Marilyn Van Derbur, graduate of East High School on Colfax Avenue, was crowned Miss
America while she was a student at the
University of Colorado in 1958. She received a
Bachelor of Arts degree, with Phi Beta Kappa
honors.
Van Derbur chose motivational speaking as
her career and was later named
"Outstanding Woman Speaker in America" after
30,000 questionnaires were sent to business
and civic meeting planners asking whom they
considered to be the outstanding speaker.
For 16 years, she was the only woman guest
lecturer for General Motors.
Marilyn has received numerous awards and
acknowledgments for her work, including
being the first woman to be given the
highest speaking award possible by the
National Speakers Association and induction
into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. With
a desire to motivate teenagers as well as
executives, Marilyn also became United Air
Lines "Youth Speaker" and addressed 50 youth
conferences each year.
During the course of her exceptional
motivational speaking career Van Derbur has
produced 24 films, two of which won
national and international awards. One was
shown on prime-time PBS and eight others
have been shown in hundreds of classrooms.
Marilyn is requested nationwide as a
prominent convention keynote and
motivational speaker, now speaking on the
topic of sexual abuse prevention and
recovery.
As a childhood incest survivor, she has devoted much of
her adult life to raising national awareness
and understanding of sexual abuse and its
long-term effects. In 1989 her family funded
an adult incest survivor program in Denver,
and in 1993 she co-founded two national
not-for-profit organizations dedicated to
public education and strengthening laws
protecting victims of sexual abuse.
For her tireless work in the area of
childhood sexual trauma awareness
Marilyn has received many awards and much
recognition including, the "Exceptional
Achievement in Public Service from the
Secretary of Health and Human Services,
Washington D.C.". Since her story of incest
became public, Marilyn has spoken in more
than 235 cities and answered over 8,000
letters and thousands of emails from
survivors looking to her for support.
Marilyn
and her husband Larry
live in Denver.
You can email Marilyn any
time at
Marilyn@MarilynVanDerbur.com. She always
answers all of her emails. Please limit your
comments to one paragraph so Marilyn can
continue to personally answer all her
emails.
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