Tuesday, April 8, 2025
12:15 PM
Stacey Bess
Inspirational Educator & Author
Stacey Bess is an inspirational educator and author who speaks on the importance of service, mentorship and leadership, and overcoming adversity. Drawing on her fascinating and inspirational personal story—teaching homeless children in a small shed known as The School with No Name—she offers powerful insights and lessons that audiences yearning to make a difference can apply to their community or organization.
Through ups and downs and many personal struggles—including a battle with thyroid cancer—Bess taught kindergarten through sixth grade for 11 years at The School with No Name, an experience that effected a profound change in the teacher as well as her students. During that time she discovered that, by teaching and modeling love, self worth, personal power, and courage, she could reach children with no homes and little hope, children who had previously been labeled “unteachable.” These children grew into living proof that Bess’ methods work. To inspire and motivate others with a passion for service, Bess penned the memoir Nobody Don’t Love Nobody, which was adapted into the April 2011 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Beyond the Blackboard starring Emily VanCamp.
After she published her first book and gained the support of the Utah community, Bess gained nationwide recognition for her unusual success with “hopeless” children. She has won prestigious local and national awards. A highlight came when she was honored with the esteemed National Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service along with First Lady Barbara Bush, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackman, and Ambassador Walter Annenberg.
Stacey Bess earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Utah and continues to be a leading advocate in the nation for the educational rights of impoverished children. A dynamic and powerful speaker, she engages groups large and small, sharing the story that changed her life as she taught and nurtured hundreds of underprivileged children. Her story continues to change lives as her audiences are inspired to become more involved in their own communities.