Monica
Lewinsky

Author & Activist

Monica Lewinsky is a producer, social activist, global public speaker, a Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair and, most recently, host of the podcast Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky. Her focus is on storytelling that moves the conversation forward – around shame, reclaiming identities, and justice for women. As an activist, Lewinsky advocates for a safer social media environment and addresses such topics as digital resilience, privacy, and cultivating compassion online. 

After a decade of silence, in 2014, Lewinsky authored the essay “Shame and Survival” for Vanity Fair in which she re-examined her personal experiences at the center of a political, legal and media maelstrom in 1998 connected to the impeachment of President Clinton and challenged the often-misogynistic culture of shame that continues to cannibalize the powerless (June 2014). The piece was nominated for a National Magazine Award.

She was a speaker at the 2015 TED Conference in Vancouver. Her speech, “The Price of Shame,” has been viewed over 22 million times. She has also spoken at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit and delivered the Ogilvy + Inspire Lecture at the Cannes Lions Festival.  

In 2017, for National Bullying Prevention Month, Monica created the #ClickWithCompassion campaign and released an award-winning PSA in collaboration with the advertising firm BBDO New York. "In Real Life", which asked people to rethink their online behavior in an offline social experiment, was Emmy nominated for “Outstanding Commercial.” Monica & BBDO collaborated again in 2018 and 2019 on award-winning campaigns. Her most recent 2023 campaign done with Mischief, “Stand Up to Yourself” aims to reshape how we talk to ourselves – to not “self-bully.”

For the 2024 election, Monica teamed up with sustainable fashion brand Reformation and Vote.og to remind voters to get out and vote. The campaign for the brand’s workwear collection received widespread press coverage and international attention.

Monica is an executive producer on the Hulu limited series The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. She was a producer on Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment: American Crime Story for F/X, and an executive producer on the documentary 15 Minutes of Shame for HBOMax.

She is on the advisory board of Project Rockit, Australia’s premiere anti-bully organization, and is an Ambassador for The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Program in the UK. Monica holds a Master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She is a terrible cook but a wonderful auntie.