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ELLIOT ESSMAN

In 1998, Elliot added to his previous bachelors and law degrees by becoming a blue-ribbon honors graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. Before, and since (and for that matter, during) he has worked as a professional writer, public speaker, public speaking coach, marketing consultant, musician, caterer, and chef. Elliot is an active member of Toastmasters International. In 2005 Elliot was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Journalism Award.
Elliot began his writing career soon after he graduated from Fordham University School of Law in New York City. He was employed for five years by the Prentice-Hall Publishing Corp. as a legal writer and editor, then branched out as an independent ghost writer and editor for clients in a wide range of businesses: from public relations to medicine to interior design and architecture. At the same time, Elliot also made a name for himself as a marketing consultant, particularly in the fragrance and cosmetics industry. He rounded out his activities by working as a French-English translator for many international business projects.
Despite the heavy business nature of the writing Elliot had been doing during this period, it was as a writer of love letters that Elliot attained real renown. As "one of his crazy ideas" one day, Elliot put out a few simple classified ads offering to write love letters for other people; a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac with a computer. The project snowballed when the media began to pay attention. Articles on Elliot's unique combination of fun and romance appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines. Elliot was the subject of over 200 radio and television interviews all over the world. PEOPLE magazine called him "the Cyrano for the Fast Food Age," and PLAYGIRL chose him for one of their annual lists of "The 25 Most Eligible Bachelors in America" along with such luminaries as singer Michael Bolton, Charlie Sheen and (then single) entrepreneur Bill Gates.

Elliot in Australia: April 2005

Beginning in 1993, Elliot began his career as a non-fiction book writer. His health guidebook, Going Under: Preparing Yourself for Anesthesia came out that year. His career-development guide Building Yourself: Putting Your Success Together One Piece at a Time appeared in 1994. In 1995, Elliot produced and marketed No Smoke, a computer program now used in schools in over 40 countries around the world to educate young people about cigarette smoking, and Incurable Romantix, a romance and compatibility assessment program based on his experience dealing with his love letter writing business (the program also allows users to computer-generate their own love letters).
Another full length book Elliot wrote, Life In The USA: A Complete Guide to American Life for Immigrants and Americans, is available on the web in full at www.lifeintheusa.com.
Over the years Elliot has had articles on self-development published in The Toastmaster and the Kiwanis Club Circle K magazine. Since graduating from culinary school in 1998, Elliot's main focus, in addition to his work as a public speaking coach, has been on food writing (and on constantly learning more about food and cooking from sources far and wide).
Like any professional writer, Elliot also has a number of projects, including a completed unpublished full length self-development book called Human Action, in the drawer, alongside a novel or two. When he is not concentrating on non-fiction and journalistic writing, primarily about cooking, his passion is drama. Between 2000 and 2004 Elliot completed a musical comedy, Meet Me At The Mall, for which he wrote both the script and all songs, and in 2002-2003 he finished a non-musical play called Food of the Gods, a family drama.
Perhaps Elliot's most compelling present project is his Blues Cookbook. Elliot has written and recorded a CD of 14 blues songs, each of which also serves as a recipe for a bit of down-home American cooking. Click here for song file downloads in mp3 format.

Elliot presents in Texas

Elliot Essman began his public speaking career in 1985, when he joined the Toastmasters Club in New York City. Since that time, he has been extremely active in Toastmasters clubs in three states and has trained scores of people in public speaking skills through the Toastmasters organization. Over the years Elliot has won trophies in over twenty public speaking contests, chaired and judged at numerous others, and coached a number of other public speaking champions.
On his own account, Elliot has extensive experience speaking at service clubs and community organizations. He has worked as a public speaking consultant, trainer and coach for financial and technical corporations and individuals.
In addition to the extensive media experience mentioned previously in connection with Elliot's publicity as "the Cyrano for the fast-food age," Elliot also has significant experience working in community television: behind the camera, in the control room as producer, and as the host of a public service interview show in Westchester County, New York. He's the kind of person in the community who is always ready to volunteer to speak, coach, communicate or lend a hand.

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