Cindy Stankoski’s New Job: Paid Speaker

By On April 1, 2009 · 11 Comments

I’m seriously wondering if this story is an April Fool’s Day joke.

Cindy Stankoski is starting her new career as a “speaker” on topics like “abuse, conflict resolution, sexuality and sexual health, empowerment, human resources, women in business and society, ethics, integrity, careers and listening skills.”

Listening skills?

According to her new website, she is best at:

Addressing individuals and organizations about how women can avoid situations where they can be sexually harassed or abused and promote my assistance to women that find themselves in abusive situations.

She’s also starting a non-profit called C.M.A.S.H. – Cindy Stankoski’s Message Against Sexual Harassment – which, along with getting harrassed by Dann and Tony Gutierrez, seems to be her only qualifications. (her cosmetology degree is strangely missing from the list).

I guess she couldn’t find anyone to buy the movie rights to her story?

I understand she was the victim in this situation, but it’s really hard to take her seriously given that she’s done nothing but try to capitalize on the very public situation in which she was involved. First with the lawsuit in which she was awarded $250K, then with the magazine article and cover photo. And now by offering to give talks about her experiences for $5000 a pop.

It seems to me she could use that settlement money to do something a little more productive. Like maybe go to college. Or open a hair salon.

Fame from the Dann scandal is only going to last so long, Cindy. Might want to start planning for the future.

Evangelize!
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  • Ashley

    Joe,

    I think you are missing the point.

    I just read that she started a 501c3 non-profit to HELP people not make money.

    She is claiming that she made some mistakes and that she wants to educate people on what she could have done differently to avoid the situation entirely.

    She also says that fees for speaking will be turned back into the charity AND that she will speak to other Non-Profits at no charge.

    I am a part of several charities and I am sure she didn’t set up her website or the 501c3 so there is considerable expense going into the message, I am sure. A good website is like $5k and a 501c3 is another $5k so I think that the money is going into a good cause AND I heard that she made a decent donation to the YWCA. (I don’t know how much)

    ps. read your information more closely she DOESN’T HAVE A COSMETOLOGY DEGREE AT ALL, she works in a salon. BIG DIFFERENCE!

  • Cindy Stankoski

    Well, Joe I hadn?t really considered selling the rights to my story. I really don?t think anyone would be interested!

    My goal right now is to just reach out from my bad experience and provide a resource to educate women and men on how to avoid situations like this all together.

    I don?t enjoy the notoriety; we haven?t done press releases or anything, somehow my registering on the public speaking website, showed up on the media radar.

    The $5000 fee is just an arbitrary figure based on what the website has for criteria. I didn?t want to make the fee on the website to low because I think the message I have to share is valuable and anything I do make would be turned over to the 501c3 we are setting up.

    For me, it isn?t about making money?it is about giving back to the community and being of service to others. If I could give back the money and not have gone through what I did, I would gladly do it in a minute. It isn?t about money; it is about what is fair and the embarrassment and being dubbed a ?Dannette? when all I did was say ?Hey, something isn?t right here.? I got lumped in with a bunch of other people and don?t feel I was portrayed accurately. Yes, I am young, yes I am inexperienced, but I am not dumb or a bimbo. I was qualified for the job I was hired to do, and of course I made mistakes.

    There are things I should have done differently, and there are things I would have not done at all looking back, but I want to move forward and in a positive direction and I felt this was the best thing to do for myself and other professional people interested in the message.

    I ignored lots of warning signs, because I thought being in the office of the ?Top Law enforcement officer in the State? would be a safe environment. And I?d like to let others know, to never ignore warning signs and always use common sense and to never allow people with decision making power over you to pressure you to do something you are uncomfortable with. For me the job was an opportunity and I didn?t want to lose that opportunity by not complying with my supervisor?s request.

    Which leads me to recent stories in the media that i posed in photos with my supervisors ID badge..To clear the record..It was not an ID badge. My supervisor issued himself a POLICE STYLE METAL BADGE?. (Like the police wear) and had lights and sirens installed on his car. He portrayed himself AS A LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY. It was kind of an intimidation thing.
    He slapped his fake badge on my desk one day and walked away?I picked up the badge and placed it on my shirt, kind of in defiance, showing that anyone can wear a fake badge and a co-worker snapped a picture. In retrospect I would not have done that. But it was not his ID badge.

    Thank you for allowing me to comment.

    Any further questions just email me.

    ~Cindy Stankoski

  • Bob

    Wow….

