Kelli Dunham. Comedian. Nurse. Keynote Speaker. Author. Storyteller. Ex-Nun. 

You know. The usual.  

Helping Helpers Help

It’s nearly 2025 so you can undoubtedly find your own way around a website, but some quick links to speed up your search: 

-We’re planning a conference/continuing education event/etc that is going to be very intense and I’ve heard Kelli is a great keynote speaker to help lift folks up and send them out laughing and (relatively) encouraged. (page currently under construction)

-I’m from a college or school of nursing and I’d like to explore bringing Kelli to our campus (either virtually or IRL).

-I heard an excerpt from Kelli’s Not A 12-Year-Old Boy comedy special on BBC’s Religion In Society Sunday AM program and wanted to know more about Kelli’s newest show, Second Helping.  Or maybe you’d like to listen to the BBC interview?

-I’m looking for a hilarious and compassionate trauma-informed speaker for my conference to share about humor in hard circumstances,  Laughter At The End Of Life, or I need help building my organization’s competencies around LGBT health.

-I don’t get how all this came together on a resume (or really, why Kelli was recently interviewed in the New York Times style section) and I’d like to read Kelli’s story. 

-I’ve been hearing about the Second Helping Gazette and I’d like a free subscription!

-I’m really bad at asking for help and someone told me this Kelli Dunham person can help me build my “letting folks help me” muscles. 

-I’m looking for some free resources about LGBT health, trauma informed healthcare, building caregiving teams, or I’d love to read some of those hilarious Bad Idea Good Story Zines I’ve heard so much about. 

-I’m a homophobic or transphobic internet troll, and I’m just here to cause trouble.

-Lost? Confused? Just want to talk? Text Kelli at 215.964.1963 or email kelli@kellidunham.com

ABOUT KELLI…

Kelli Dunham is a 2015 White House Champions of Change nominee (under the Obama administration, this is an important detail) and was named to the Velvet Park Magazine’s 25 Significant LGBT Leaders in 2016 as well as to the Campus Pride Hotlist. Kelli was recently (and frankly, somewhat inexplicably) featured in the New York Times Styles section in a groundbreaking article by Shane O’Neill about nonbinary fashion in the workplace. 

You may have also seen Kelli on Showtime and the Discovery Channel and nationwide at colleges, prides, fundraisers, the Moth Mainstage and even the occasional livestock auction. Kelli is also an RN and the author of seven books of humorous non-fiction, including two children’s books being used by Sonlight conservative homeschooling association in their science curriculum. Kelli’s fifth book, Freak of Nurture, a collection of humorous essays published by Topside Press caused award-winning author Barbara Carellas to give Kelli the moniker “the David Sedaris of the genderqueer dyke world.” You may have also seen Kelli’s unique humorously concerned voice in articles on Refinery29, Time.com, The New Republic, Thought Catalog and Autostraddle, the NPR Health Blog, Them.us and LadyScience. Kelli’s personal essays on HuffPost Personal about her time in the COVID ICU and ambivalence about her father’s death (two separate essays) were some of the most shared the year they were published. 

Kelli is considered an expert on the intersections of art, grief and community-based caregiving and presents nationwide to healthcare providers about LGBT issues, LGBT health, gender and health, using humor to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue and the transformative power of first-person storytelling. 

Kelli is the co-founder and co-curator of the award-winning and stunningly popular LGBT storytelling series Queer Memoir as well as Organ Recital, the storytelling festival and series about bodies, health and healthcare.

Kelli’s comedy albums have included I am NOT a 12-Year-Old Boy, Almost Pretty, Why Is the Fat One Always Angry, Gender Envy, and Not The Gym Teacher, all of which are on regular rotation on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s Rawdog Comedy Station. Kelli’s newest show, Second Helping: Two Dead Lovers, Dead Funny (produced by alt comedy royalty Beth Lapides) was featured at CeCe Blooms for a full run at Edinburgh Fringe the summer of 2023. Kelli is currently booking Second Helping colleges and theaters and the occasional livestock auction. 

You can reach Kelli at kelli@kellidunham.com or text 215.964.1963

Subscribing to Kelli’s Substack, Second Helping Gazette means you’ll get all the latest Kelli Dunham news and read two engaging, hilarious, and potentially practical essays twice a month.