ABOUT JONY

Overview of Jony Weiss, MPH:

Jony Weiss has dedicated her career to helping individuals and groups lead healthier and happier lives and is an expert workshop designer, trainer, and speaker. She runs a small training and consulting company (Jony Weiss, MPH Training and Consulting). She holds a master’s of public health from UCLA and specializes in wellness, positive psychology, and caregiving.  Jony gets excellent reviews for her workshops and presentations and is known for sharing fun and easy-to-implement practical skills that people can benefit from right away. She also has a passion for photography. If you want to learn more about Jony and her background story, read on!

Jony’s background and story:

Jony has a unique background and story. She is a true Renaissance Woman/Polymath. A polymath is defined as “a person of great learning in several fields of study”. Polymath has nothing to do with actual math – a fact Jony is very thankful for!

She comes from a creative background that combined the arts with health and fitness. She grew up in the heart of New York City (literally on Broadway) where she trained as a ballerina and gymnast as a child. She then went to high school for voice at the School of Music and Art (the “Fame” school).

She then attended Ithaca College where she graduated with a degree in Community Health Education with honors (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Kappa Phi, Dean’s List, and a Professional Excellence Award). She then moved to California and attended graduate school at UCLA where she earned a Masters in Public Health and had her own radio show called “Health Rap”. (Yes, she did actually do a little rap about health at the start of her radio show because…why not?)

Career adventures:

Following graduate school, Jony set her mind and heart to her mission of helping people and animals live their happiest and healthiest lives. She worked in a variety of interesting settings including the Los Angeles County Health Department, Juvenile Court Health Services, spcaLA (the humane society) as Director of Humane Education, and the University of Southern California (as the program manager for Work/Life and Wellness for USC faculty and staff).

Classes and workshops she’s taught:

Jony has designed and delivered hundreds of workshops, classes, and presentations on topics such as Nature, Nurture and Happiness, Self-Care for Caregivers, Character Strengths for Individuals and Work Teams, Healthy Sleep Habits, Health and Humor, Work/Life Balance, Violence Prevention for High-Risk Teens (learning compassion through working with dogs), and AIDS prevention. One of the programs she was the lead trainer on (Partnership for Health) was even chosen as a model program for the nation by the CDC!

Most memorable jobs:

Two of her most memorable jobs were being the director of “Play Deck” on the Floating Hospital (which provided free health care to low-income families across New York City) and spending 6 months at sea on a Cruise Ship sailing to Jamaica, Aruba, Columbia and Panama as their Fitness Director!

Turning her experience into “love in action” to help her elderly and ill parents:

Despite Jony’s deep commitment to her career, when her parents became critically ill (with MS and Alzheimer’s) she left her job to care for them across the country. She set up a “mini nursing home” for them in their own apartment to ensure they could spend their final years at home, with respect and dignity, surrounded by loving caregivers. During those years of taking care of her parents from a distance, she became an expert on caregiving – and learned more about elder care law and taxes than she ever wanted to know!

To cope with the stress of long-distance caregiving for two chronically ill parents, Jony enrolled in photo school as a healthy creative outlet. (She thought, “Why not give photography a try and see what develops!”). After a few years of part-time study, she was delighted to have earned a certificate in photography!

Building her own training and consulting company, and as a board member of Diabetes Ed. Services:

After her parents passed away Jony turned her attention to building her own small company focusing on training and consulting in the areas of wellness. She is also on the board of Diabetes Education Services (D.E.S.), an exceptional woman-owned company providing compassionate and cutting-edge diabetes education and training to healthcare providers across the country.

Hobbies and personal life:

When Jony is not speaking or training she can be found exercising in nature, doing improv comedy, writing poetry, or taking soothing photos of nature. For fun, she watches animated kids movies and is the biggest fan of her husband and college-aged son who are both musicians and songwriters.

What Jony brings to you:

Jony brings her signature warmth, kindness, compassion, creativity, and excellent problem-solving skills to any project she is involved in and is eager to help you and/or your organization grow and thrive. Jony has a way of finding the best in people and cheerleading individuals and groups to find their strengths and use them for the greatest good. She looks forward to sharing all she has to offer with you and your organization!