    The thought, the idea that she’s going to profit off of this. I hope this shows up in a “Columbus Alive Where Are They Now” special 10 years later. And you know, that’s my tax money she’s using to put up that crappy website.

    Ugh.

  • Dion

    I wonder why no one is complaining about the MONEY that Gutierrez burned up crashing numerous state vehicles with lights and sirens installed on them, or operating his construction business on state time, with state equipment OR having state employees draft proposals and do CAD drawings.

    Dann, Gutierrez and Jennings should all be required to REPAY the State of Ohio for the settlement money by liquidating their crappy assets (Homes, cars and Alyssa Lenhoff’s cookware and Ebay business)

    Make Dann pay!

  • Dion

    Oh, and I forgot to mention drain Marc Dann’s POLITICAL CAMPAIGN FUND to repay the state.

  • Skeptic

    Cindy Stankoski – good for you. If your message saves only one young woman from going through what you went through, then you’ve done a great job and you should be proud of yourself. I’ve read some horrible comments from very shallow people and all I can say is keep your chin up girl, don’t listen to these fools, follow your heart, and I for one wish you all the best in your future.

  • http://plunderbund.com Joseph

    Thanks for your comment Cindy.

    I remember reading the badge incident in that story and, even without knowing the details you just provided, I had the same response I imagine you did: the inclusion of this story is irrelevant and potentially biases the readers interpretation of the actual news the article was intended to provide.

    Let me be clear: I in no way intended to imply that your claim of sexual harassment was insincere or that you handled the situation incorrectly. Sexual harassment in the workplace – or anywhere else for that matter – is completely unacceptable.

    You did absolutely nothing wrong and at the very least you deserve to be compensated. Though, like the other commenter Dion, I would have preferred to see the money come from the people actually doing the harassing and I would really like to see criminal charges brought against Gutierrez – and maybe even Dann; though that seems unlikely now.

    As you already know, there are plenty of people out there who are going to label you a bimbo or a gold digger no matter what you say. And incorrect and/or biased stories like the one in the PD just make that situation worse. But this brings me back to my original point.

    I understand your desire to help other women avoid or deal with workplace sexual harassment, but you have to understand that you were involved in one of the biggest political scandals in recent Ohio history and anything you do is going to be scrutinized and covered by the press.

    If you want people take you seriously then maybe appearing on the cover of magazines in skin-tight outfits and offering to sell your advice for thousands of dollars isn’t the best path to take.

    Then again, what the hell do I know?

    There is absolutely no reason I should be giving anyone advice about anything.

    You’re the one in the news. I’m just a part-time political blogger looking for something to write about. :)

  • Dion

    Joe,

    Nicely put….I have an entire new level of respect for you.

  • Skeptic

    Joe, you nailed it, you don’t know much. I saw the cover of Columbus Monthly… since when is a black V Neck sweater and black dress pants considered a skin tight/sleezy outfit? And from what I read, Columbus Monthly picked these two girls as Persons of the Year, they didn’t campaign for that title. I think it was a great honor and I’m glad they were finally recognized in a positive way by any media outlet…after all it’s because of them we no longer have a very corrupt Attorney General in office who used thousands and thousands of dollars for his personal use just in 17 months. Just think what that figure could/would had been another 31 months later? And from what I read in Cindy’s response above, she’s not making a penny from any speaking engagements, everything is going to her non-profit organization and she’s offering free services to other non-profit organizations. If everyone that has learned some kind of a lesson from life itself shares it with others, we would have a much better world out there…maybe you should be acknowledging this young woman’s great efforts instead of ridiculing her even more than she’s been ridiculed already.

  • Vanessa Stout

    Here we go again Cindy….Do not make comments againest these loser low lifes that enjoy making anyones life miserable. You do what you want in your life. People that have negative things to say about you are insecure with themselves, Just like anyones mother has explained that to there child at a young age. Now that everyone knows about our lives….It would be nice to know these peoples history in there lives so there could be a BLOG WAR! Really people if you spent as much time with your families as you do on these blog sites, you might just be happier with yourselves in your life. Whoever has had negative comments the whole entire Marc Dann Scandal, its pretty funny how everyones name is still anonymous and isn’t in full context for me to google to run your name into the ground.

  • http://plunderbund.com Joseph

    So, Vanessa, you left a comment to warn Cindy about making comments?

    Cindy gets multiple credits for getting her life together and at least trying to get past this Dann crap.

    What have you been up to Vanessa?

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