Lisa-Michelle Kucharz is a recognized expert in marketing, communications, public relations, business development, effectiveness, human resource management, training and development, positive psychology, and coaching. She is an adjunct professor in Long Island University’s Communications – New Media Bachelor of Arts program in Riverhead, New York, teaching media law, interpersonal communication in the digital age, oral communication and presentations, and emerging media applications.

She earned her MBA at the University of Derby and Bachelor’s degree at Binghamton University (SUNY). Lisa-Michelle holds certificates in marketing analytics, management effectiveness, project management, fundraising and development, human resource management, harassment and discrimination prevention, positive psychology, positive psychology coaching, coaching, psychological first aid, and mental health first aid with three concentrations — veterans, military servicepersons, and their families; higher education; and youth. She recently completed the certificate in happiness studies (CiHS) with Tal Ben-Shahar.

When she’s not passionately working to accomplish her goals and help others achieve success, she enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking, baking, reading, and spending time with friends and family. She’s a five-time 52 Hike Challenge Finisher and completed Hiker Babes’ Journey to 100.

Advocacy

Lisa-Michelle Kucharz was the target of harassment and cyberstalking, but she chose to fight back and won a groundbreaking international case. She continues to share her experience and lessons learned while navigating law enforcement and the judicial system.

Greatly impacted by the increase in youth suicide and self-harm from cyberbullying and bullying, she’s dedicated to prevention advocacy and has teamed up with legislators and advocates to review current laws and provide suggestions to help diminish online abuse for youth and adults.

In a recent article highlighting her advocacy work that helped establish a task force to explore cyberbullying and measures to address it, she shared what she considers the simple reason behind the importance of recognizing an official definition of cyberbullying, Without a clear definition, we cannot take measures to prevent or address it well. By leaving room for subjective considerations, there will be inconsistencies in approaches to handling incidents and more opportunities to ignore them.

Lisa-Michelle would like better resources provided to law enforcement and community organizations to handle the epidemic of online hate. She served as an executive board member of #ICANHELP and encourages inspirational programs in schools to help foster online civility and positivity, empathy, kindness, and respect, as well as programs and resources for youth engaging in cyberbullying.