I Never Promised You a Goodie

I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag is a warm, wise, and wholly original memoir of survival, renewal, and transformation, by one of New York City’s most successful and respected special events coordinators.

With her top-level events company, Save the Date, Jennifer Gilbert has worked with Fortune 500 companies, broadcast media giants, international nonprofit organizations, and celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Bill Gates and beyond. Yet few of her clients or colleagues have known, until now, that Jennifer not only a self-made success: she’s also a survivor. After a random, near-fatal attack left her body in critical condition on a crowded city street, and left her with emotional wounds that would take years to heal, Jennifer embarked upon a journey to reclaim her life.

This is her story, in her own words: I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag, an intimate, poignant, inspiring memoir of perseverance, rediscovery, and hope.

How does a woman who orchestrates other people’s happiest moments reclaim her own after a tragedy that should have destroyed her?

• A Raw and Honest Memoir: Jennifer holds nothing back in recounting the brutal, random attack that changed her life, and the silent, solitary journey she took toward healing.
• Self-Made Success: Read the incredible story of how a young woman, while privately battling deep trauma, built one of New York City's premier event-planning companies, Save the Date, from the ground up.
• Against the Odds: Go behind the scenes of high-stakes event planning, where Jennifer's grace under pressure—honed by personal crisis—allowed her to solve disasters for clients from Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey.
• An Inspiring Story of Hope: Discover how surviving the unthinkable taught Jennifer Gilbert the true meaning of celebration, perseverance, and why life's greatest gifts don't come in a goodie bag.

Jennifer Gilbert is the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Save the Date®, the New York–based special-events company. She was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, received Working Woman magazine's Entrepreneurial Award of Excellence, and her company was voted one of its top 500 woman-owned businesses. An in-demand speaker, she has appeared at numerous schools and industry events, and her work has been featured in People magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and InStyle Weddings, as well as on Fox and CNN. She lives in New York City with her husband and their three children.