Toxic Niceness

Dr. Marci Eads, PhD, is an author, trainer, speaker, and expert in gender, gender norms, and social change who speaks with KGNU’s Tish Beauford about Toxic Niceness, the subject of her upcoming book.

Through over 20 years of research and writing, she has gained deep expertise in gender and social structure, and she brings these together in her work, including her website, blogs, workshops and trainings, and her upcoming book to uncover an unaddressed problem – Toxic Niceness® and, importantly, how we move Beyond Toxic Niceness™.

Her upcoming book, Beyond Toxic Niceness, is the culmination of years of research and reflection, as well as interviews with more than 100 women about their experiences of Toxic Niceness and just as importantly, getting Beyond Toxic Niceness.

Her work, and the community she is building around going Beyond Toxic Niceness, draws upon her own experiences with the pressure to “be nice” and the experiences of the women she interviewed for her upcoming book. Her blogs and other writings, and information about upcoming trainings and other events, can be found at drmarcieads.com.

For more than two decades, Dr. Eads has studied social problems, including inequality in the United States, what works and doesn’t work in our health care and social service systems, how and what women and girls are taught about what it means to be female, and how these ideas and expectations are absorbed and put into practice in our daily lives.

For 20 years, Dr. Eads has led research, training, evaluation and program development projects, including large multi-year federal, state, and foundation-supported projects in health, gender, and social change. She has trained staff at community-based organizations across the country and around the world in how to use information to solve social problems, especially those problems that most impact girls and women.

She taught sociology courses at the University of Colorado while finishing her PhD there, and taught graduate statistics, research methods, and program evaluation for over 10 years at the University of Colorado.

She currently serves as the managing director of Health Management Associates Community Strategies, a team of professionals that provides consulting and research support to community organizations in their efforts to develop healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities and address the social determinants of health in partnership with the healthcare system.

Dr. Eads’ research has appeared in academic journals, conference presentations, and in meetings such as the National Governor’s Association, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, the Women’s Foundation of California, and others.
In addition to her professional expertise, Dr. Eads comes from a community plagued with Toxic Niceness.

Her experience growing up in that community, paired with her knowledge of social change and gender norms give her unparalleled credibility to write and speak about these issues, the links between them, and a path toward solving them – a path toward going Beyond Toxic Niceness.

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