Kelli Dunham. Stand-up comic. RN. Author. Storyteller. Ex-Nun. 

You know. The usual.  

Oh hello there, thanks for stopping by!  There’s way too much info around here, but some helpful quick links:

-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’m looking for a hilarious and compassionate trauma-informed speaker for my conference to share about humor in hard circumstances or the revolutionary power of first person storytelling or need help building my organization’s competencies around LGBT health.

-I don’t get how all his 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’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.

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 ground breaking 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 seperate 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 comedy albums have included “I am NOT a 12 Year Old Boy” “Almost Pretty,” “Why Is the Fat One Always Angry” and “Full of Bad Ideas” all which are on regular rotation on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s Rawdog Comedy Station as well as a limited release special Gender Envy in 2018. Kelli’s comedy album “Not the Gym Teacher” dropped February 2020. Her newest show, Second Helping will be featured at the CeCe Blooms at a full run at Edinburgh Fringe the summer of 2023.