I can be washed over with shame.” The austere tone of this introductory passage doesn’t quite represent the vivacity with which Kohn writes about her struggle breaking out of the mold in which her parents trapped her. I have my scars and insecurities, my fears that feel like they’ll engulf me.

I can feel unworthy or damaged or hopeless. “As a young adult, I internalized this more and more. “As a kid you misinterpret the nasty things that happen to and around you, and you somehow believe you’re to blame,” writes the author.

She and her brother, Robbie, were caught in the throes of their parents’ belief in the Unification Church, founded by a self-appointed messiah, Sun Myung Moon (followers were called Moonies). Growing up in New York in the 1970s, debut author Kohn had few points of reference through which she could make sense of the world around her. Email for more information.A teacher and leadership consultant takes readers into the crevices of a cult. Registration is required at or by calling 61 x132. This event is free and open to the public and will be held online/by phone via Zoom. ( Lisa brings to her clients the tools, mind-shifts, and practices she’s found – and created – that have helped her heal and thrive, as well as the hope and forgiveness she’s been blessed to let into her life. Today she is a leadership consultant and executive coach and a keynote speaker who works with C-suite leaders in Fortune 50 organizations and not-for-profits, helping them become more thoughtful – more present, intentional, and authentic – in their leadership and their lives. Told in spirited candor, to the moon and back reveals how one can leave behind absurdity and horror and create a life of intention and joy.Īward-winning author Lisa Kohn is also the author of The Power of Thoughtful Leadership. As an adult, Lisa struggled to break free from the hold of abuse and the scars in her heart, mind, and psyche-battling her own addictions and inner demons and searching her soul for a sense of self-worth. As a child Lisa knew the ecstatic comfort of inclusion in a cult and as a teenager the torment of rebelling against it. By the time Lisa was ten, Lisa’s mother had them pledging their lives to the Unification Church (the “Moonies”). By the time her older brother was ten, Lisa’s father had him smoking pot. Lisa’s early years in 1970s New York City were a mixture of encounter groups, macrobiotic diets, communes, Indian ashrams, and watching naked actors on off-Broadway stages in the musical HAIR. Phoenixville Public Library will host a book talk by local author Lisa Kohn, author of to the moon and back: a childhood under the influence, on Thursday, April 1 at 7:00 PM.

Lisa kohn to the moon and back