J.J. Duncan

J.J. Duncan is an award-winning television producer, writer, advocate, and co-founder of the nonprofit, "Not Today Cancer," which raises funds for childhood cancer research. She is widely known in the entertainment industry as an Executive Producer and Showrunner of such hits as Project Runway, and The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, among others. After losing her eleven-year-old son to leukemia, J.J. began using her influence as a top television producer to open up discussions of grief, mental health, and end-of-life care through story-telling. J.J. was a speaker at the End Well conference in November of 2023, and shared about healing through personal storytelling. She has partnered with Hollywood, Health, & Society at the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, in discussing and studying the effects of media's responsibility for telling authentic stories involving death and dying. She has written for Variety Magazine for World Mental Health Day, disclosing her own healing journey through grief by way of storytelling on television. J.J. has visited Washington D.C. on multiple occasions, to advocate for laws affecting cancer patients, young and old. She has multiple projects in the works to continue the conversation not only for parents who have lost children, but for anyone looking to explore their own stories of loss. With all her focus on death, dying, and grief, it may be surprising to learn that J.J. risks delight at every turn, always looking for the funny and striving to take the story to an unexpected place of joy.