Judy Smith

Crisis Management Expert, PR Guru & Inspiration for
ABC Hit Drama Scandal

When scandal hits the powerful, few of us can ignore the headlines—or the sordid details. Some of us even gleefully peck at the carcasses of our fallen idols, laughing at late-night jokes, gossiping over water coolers, posting viral videos. But how many career-ruining humiliations have you not heard about? How many potentially incendiary indiscretions have happened right under our collective noses but somehow managed to avoid even a whiff of scandal? Who exactly snuffs out the stuff of tabloid fodder before the bloodhounds set in? This is where a PR “fixer” comes in. . . Welcome to the world of Judy Smith.

Professional Fixer

Crisis-management expert and PR guru Judy Smith is well known in Washington and celebrity circles for being a professional “fixer” who can cool the fires of some of the most high-profile controversies. She has helped repair the reputations and overcome the obstacles faced by some of the most well-known companies, celebrities, and politicians of our time. During Smith’s nearly 20-year career, which dates back to the Iran-contra hearings, she has served as special assistant and deputy press secretary to President George H.W. Bush and worked on many high profile cases including the prosecution of former Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry for drug possession, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, the Enron congressional inquiry, the disappearance of D.C. intern Chandra Levy, Michael Vick’s dog-fighting charges and she even advised Monica Lewinsky during the Clinton scandal.

Primetime Television Series

Now her fascinating life has been used as the inspiration for the new ABC TV series – Scandal.  The series, which premieres on April 2012, was created and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes, (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice) and is based on Smith’s real life as a DC “fixer”.

Book

Smith has also authored her first book, Good Self, Bad Self, which hit shelves on April 2012. The book outlines how you can transform your worst qualities into your biggest assets and serves as the basis for her phenomenal lecture.

Risk and Crisis Communication

In Smith’s speaking engagements, she shares the tools we all need to face our own mistakes and ultimately overcome them. She teaches everyday people how to face and overcome their own denial of impending problems—and how to identify and avoid such situations in the first place. Smith believes that the way each of us deals with personal character flaws is what dictates whether we’re going to be successful or whether we’re going to destroy what we have worked so hard to build. There are universal character flaws, trouble spots, and weaknesses that exist in everyone. Over the years, Smith has been able to identify these high-risk traits that often lead to marital, financial, professional, or personal imprudence. These urges exist in all of us, whether it’s the belief that an indiscretion is too minor to detect, a mistake is too difficult to repair, or a deceit is too well hidden to be discovered. But, as Smith shows, we can overcome these negative urges and failings—and even turn them into our strongest assets. She reveals the secrets to overcoming a personal crisis and empowers people to become stronger and fully recover from a damaging experience, whether a relationship crisis or business disaster.