and Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and many others. Mr. de Becker is a Senior Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs and, a Senior Advisor to the Rand Corporation on public safety and justice matters.

The name Ken Gruberman may not ring a bell to most people, but if you have heard of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, or David Copperfield then you are already familiar with his work. A true musical Renaissance man for the last 46 years, Gruberman has experience in music preparation, performance, orchestration, arranging, music supervision, score supervision, orchestra contracting and conducting. He has worked with some of the most respected film composers in Hollywood, including John Williams (Seven Years in Tibet, Amistad and Summon the Heroes for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta), Jerry Goldsmith (Air Force One, The Shadow), George Fenton (Final Analysis, Groundhog Day, Multiplicity) Hans Zimmer (Broken Arrow, Eraser), Alan Silvestri (Contact), Randy Newman (Maverick), James Newton Howard (Dante's Peak, Outbreak) and David Arnold (Independence Day). In addition, Ken has worked with composer Joseph Vitarelli on over 20 different HBO films and documentaries, including the multiple Emmy award-winning miniseries John Adams and the acclaimed Academy-award nominated documentary My Architect. In television, Ken was the music supervisor for eight of magician David Copperfield's award-winning TV specials, creating and adapting music for many of David's signature illusions, such as the disappearance of the Statue of Liberty, and walking through the Great Wall of China. Ken also also provided music for the 2005 NBC mini-series Revelations, a massive undertaking involving over 6 hours of music for chorus and large orchestra. Ken's work in records has resulted in 6 Grammy awards: one for 1979's disco anthem I Will Survive, three for Genius Loves Company - the last album from the great Ray Charles in 2004 - and two in 2006 for Stevie Wonder's Time 2 Love. Other artists Ken has worked closely with over the years include Barbra Streisand, Herbie Hancock, Sheryl Crow, Celine Dion, Charles Aznavour, Olivia Newton-John, Marvin Gaye, Mason Williams, Henry Mancini and smooth jazz artists Dave Koz and David Benoit. He also worked with the Jackson 5 on their hits ABC and I'll Be There, and collaborated with Michael Jackson for his legendary performance on the NBC television special Motown: Yesterday, Today and Forever. Ken is equally adept in the concert hall, having worked with symphony orchestras around the country, and soloists as diverse as Ransom Williams and Christopher Parkening. In 2001 Ken worked with Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen to complete his LA Variations, and in 2010 with the St. Louis Symphony on a new piece called Aurora, composed by jazz legend Wayne Shorter and sung by the magnificent Renée Fleming. In the technology field, Ken was the first music professional in Los Angeles to use computer-based notation. He was a guiding influence for the development of MOTU's "Composer's Mosaic," and subsequently advised the development team for AVID's "Sibelius" music notation software. In addition, Ken has spoken on many panels involving music notation and technology, and has given lectures and demos at both the Seybold Seminars and MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. As "The Tech Daddy," Ken helps people understand the personal technology that is all around them, such as Macintosh and Windows-based computers, cell phones, digital cameras, TiVOs and the like. Ken is also an Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) and Apple Solution Expert who wrote for MacUser Magazine for 7 years and edited his own national, award-winning publication for 17 years. Ken currently writes the popular "Tech Daddy" column for the Huffington Post, and contributed articles on personal technology to AARP Magazine, which has the biggest circulation of any general interest magazine in the world.