HELLO, I'M
Jen Friel
Founder of
Talk Nerdy To Me™
About me
The fabulously inspiring entrepreneur and always entertaining Jen Friel is a genius.
She is best known as the founder of the Talk Nerdy To Me™, and is a sought after keynote speaker at conferences and colleges.
In the past year, she was diagnosed with Autism and a condition called Synesthesia. Synesthesia is a lesser known neurological disorder, where in simple terms, the input sense is not the output sense. With her senses merged, she quite literally marches to the beat of her own drummer.
Due to medical sexism, it is still quite rare for women to be diagnosed either Autism or Synesthesia. She is on a mission to change that, as a lack of diagnosis can lead to depression, anxiety, addictions, or even suicide.
Jen sees fragments of people’s auras (not the color just the outline) and hears their (and her own) vibrational tones. She has enhanced situational awareness and now has been able to use that to identify people she should not associate with. (A few months back, she identified her first con-man. Woohoo!)
These diagnoses have been life-changing, as she is now aware of the superpowers and limitations that come with them. Jen proudly represent the statistic of 22% of undiagnosed autistic women who are hospitalized because of their mental health by age 25.
She wishes she was diagnosed sooner (as trauma is like Pokémon Go for autistic people), but that’s not her reality and she is making the most of what she has.
No matter what situation or task, (she has been in a LOT of them) she finds a way to execute with laughter, poise, and sometimes even costumes (she makes them herself).
Jen experiences the world differently, and uses words, photos and humor to tell the stories of her life.
It’s the good, bad, and always honest.
Welcome to Talk Nerdy To Me.™
Her 🏠. Her ❤️. Her 🌎.
This series went viral on Instagram twice and viral on Facebook once. It has been viewed more than 500,000 times on both platforms and will be launched on TikTok in December. (This is part three in the series.)
Synesthesia and Autism are a gift I consider a superpower.
Here are some of my superpower stats:
I took $10 and an idea and bartered social media to live for a year getting to 12 states with only $10 to my name. “Influencer marketing” wasn’t a “thing” yet, so I taught businesses and celebrities how to use social media in exchange for food, water, clothing, or shelter.
I documented the adventures along the way which included crashing the Grammy Awards (and finding the person I crashed it for), dancing on stage with Prince, going out on over 103 dates in 9 months (accidentally using the OkCupid algorithm), flying cross country with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, I’ve been intimately hosted by the family who hosted the Queen of England, met Jack Dorsey and Rick Rubin (outside of a teepee while dressed in a skeleton onesie), and even had (multiple) dinner(s) with Pablo Escobar’s surgeon.
While the road has not been smooth, I am proud of myself for how I handled each “bump.”
I’ve testified in a court of law three times before the age of 30. At 17, I set a legal precedent in the state of Connecticut for stalking in a same-sex relationship. I was stalked by four of my best friends, and the case was so severe that 20 years later the orders are still active. I was also hit in the head with a brick (a random act of violence) and watched the man get sentenced to 19 years in jail, of which he served 10.
Talk Nerdy to Me™, Lover had a stage show 24 hours after the attack, and not only did I host it, I wrote produced, and directed the eight after. I have a force inside of me that (when activated) is like a dog to a bone. Which is how I convinced the doctor to release me from a 5150 after only 48 hours. I thought I was having a nervous breakdown, what I now know happened is an autistic meltdown combined with unprocessed trauma.
My life story was bought back in 2015 by Jerry Bruckheimer, only to have it sell in a four-way bidding war between ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. It was eventually sold to CBS as a put pilot, to which Les Moonves (Chairman of CBS at the time) chose not to pay which resulted in me getting my life rights, trademarks, and intellectual property back. For the first time in a decade, I own everything I created.
I am an artist, activist, writer, and mobile app developer. I’d love to talk to people or brands interested in autism and synesthesia awareness. Let’s get loud, or quiet … depending upon how much sensory exposure I’ve had that day. 😉
I spent a year preparing for it, only to throw it out the night before.
Not to make a statement, but to remain true to myself (and to the rules of TedX).
