For the last 30 years, Cathryn Cushner Edelstein, MA, has been working with individuals who have come to the United States for work or school. Inspired by working with hundreds of international students and clients, her new book, Excuse Me, Can You Repeat That? How to Communicate in the U.S. as an International Student covers information these individuals most frequently misunderstand.

In addition to being a published author, Edelstein is a scholar-in-residence in the Department of Communication Studies at Boston's Emerson College, where she teaches intercultural communication and a speech fundamentals course that focuses on public speaking skills. Her academic accomplishments include developing and teaching curriculum for international graduate students studying at Emerson. She also provides communication workshops for Emerson's marketing graduate programs. She guest lectures at other prestigious colleges as well. Concurrently, Edelstein is a speech consultant with her company, Verbal Impact, which she established in 1982. Past clients include employees of Fidelity, Fox News, Hitachi, Homesite, Inktomi, Biosphere Medical, MIT and more.

Before teaching at Emerson, Edelstein was an adjunct professor in the communication department at Middlesex Community College and an ESL instructor at Framingham State College, both in Massachusetts.

Edelstein is a current member of the National Communication Association and the Eastern Communication Association. She grew up in a suburb of Boston where she still resides. She has two daughters, Alexandra and Carly, and a tripod Westie named Katie.