Meet Debbie Reber (aka the “formal” bio)

Tilt Parenting Founder & CEO Debbie Reber (MA) is a parenting activist, bestselling author, podcast host, and speaker. A pioneering advocate for neurodivergent children and their families, she launched Tilt Parenting in 2016 at a time when the prevailing conversation around neurodevelopmental differences was rooted in deficits and disorder. Well before “neurodivergent” entered mainstream language, Debbie challenged the status quo, championing a strengths-based model that celebrates the inherent potential of differently wired kids. Her work has been instrumental in reframing societal perceptions, moving from a focus on “fixing” outliers to empowering families and creating inclusive, supportive systems for these exceptional children.

Debbie’s groundbreaking book, Differently Wired: A Parent’s Guide to Raising an Atypical Child with Confidence and Hope, is widely recommended by therapists, educators, and OTs and has been endorsed by top researchers in the field of neurodevelopmental disabilities. With more than 7 million downloads, the Tilt Parenting Podcast features leading experts and thought leaders in parenting, education, and child development. 

Debbie is a certified life coach and Positive Discipline trainer, has been quoted in publications like The Washington Post and The New York Times, has written for Psychology Today and ADDitude Magazine, and is a regularly featured parenting expert on NewsNation’s Morning in America show. She co-created the Parenting in Place Masterclass series, hosting evidence-based virtual education events with leaders in clinical psychology, education, and neuroscience. She is also a sought-after speaker, recently featured at the prestigious Learning & the Brain Conference hosted by Harvard and MIT. A two-time TEDx speaker, Debbie’s talk Why the Future Will Be Differently Wired has resonated with audiences worldwide. Along with her small team of parent coaches and educators at Tilt, Debbie offers virtual guidance, strategies, and support to a global community of parents raising neurodivergent children.

Prior to launching Tilt, Debbie spent more than fifteen years writing inspiring books for women and teens, and frequently spoke about issues like media literacy, self-esteem, and confidence, and consulted for clients including the Girl Scouts, the Disney Channel, McGraw Hill, and Kaplan. Since 1999, Debbie has authored many books, including Doable: The Girls’ Guide to Accomplishing Just About Anything, Chill: Stress-Reducing Techniques for a More Balanced, Peaceful You, In Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers, and more than a dozen preschool books based on the series Blue’s Clues. In 2008, she had the privilege of creating and editing the first-ever series of teen-authored memoirs, Louder Than Words.

Before embarking on her own path as a solopreneur, Debbie worked in TV and video production, producing documentaries and PSAs for CARE and UNICEF, working on Blue’s Clues for Nickelodeon, and developing original series for Cartoon Network. She has an MA in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research and a BA in Communications from Pennsylvania State University. Debbie and her family have lived in Los Angeles, Seattle, Amsterdam, and most recently, Brooklyn. In the summer of 2024, Debbie, her husband, and two cats moved back to the Netherlands, while their twice-exceptional young adult started university in Scotland.

Visit Debbie Reber’s author and speaker website here.

Tilt Parenting’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

I designed Tilt Parenting to be part of the revolution to shift the paradigm for how neurodifferences are perceived and experienced in the world. If you’ve read the Tilt Manifesto, you know this means tackling broken systems, traditional education models, and more. I deeply believe our kids are here to do big things and that together, our community is fostering true acceptance for who our kids inherently are. This has to actively include Black and brown children, whom we know are especially marginalized, even within our community of atypical kids.

In leading Tilt Parenting, I am fully committed to creating a community in which Black, Indigenous, and people of color feel seen, supported, and represented within the Tilt-verse, and to diversity, inclusion, equity, and anti-racism. In working toward these goals, I am continuing to:

• Continue investing in DEI training to help me lead Tilt in an anti-racist way, as well as grow my intercultural competency

• Seek out and amplify the voices of parenting experts (and parents) of color on the Tilt Parenting Podcast

• Leverage Tilt’s visibility to be a vocal ally to causes and issues affecting differently wired kids of color surrounding education, gifted identification, the school-to-prison pipeline, etc.

Thank you for being a part of this community. I know that together we are going to do great things—for our kids, and for the world.

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