Click stat to read the post
Friel’s Stats
Friel’s StatsTALK NERDY TO ME™ ON SOCIAL PLATFORM CLUBHOUSE HITS 285K MEMBERS DELIVERING 350+ SHOWS.
TNTM has hosted compelling discussions with brands including: STANFORD MEDICINE, THE SCIENCE CHANNEL, ATLASSSIAN, NASA, IBM, LINKTREE, SOTHEBY’S PHILLIPS, TIME MAGAZINE WHISTLE-BLOWERS INCLUDING EDWARD SNOWDEN, PUSSY RIOT, BRITTANY KAISER (CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA) AND KIM DOTCOM.
DISCOVERED THE SHAPES I SEE AND TONES I HEAR IN PEOPLE ARE METAPHYSICAL. I SEE AURAS AND HEAR VIBRATIONAL TONES (THANKS TO HAVING SYNESTHESIA).
FORMALLY DIAGNOSED FOR A SECOND TIME WITH AUTISM.
THE (truly) ICONIC ARCH OF POLLAID REOPENS IN DONEGAL. (We are the land owners and my crazy relatives were chasing tourists off with guns.)
MET AND OBSERVED JACK DORSEY AND RICK RUBIN’S BODY LANGUAGE. A DAY BEFORE MY BUSINESS PARTNER’S ASHES WERE SPREAD OVER HIS OWN FUNERAL.
THE MAN THE WHO HIT ME IN THE HEAD WITH A BRICK HAS BEEN RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER 10 YEARS.
CLAW MACHINE MASTER (NINE ANIMALS IN ONE WEEK FROM TWO NEVER BEFORE PLAYED MACHINES)
PASSED THE MORAL AND ETHICS COMMITTEE REVIEW FOR BODY LANGUAGE TRAINING. (SPOILER ALERT: YE, WHO HAS A “MORAL AND ETHICS COMMITTEE” MUST CHECK THEMSELVES BEFORE THEY WRECK THEMSELVES.)
BUILT AND SOLD AN IPHONE APP TO DISCOVERY CHANNEL’S “UNDERCOVER BILLIONAIRE” ELAINE CULOTTI.
FEATURED ON FRONT PAGE OF JA RULE AND FYRE FESTIVAL FOUNDER’S WEBSITE. (NOT THE ONE WHO WENT TO JAIL.)
COLD CALLED JERRY BRUCKHEIMER (WHO PREVIOUSLY BOUGHT MY LIFE RIGHTS TWICE).
BRITNEY SPEARS WORE A TALK NERDY TO ME T-SHIRT ON INSTAGRAM. (I WAS INSIDE THE LIBERACE OFFICES WHEN IT HAPPENED.)
RECEIVED POLICE ESCORT HOME AFTER DRIVING A FERRARI ACROSS THE STATE OF FLORIDA.
CREATED BOT CONTENT FOR VIP CLIENTS. GHOSTWROTE FOR RICK ROSS, LINDSAY LOHAN, 30 SECONDS TO MARS, KISS, AEROSMITH, POISON, 50 CENT, MAROON 5, AND OTHERS.
Octane AI was founded in 2016 by Y Combinator alum, former Ustream product manager, 2x Forbes 30 Under 30, and Chatbots Magazine creator Matt Schlicht; former Mashable co-editor and editor-at-large, CNET columnist, venture capitalist, Forbes 30 under 30, and Captivology author Ben Parr; and Omegle creator and owner Leif K-Brooks. Octane AI’s lead investor is Evernote founder Phil Libin at General Catalyst.
Octane AI came into existence as a result of the difficulty that exists in creating and managing chatbots. Matt became fascinated with messaging ever since he learned that the top messaging platforms are bigger and growing faster than the top social networks. His interest in messaging led him to create Chatbots Magazine, the Bots Group on Facebook, and the definitive beginner’s guide to chatbots.
The magazine and the group took off like rocket ships. Chatbots Magazine now captivates over 250,000 readers per month, and the Bots Group has become the largest community of chatbot developers in the world, with 17,000+ developers, investors and enthusiasts discussing bots, messaging, and artificial intelligence.
