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Speaking & media
A board-certified sleep specialist with a refreshingly down-to-earth message.
Keynotes, panels, and corporate workshops on sleep, women's health, behavioral medicine, and the science most clinicians don't tell their patients.Dr. Shelby Harris speaks to corporate audiences, conference programmers, and health-focused organizations about the clinical reality of sleep — what's actually wrong, what actually works, and what the wellness industry has gotten wrong about both. The talks are evidence-based, occasionally pointed, and consistently rated for their clarity.
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-- TEDx · Featured talk --
How We Broke Sleep Without Realizing It
Dr. Shelby's TEDx talk distills two decades of clinical work into a single argument: chronic insomnia isn't a willpower problem or a hygiene problem — it's a paradox. The harder you try to sleep, the less you sleep. The talk introduces audiences to CBT-I, the treatment that resolves the paradox, in plain language without losing clinical rigor.
TedX talk to be released soon.
Why hire Dr. Shelby
What audiences actually take away.Most sleep talks fall into one of two categories:
clinical lectures audiences struggle to follow, or wellness-influencer content that oversimplifies the science. Dr. Shelby's talks operate in the space between — substantive enough to respect a sophisticated audience, accessible enough to land with people who've never thought about sleep clinically.She's not selling anything.
Dr. Shelby isn't promoting a supplement, an app, a tracker, or a course. She's a clinician describing what works in her practice and what the research shows. That makes her unusual in the corporate speaking circuit — and useful for organizations that don't want their wellness programming to feel like a product pitch.She'll push back on what your audience has been told.
Most sleep advice in circulation is incomplete, oversimplified, or wrong. Dr. Shelby will tell your audience which parts. The melatonin assumption. The sleep-tracker culture. The "you need less sleep as you get older" myth doctors are still repeating. Audiences leave with a clearer picture than they came in with — and sometimes a useful kind of indignation.She doesn't waste your audience's time.
Talks run their booked length. The deck is current. The Q&A is real. References are available. The work is treated as professional engagement, not a media appearance.Signature talks
Three talks, each adaptable to your audience.
Talk formats range from 20 minutes keynotes through 60+ minute workshops with audience interaction. Each talk can be customized for the audience, industry, or organizational context — Dr. Shelby reads in advance and tailors examples accordingly.
Keynote · 20–45 min
Sleep Isn't One Pillar. It's the Floor.
The wellness industry has been telling people for years that sleep is "one of the four pillars of health," alongside nutrition, exercise, and stress management. That framing is wrong. Sleep isn't a pillar. It's the floor the other pillars stand on. This talk reframes how audiences should think about sleep in the context of overall health — and what to do when the floor is cracked.Best for
Corporate wellness programs, healthcare conferences, leadership development events.
Keynote · 30–60 min
Sleep for Women in Business: The Trifecta Nobody Talks About.
Women are twice as likely as men to develop chronic insomnia. The reasons are biological, psychological, and structural — what Dr. Shelby calls "the trifecta": hormonal changes across the lifespan, higher rates of anxiety and depression, and a social demand load that hasn't equalized despite decades of progress. This talk addresses what's actually happening and what works clinically — without falling into either "self-care" platitudes or pharmaceutical defaults.Best for
Women's leadership programs, ERG events, healthcare audiences, perimenopause-focused programming, executive women's networks.
Keynote or workshop · 30–90 min
CBT-I: The First-Line Treatment No One Knows About.
The American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and major menopause societies recommend Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia as the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia. Most patients have never heard of it. Most primary care physicians don't refer to it. This talk explains what CBT-I is, why it works, and why it remains underutilized — with implications for healthcare organizations, employer benefits programs, and clinical training.Best for
Medical and clinical audiences, healthcare administrators, benefits and HR leadership, mental health programming.
Recent engagements
Where the talks have landed.
A selected list of recent and notable engagements. The full speaker history is available on request.
Conference keynotes
TEDx
How We Broke Sleep Without Realizing It
Corporate & healthcare
Rituals Cosmetics
La Mer Skin
Noble Panacea
Educational institutions
Cleveland Clinic
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Stamford Hospital, CT
Mt. Sinai Health System, NYC, NY
Book a Talk
Let's talk about your event.Most engagements are booked 8–16 weeks in advance. Earlier inquiries are welcome.
The inquiry form asks for basic event details (date, audience, format, location). Within 48 hours, you'll get a response with availability, fee range, and next steps.
Speaker Inquiry
Submit a brief inquiry with your event details. Response within 48 hours.Submit Speaker Inquiry
Speaker Bio
Dr. Shelby Harris, PsyD, DBSM.
Dr. Shelby Harris is a clinical psychologist and of only a few hundred Diplomates in Behavioral Sleep Medicine in the United States. She is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and formerly directed the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center’s Sleep-Wake Disorders Center.
She is the author of The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia (WW Norton Books) and The Essential Guide to Children's Sleep (APA Press). Her clinical commentary routinely appears in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New Yorker. She is regularly on live national television, including CBS Mornings, TODAY and Good Morning America.
She delivered a TEDx talk on the clinical reality of chronic insomnia and has spoken to corporate, medical, and women's leadership audiences across the country. She lives in Westchester County, New York.
Read the full bio
Frequently Asked Questions
Booking and inquiries.For event programmers, conference organizers, and media professionals. The questions below cover lead time, audiences, customization, and inquiry response times.