TALK NERDY TO ME LANDS A PUT PILOT DEAL AT CBS.
In a competitive situation, Talk Nerdy To Me, a multi-camera comedy from 2 Broke Girls writer-producer Morgan Murphy and former Modern Family executive producer Bill Wrubel, has landed at CBS with a pilot production commitment. Jerry Bruckheimer TV, which has been looking to expand into half-hour comedy series, is producing with Warner Bros TV, where the company is based.
Written by writer-comedian Murphy, the project is inspired by the blog Talk Nerdy to Me, Lover, edited by Jen Friel. It revolves around four smart, ambitious, twenty-something women — two computer programmers, a musician and a doctor — who share a house on the canals in Venice, CA, and support one another as they reach for their dreams professionally and personally.
Murphy and Wrubel executive produce with Jerry Bruckheimer TV’s Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman. KristieAnne Reed co-executive produces.
#TECH4OBAMA ORGANICALLY TRENDED ON TWITTER – TOP INFLUENCER WITH 353,080 ACCOUNTS REACHED.
Lead the digital team at io/LA in the Tech 4 Obama event hosted by Hill Harper, Digital LA, and Sharon Lawrence. In a few hours we generated 336 tweets with over 1.28 million impressions. My personal twitter account generated over 356,000 and I was named top influencer. We also got the hashtag “#Tech4Obama” to trend on twitter organically in Los Angeles.
SLUT SHAMED BY A GAWKER OWNED BLOG (while I was at a press event)
I was invited to Austin, TX to blog about my experiences test driving the new Dodge Dart. Jalopnik, a Gawker owned company, wrote an article on the fact that Chrysler picked a “relationship blogger” to test drive a vehicle. (Spoiler alert: They were not pleased, but everyone else was because it generated a conversation in social about the Dodge Dart.)
SUICIDE GIRLS – WRITER
Freelance writer for alternative lifestyle website, Suicide Girls. (Was also a frequent guest on their radio show.)
- TALK NERDY TO ME, LOVER (LIVE STAGE SHOW)
Wrote, produced, and directed eight stage shows called the “Dirty Truth About Nerdy Girls” featuring the Talk Nerdy community. Production included dramatic interpretations of OKCupid emails, and improv storytelling.
- HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A BRICK (RANDOMLY).
- I received four staples to my head and watched the man recieve 19 years in jail for it.
NAMED WORLD’S BEST GIRLFRIEND ON GOOGLE
I dared the men of the internet (that were in relationships) to hire an SEO to get their girlfriend’s photo as the search result for a google image under the keyword “world’s best girlfriend.” I had no idea they would do that for me.
Thank you.
TRIMMED POT IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
I trimmed pot for 36 hours in Northern California at a (truly) undisclosed location. I was told that if I got arrested to not say anything, and the attorney would bail me out within 24 hours. Fortunately, that didn’t happen – but there was an earthquake.
DANCED ON STAGE WITH PRINCE
I danced on stage with Prince showcasing my accessory sponsor Spirithoods, and @replied all the twitter comments monitoring the show’s hashtag.
VIDBLOGGER NATION- DIRECTOR
Produced, and starred in three seasons of a Comcast on-demand series available in 50 million homes.
Vidblogger Nation is a social TV network that features self-portraits by hometown tastemakers who share the stories of people, places and things in their city from a first-person perspective.
BARTERED SOCIAL MEDIA TO LIVE FOR A YEAR GETTING TO 12 STATES WITH ONLY $10 TO MY NAME. I USED “INFLUENCER MARKETING” BEFORE THERE WAS A TERM FOR IT.
SPENT 600 DAYS USING ONLY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN LOS ANGELES.
It was during my couch surfing era, called the “Unapologetically Awesome Spring/ Summer 2010 Tour.”
CRASHED THE GRAMMY AWARDS TO MEET PETE CASHMORE. FOUND HIM ON THE RED CARPET AND WENT HOME TO DO LAUNDRY.
SET LEGAL PRECEDENT IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT RECEIVING FOUR LIFETIME RESTRAINING ORDERS IN A NON-SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP