See Jane Do...

Rainforest Action Network's Rebecca Tarbotton & BagIT filmmaker Suzan Beraza at the Wild & Scenic Media Lounge

This last January, See Jane Do hosted the Media Lounge at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. 

Each year, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival draws top filmmakers, celebrities, leading activists, social innovators and well-known world adventurers to the historic downtown of Nevada City, California.

Considered the largest film festival of its kind, this year's films combined stellar filmmaking, beautiful cinematography and first-rate storytelling to inform, inspire and ignite solutions and possibilities to restore the earth and human communities while creating a positive future for the next generation. 

This year’s festival brought together outdoor and environmental pioneers such as Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard, Pulitzer-prize winning poet Gary Snyder, and Rainforest Action Network founder Randy Hayes with promising up and coming filmmakers and activists including Jon Bowermaster, Tim DeChristopher, Trip Jennings, Andy Maser and Ian Cheney.

This year's Media Lounge was all a-buzz with live interviews with special guests Yvon Chouinard, Miss Snail Pail, Dr. Kevin Danaher, Ben Knight and Travis Rummel, Deborah Koons Garcia, and many others.  Two extraordinary women we interviewed in this year's Media Lounge were activist Rebecca Tarbotton and filmmaker Suzan Beraza. 

Rebecca Tarbotton, executive director of Rainforest Action Network, stars in the documentary "Dirty Business" directed by Peter Bull. Rebecca sat down with See Jane Do's Jesse Locks to discuss the nation's dependency on coal and what we can do to end it.

 

Before becoming executive director, Rebecca led campaigns at RAN against one of the most potent forces behind environmental destruction: financing of fossil fuel projects by large American banks. She went toe-to-toe with some of the nation's most powerful CEOs to lead RAN to one of its most important victories of the past decade: the creation of a sector-wide bank policy that put limits on the financing of new coal-fired power plants, creating a pivotal moment in the battle to curtail the construction of 200 planned new coal plants.

Rebecca is featured in the film "Dirty Business." Rebecca, along with director Peter Bull, presented the film at this year's Wild & Scenic Film Festival. Half our electricity still comes from coal, the largest single source of greenhouse gases. Through a series of stories shot in China, Saskatchewan, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada and New York, the "Dirty Business" reveals the social and environmental costs of coal power, explores the murky realities of "clean coal," and profiles innovators who could lead the way to a renewable energy future.

BagIT director Suzan Beraza sat down with See Jane Do's Elisa Parker in the Wild & Scenic Film Festival Media Lounge to discuss her latest film and our obsession with plastic.

BagIT won a Jury Award at the 2011 Wild & Scenic Film Festival.

 

Born in Jamaica and raised in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Suzan Beraza's thought-provoking films challenge viewers to examine their lives and consider the impact of their choices. Social and environmental issues pervade her work. Her films have appeared on PBS, and at many festivals, winning top awards. "BagIT" follows Jeb Berrier, an average American guy who is admittedly not a "tree hugger," who makes a pledge to stop using plastic bags. His girlfriend, Anne, joins him in the challenge to decrease their use of we follow "everyman" Jeb Berrier as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our own bodies. We see how our crazy-for-plastic world has finally caught up to us and what we can do about it. Today. Right now.

To watch more videos including interviews with Yvon Chouinard, Dr. Kevin Danaher, Miss Snail Pail, and Trip Jennings and Andy Maser from the Media Lounge at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival click here. 

Extraordinary Jane - Kathy LeMay

Kathy LeMay is an everyday woman living in Massachusetts.  Kathy learned early on from her mother to always help those in need.  She grew up in a small mill town in a working class family that didn’t have a lot of money but she knew she was smart and insightful and had great things to offer the world.  Activism became a way for Kathy to channel her passion to make a difference.  At the age of twenty-four, she left her job to volunteer in war-torn Yugoslavia where she worked with women survivors of the siege and rape-genocide camps.  This life changing experience affirmed her commitment to increasing the assets of women worldwide and building a critical mass of women leaders.  For fifteen years, Kathy has been a professional social change fundraiser, raising millions of dollars in the fields of women’s human rights.   She has trained hundreds of groups and organizations in philanthropy and fundraising.  She launched Raising Change to help progressive non-profit organizations raise the capital they need to advance social change agendas.  Kathy has been featured on Oprah and on the Oxygen Network.  In 2009, she wrote “The Generosity Plan” a practical guide to philanthropy.  It’s an inspiring and empowering how-to on “sharing your time, treasure and talent to shape the world.”     

What was your ah-ha moment when you knew you had to share your story and the Generosity Plan with others?

It was actually someone else’s ah-ha moment.  I had been doing some philanthropy advising with a colleague and she suggested sharing it with people as a book, which had not dawned on me that this work could even be a book.  I hired a book coach who asked me to make a visual of a woman who needs the book.  Where is she?  Who is she?  And what does she need to hear to make a difference in her life?  Hearing that helped break open what the book could be.

You begin the book by encouraging people to go back to “their giving roots” to learn what was significant to them growing up.  How much of our adult philanthropic decisions are based on what we learned from our parents?

Some of us are unconscious of those roots, but if we take the time to reflect back, you will see and can explicitly name it.  I also think a lot of people don’t know they have traditions to lean into.  I really encourage people to go back to how their ancestors lived and realize we stand on some amazing shoulders. 

Do you think the need to make a difference is learned or an innate human trait? 

I think it really is innate.  It is socialized a little out of you, through the culture or family, but community unleashes it.  I feel pretty lucky I get to witness it constantly.

Making changes requires focus.  A lot of the Generosity Plan is about becoming clear on what is important to us in life.

I hear this statement the most, “I don’t know what I'm most passionate about”.  I once witnessed a great activist speaker ask a room of activists, “What breaks your heart?”  I invite people to sit with yourself quietly and ask yourself that.  Don’t do what you think you should do, do what you want.  You will stick to it then.

What role does passion play in the Generosity Plan?

Central.  Right there in the heart of it.  It is so fun to be passionate about what breaks your heart and motivated by it.  The trick is to keep the passion going when you’ve been in the work so long.  It’s like a marriage.  How do you keep the passion alive?  How do you stay mission connected?  Passion keeps your curiosity alive.  If you keep that part alive, you’ll stay connected.  Having long-term tangible goals keeps social change moving in a real healthy way. 

You talk about being the hare and busting out in the race and that energy is needed to ignite things but that change comes slowly and we must also learn from the tortoise.  Was that a difficult lesson for you to learn?

Brutal, it made me so angry.  I remember being in my teens and twenties and feeling really angry that there was so much suffering.  I was frustrated we couldn’t switch the switch overnight to end it and devastated that I didn’t know how.  Over the years, I started my activism at 14 and I am now 40, I have learned we are working in transformation, nothing happens overnight and if it does, it doesn’t last.  There was a moment when I began to trust myself and realized what I can do every single day is to wake up, love people, do really good work, go to sleep and do it again.  In that steadfastness there is huge possibility.  From the dictators around the world to the news anchors on MSNBC yelling at one another, it is all noise, and not where the world really lives.  I know love, where once I was so mad, love is the quiet steady pace of change. 

What is your message to women around the world?

I keep going back to the June Jordan quote, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”  I’m absolutely certain, something we all know in a deep intrinsic way, that the time is now for women’s leadership - not a top down but rather a bottom up grassroots way of leadership.  We will do this.  We will change the way the world works for the better.

Kathy LeMay will speak along with other special guests Nina Simons of Bioneers, Tiffany Dufu of The White House Project, and Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen at See Jane Do’s 2^nd Annual Passion Into Action Conference, April 29 & 30, 2011 at the Holiday Inn Express, Grass Valley.  For more information or to register go to www.seejanedo.com

 

 

Linda Joy Myers: The Heroine’s Journey—Find your Path Through Writing Your Story

"By learning more about who you are, you become the heroine of your own life, and can create positive change in the world" ~Linda Joy Myers

The power of story has the ability to transfer cultural beliefs from one generation to the next.  These tales might carry sorrow, hope, joy, or strength.  A story might shift our way of being in the world and reflect the path recently walked on.  The power of the story reminds us that as the author, we must question how our personal story serves us and how our story will benefit those of the future?

Dr. Linda Joy Myers saw the patterns in her own family's story, having been abandoned by her mother and her mother abandoned by her grandmother.  Determined to uncover and discover her family history  through her own perspective and interpretation she went on to write the award winning memoir, "Don’t Call Me Mother".

She now works with others to expand their lives into story. Linda has been a therapist in Berkeley for over thirty years, and combines her background in art, clinical work, and writing in her work. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, and offers unique memoir workshops and trainings in the Bay Area and nationally. She is former president of the California Writers Club, Marin branch, and a member of Women’s National Book Association. Myers is an award-winning fiction, poetry, and non-fiction writer, her first book "Becoming Whole: Writing Your Healing Story" was featured on the Marin Bestseller’s list.

We are thrilled that Dr. Myers has agreed to lead a workshop at the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Women's Conference.  She shares with us the power of creating your own story, how her personal history inspired her passion, and why it's so important to connect with other groups of women right now.

1.  What is your personal mission or passion that is helping to re-shape the future

I believe in the power of personal transformation—my belief in this message is woven into what I do as a therapist, memoir coach, and writer. Many people struggle with the hand that is dealt them, and sometimes the outcome is not certain. Perspective and hope are important in our life journey, and I believe that each person has the potential for change and healing.

2.  Describe a significant moment or experience that inspired your personal mission or passion to make a difference?

The women in my family were stuck in a negative place as I grew up. My grandmother had left my mother when she was a little girl, and my mother left me behind too. I watched these two women fight until death with no resolution to their deep wounds. I decided that I had to change that pattern, that I’d do whatever it took to learn about love and forgiveness. This required years of therapy, and becoming a therapist and a writer to solidify my new learning. There were many times when I thought I would never learn the lessons, but over time, I’ve been rewarded not only professionally but through relationships with my children that are woven with forgiveness, understanding, and open communication—so different from my past.

3.  What do you hope will be the biggest take-aways for the attendees who participate in your workshop?

Learning about the power of creating your story and seeing yourself as a heroine of your own life helps you to understand your past, your identity, and how you can shape the future. Knowing that each step your ancestors have taken have brought you to this moment—where you are empowered—weaves the past and present into a colorful tapestry that helps inspire the world.

4.  How do you see women and girls in the local and global communities affecting the future?

We have power singly and together to create communication, healing, and connection in community. The world has grown small. Groups on the internet connect people from all over the world, informing and educating each other about their experiences—their universal and particular truths. This allows us to enlarge our vision of what we know and what’s possible.

5.  Why is it so important to participate in groups and events that connect women and feature their talents, ideas and solutions right now?

We are all more than the sum of our parts, we know that energy gathered together multiplies in ways that are impossible alone. A synergy develops in groups -- it takes us like a rocket to a new level where possibilities of transformation are endless.

6.  What is your message to women around the world?

Everything that you’ve experienced has been your teacher, offering you lessons in the journey of life. Deepen your knowledge of who you are by writing your story and journaling your affirmations and visions for the future. This changes your brain, rewires it to absorb even more new learning, which can change the course of your life. By learning more about who you are, you become the heroine of your own life, and can create positive change in the world. Believe in who you are!

Linda Joy Myers Passion Into Acton Workshop: 

The Heroine’s Journey—Find your Path through Writing Your Story

Our journey through life is like a heroine’s journey—we leave our “regular” safe world to go out and wander through dark forests and parched deserts, all the while yearning for guidance and home. The heroine is called to a search—Cinderella searches for a way to go to the ball, but really she is searching for a way out of a life of cruelty and neglect. She’s lucky to have a fairy godmother, but perhaps your wise guide is Gandalf, or a therapist or teacher; perhaps she’s a grandmother or a good friend. While we’re on the journey, forces conspire to keep us moving forward rather than back to the familiar life we wish for, and on this journey we learn our spiritual lessons. We learn to be brave, to keep going, and we learn how to become stronger in the weak places.

Understanding our own story—how we are heroines, naming the heroes and heroines in our own lives—helps us deepen our connection with magic and with our deep spiritual potential. In this workshop, we’ll share our journeys, and you’ll begin to sketch your story.  

To register for Linda Joy Myers workshop click here to register for the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Conference

Nevada Littlewolf: Blueprint For Change

"Democracy is not designed for any of us to sit on the sidelines."  ~Nevada Littlewolf

 

Nevada Littlewolf wasn't planning on running for office, although many asked her too.  But she realized as a Native American women and a mother that the issues concerning her were not being addressed in the community.  Following the famous words, "If not you then who, if not now then when?" she took a leap of faith and as she put it "jumped off the cliff" and into the world of politics. 

 

Nevada was the youngest and first American Indian women elected to the city council of Virginia, Minnesota.  Following the participation in two TWHP trainings, Nevada now works as the Rural Leadership Field Organizer for The White House Project. 

 

We are thrilled to include Nevada Littlewolf and Liz Johnson, also with TWHP in the line-up for the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Conference.  These two incredible women will represent The White House Project by leading three workshops at the event:

 

Raising Money in Rural Communities:  Fundraising in rural communities presents unique challenges and opportunities.  Take a look around your community, hear what is working in other communities, and feel supported in making a plan to help you succeed.  Learn tips and strategize with others about how to tap into your current networks and look for ways to find and find and tap new resources. 

 

Blueprint for Change:  Whether you are running a campaign for yourself or another person, strategizing to raise awareness about an issue, or aiming to win a legislative victory - this hands-on session will help you blueprint a plan of action that works!  Take inventory of your assets, allies, research, community, funds, and message to get organized and succeed.

 

From Plate to Politics:  What key ingredient can stir up change in our food system?  More women in leadership roles that influence agriculture and food policy change, from rallying for school lunch reform to launching new organic farming enterprises.  Come for a crash course in issues and opportunities that face women in agriculture and together sow seeds for cultivating this inspiring
movement.

 

In addition to co-leading three workshops Nevada is opening for Nina Simons Friday April 29th at the event.

 

Nevada shares with us her mission to advance women in leadership, why it's so important to connect with women right now and the effect girls and women are creating in the world.

 

 1.   What is your personal mission or passion that is helping to re-shape the future?

 

My personal mission is to help advance a richly diverse critical mass of women leaders in our communities and in politics to improve decision making and problem solving of the issues facing our world today. Women leaders bring a wealth of untapped knowledge and experience that will invariably provide a brighter future for generations. 

 

2.   Describe a significant moment or experience that inspired your personal mission or passion to make a difference?

 

Seeing women in my own community who are leading some of the best and most innovative programs and policy work in our country inspires me.  Because of this, I want to do more to seek systemic change to institutionalize and realize the work of human rights, environmental, economic justice and anti-violence movements.  I know I can lead in elective office and I always support other women candidates who represent values that support women.

 

3.   What do you hope will be the biggest take-aways for the attendees who participate in your workshops?

 

I hope women will be inspired to take their leadership to the next level and walk away with ideas, tools and inspiration to take the next step toward not only their own leadership goals but the goals and aspirations of women they know.   

 

4.  How do you see women and girls in the local and global communities affecting the future?

 

It is "our" time and more and more than ever the world is looking to women to help lead solutions to complex problems facing our communities, our country and the world.  I see more and more women being invited to run and when they do run, they will win in significant numbers.  Women and girls must be in the seats of leadership.  On average nationally, women currently represent only 17% of political leadership.  When we reach gender parity in leadership, we will truly have a lasting affect on our own destinies.

 

5.  Why is it so important to participate in groups and events that connect women and feature their talents, ideas and solutions right now?

 

Attending conferences like See Jane Do is a great way to gather the ideas, inspiration and networks you will need to succeed in reaching your goals.  Networking and building social capital are vital to achieving your personal leadership goals; hearing about the great work that other women are doing builds on the great work you are doing in your community.  There really are not enough opportunities for women to come together in this way.  Culitivate, cross-pollinate, and grow something amazing!

 

5.      What is your message to women around the world?

 

Run for elective office or at the very least find and help another woman to achieve elective office.  Democracy is not designed for any of us to sit on the sidelines.

 

 

To participate in The White House Project workshops click here to register for Passion Into Action or go to www.seejanedo.com.  

Patt Lind-Kyle: Tapping Into Your Passion

Author, Patt Lind-Kyle returns to the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Conference! Patt's workshop in the Defining You track is designed to help remove mental barriers, deal with impossibilities and tap into your passion.  Her work is driven from an interest in research of inner development and optimal performance and will apply techniques from her award winning book Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain: Applying the Exciting New Science of Brain Synchrony for Creativity, Peace and Presence. 

Patt shares with us the inspiration behind her passion, how women and girls will effect the future, and the biggest take-aways from her workshop.

Q.  What is your personal mission or passion that is helping to re-shape the future?

A.  We all have an inner world as well as an outer world. By knowing how to discover our inner world we will really understand our unique passion, how to implement it and manifest it into the outer world.

Q.  Describe a significant moment or experience that inspired your personal mission or passion to make a difference?

A.  I did a six month silent retreat where I discovered my passion which was to teach people in a scientific acceptable way how individuals can develop the power of their minds and use the mental tools of intention, attention, receptivity and awareness to change their lives.

Q.  What do you hope will be the biggest take-aways for the attendees who participate in your workshop?

A.  For individuals to understand and know how to change their mind and literally rewire their brains and alter their DNA by using some very reliable tools that will open them up to a new level of freedom in their lives.

Q.  How do you see women and girls in the local and global communities affecting the future?

A.  Women and girls today are far more conscious, more confident, more educated and have programs and mentors for personal development that provides a community of support for them that we older women didn’t have.  Because there is this growing support of women in so many different ways through various programs, etc. women today have a greater vision of possibilities. This quality of growing support and development will affect the future by bringing back into our civilization greater qualities of human caring, focus and meaning rather than just material consuming.

Q.  Why is it so important to participate in groups and events that connect women and feature their talents, ideas and solutions right now?

A.  Women are relational. Women need other women to help reduce their stress in this highly pressured society. Coming together in groups creates energy, inspiration, new ideas, and comradeship in community effort as well as mutual support. Coming together creates more mutual brain resonance that produces a higher level of understanding and awareness and therefore helps each other develop greater insight, vision and passion to be a force in their communities and in the world at large.

Q.  What is your message to women around the world?

A.  Leadership first and foremost is learning about energy. It is learning how to develop this energy in your self and how to use and demonstrate it. To be an energetic leader with passion you must love yourself. Learning to love your self builds energy within so that you can extend this power in your leadership in truly creative, powerful  and compassionate ways to others.

Patt's Workshop at Passion Into Action:

Tapping Into Your Passion

The new brain research has much to teach us and has revealed remarkable information on how the brain works to be an effective leader. We can use the brain as a mirror to open our lives, access our gifts, transform our lives, and to make a positive impact on our communities.  

The focus of this workshop is to learn how to release out of what blocks movement in our lives. Intention is a mental tool that if used properly will guide your brain into the right direction and the brain will strategize to make it happen.

THE OBJECTIVES

• Experience how to talk and listen to your unconscious
• How to effectively use your intention and where to put your attention
• How to remove emotional barriers that inhibit action
• How to deal with impossibilities
• Learn how to use the basic recipe of EFT (emotional freedom technique)

To participate in Patt's workshop click here to register for Passion Into Action or go to www.seejanedo.com. 

An Interview With Jean Shinoda Bolen: How Women & Trees Will Save the Planet

I distinctly remember the smell of pine needles and the crunching sound they created underneath my feet during summer outings at Mt. San Jacinto where my dad served as a California State Park Ranger.  As a little girl the trees seemed to tower over me and provide a sense of protection and strength.  Perhaps this was the beginning of my journey as a "tree person".

In her new book, "Like A Tree:  How Trees, Women, and Tree People Can Save the Planet," Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen describes "tree people" as someone who has positive feelings for trees and an appreciation for them.  She goes on to compare the likes of women to the wisdom and resilience of a tree.  Trees have been torn down and sometimes underappreciated yet they are an essential part to the survival of our planet and the ecosystem. She stresses that we are on the edge of either evolution or extinction and it's up to us, as tree people and as women to be visionary activists and feminine feminists. 

Jean Shinoda Bolen is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and an internationally known author and speaker who draws from spiritual, feminist, Jungian, medical and personal wellsprings of experience.  She is a major advocate for a United Nations 5th World Conference on Women, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, and past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the International Transpersonal Association.

Recently on International Women's Day I was invited to join Conversations host, Michael Stone for an interview with Jean Shinoda Bolen on KVMR.  During the interview Dr. Bolen shared incredible stories of how everyday women are enriching communities through their activism around trees and how the uprising of women (especially western women) are essential to saving the planet.  Our conversation heated up as we discussed the guys and where they stand amongst the women's movement.  Bolen's message is directed towards both women and men and invites us to look around to see where we can make a difference. 

Lastly, Dr. Bolen shared the three questions to consider in identifying your assignment, the issue that will ignite your passion.  1)  Is this meaningful?   2)  Will it be fun?  3)  Is it motivated by love?

Following recent storms in the Sierra Mountains the trees carried the burden and weight of the heavy snow. Branches broke and in some cases temporarily removed our power.  Some of the oldest trees in my neighborhood toppled and blocked roads.  In some ways the aftermath of the storm and its effect on the trees reminds me of the journey women have endured.  While women have suffered setbacks and at times the power of their voices have been marginalized, women persevere, they are an essential force, they are strong, they matter and like a tree while one woman can enrich a community it requires thousands of trees and women to sustain life on this planet.

What is your "tree story" and how will you activate your passion into action?  Share with us at [email protected]. 

We are honored to feature Jean Shinoda Bolen as a keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Women's Conference.  Click here for more information and to register for the event. 

Click here to listen to the interview with Jean Shindoa Bolen.

 

 

 

See Jane Do presents 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Women's Conference, April 29 & 30, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Jesse Locks at [email protected]
or (916) 548-7716
March 9, 2011

NEVADA CITY, CA - Popular KVMR radio show and multi-media program See Jane Do presents the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action: A Women’s Conference with guest speakers Nina Simons, Jean Shinoda Bolen M.D., Tiffany Dufu, and Kathy LeMay plus workshops, musical performances, a Haute Trash fashion show and more, Friday & Saturday, April 29 & 30, 2011.

Join today’s leading women’s speakers and activists at the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action: A Women’s Conference held at the Holiday Inn Express in Grass Valley, CA.  This inspired gathering of hearts and minds, creates a space for women to tap into their passions, and through action, make them a reality. Passion Into Action: A Women’s Conference is a convergence of everyday women - small business owners, college students, teachers, grassroots organizers, community leaders, mothers and grandmothers - who (may or may not know it yet) are the pioneers and innovators of social change in the 21st Century. 

Passion Into Action: A Women’s Conference specifically serves women in rural communities and small towns, where little steps can lead to bigger changes at a rapid pace and community members are vested on a personal level in building a sustainable community in which they live.  Passion Into Action: A Women’s Conference is a space where friendships are made, businesses are created, ideas are explored, and movements are ignited. 

This year’s featured speakers include NINA SIMONS, the Co-Founder & President of Bioneers.  Bioneers is a national nonprofit that helps highlight, gather and disseminate breakthrough solutions to our most pressing environmental and social challenges.  This October was the 21st Anniversary of the annual Bioneers Conference held in San Rafael, CA which attracted over 3500 people from around the world. 

JEAN SHINODA BOLEN M.D., is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and an internationally known author and speaker who draws from spiritual, feminist, Jungian, medical and personal wellsprings of experience. She is a major advocate for a United Nations 5th World Conference on Women and past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women. She was a recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing’s “Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award was in two acclaimed documentaries, the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film Women—For America, For the World, and the Canadian Film Board’s Goddess Remembered.  

TIFFANY DUFU, president of The White House Project.  In 2011, Tiffany became president of The White House Project, a national, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization, 501(c)(3), aims to advance women’s leadership in all communities and sectors, up to the U.S. presidency.  Tiffany has forged new partnerships, strengthened the Corporate Council, and refined the organization's strategy. Having now raised nearly $20 million toward the cause of women and girls, she has been featured in The Seattle Times, The New York Times and NPR, and is a frequent speaker on nonprofit fundraising and women's leadership. 

KATHY LEMAY is the founder, president and CEO of Raising Change, which helps organizations raise capital to advance social change agendas and philanthropic individuals with social action planning worldwide. Kathy, who began her global activism in war-torn Yugoslavia where she worked with women survivors of the siege and rape-genocide camps, has been a social change fundraiser for fifteen years, raising millions of dollars in the fields of women’s human rights, hunger and poverty relief, HIV/AIDS, and movement-building. Kathy has provided social-change fundraising and generosity trainings to hundreds of organizations throughout the world—including top-level executives at, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and CitiFinancial—as well as being a prolific public speaker on strategies that advance the movement for justice and empower women to come into their own voices. She has appeared on numerous tv and radio shows including Oxygen TV and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

In addition to these world renowned speakers, Passion into Action: A Women’s Conference features 15 workshops lead by leaders in their respective fields on self development, green living, health & wellness, leadership and the value of you.  From training women to take the lead and learning how to bring communities together around green issues to writing your story and upcycling your clothes, there is something for every person looking to connect with like-minded people to have a positive impact on themselves, their community and world.   

Workshop Leaders Include:
ALEXIS SCHROEDER, CAROLE CARSON, ELIZABETH JOHNSON, JEANNE DASARO, JENNIFER COHEN, KIM STRAVERS, KATHLEEN McINTIRE, PATT LIND-KYLE, CHAMELI ARDAGH, SHAWN TUTTLE, SONIKA TINKER, JESSICA READER, LINDA JOY MYERS, NEVADA LITTLEWOLF, STACY MALKAN.

Directions: Grass Valley is located one hour northeast of Sacramento, via Interstate 80 and Highway 49 North.  From Marysville and the north valley, take eastbound Highway 20.  From Reno and Lake Tahoe, take westbound Interstate 80 and westbound scenic Highway 20.

Accommodations:  Overnight visitors are encouraged to book local accommodations early.  Book rooms at the Holiday Inn Express by calling (530) 477-1700 or a dozen historic and charming bed & breakfast inns and several comfortable hotels and motels are located within walking distance of downtown Grass Valley or a short drive from nearby Nevada City. 

Holiday Inn Express, 121 Bank Street, Grass Valley, CA
FRIDAY 630pm DOORS, 7PM "OPENING NIGHT WITH NINA SIMONS plus Nevada Littlewolf and performances by The Feather River Singers"
SATURDAY 8:30am REGISTRATION, 9am- 5:30pm CONFERENCE, go to www.seejanedo.com for a complete agenda of workshops and times.

Limited number of tickets available for purchase - only 250 tickets available!
Ticket Price: Friday “Opening Night With Nina Simons” & Saturday Conference (includes Continental Breakfast & Lunch) $95adv/$105 door,  Friday “Opening Night With Nina Simons” Only $35adv/$45door, Saturday Conference Only (includes Continental Breakfast & Lunch) $70adv/$80door.  Tickets can be purchased online at: www.seejanedo.com

A portion of the proceeds go to The Friendship Club and the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition.

Passion Into Action: A Women's Conference is made possible by the generous support of KVMR 89.5FM Community Radio and Gather the Women.

3 Ways To Celebrate International Women's Day!

Happy International Women's Day!  Thousands of events are taking place today across the world to celebrate women.  In fact, International Women's Day is an official holiday in over fifteen countries such as China and Russia.

On the 100th anniversary of this important day we acknowledge the women who came before us to ensure that as women, we have a voice.   And we acknowledge the inspirational women who walk beside us today; our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, friends and advocates who strive to create gender parity, equality, and make the world a better place.  

 

What is your message to women around the world today and who are the women you would like to recognize?  Below we've listed three things you can do today to celebrate IWD. 

 

1#  Connect with other women, join them on a bridge and attend an IWD event.

 

Women, men, and children are connecting on bridges all over the world with the message that "Stronger Women Build Bridges of Peace".  Click here to find other events in your community. 

 

Please join See Jane Do in celebrating the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day hosted by Gather the Women. 

 

2# Listen to Conversations on KVMR today for a special interview with author and activist, Jean Shinoda Bolen.

 

Elisa Parker of See Jane Do will join Michael Stone, host of Conversations to interview Passion Into Action keynote speaker, Jean Shinoda Bolen.

 

Jean recently released her book, "Like a Tree:  How Trees, Women, and Tree People Can Save the Planet."  Jean is also advocating for a 5th UN Women's Conference.  Listen today on KVMR from 1-2PM.    

 

 

 

 

 3# Invest in YOU and register for the 2nd Annual Passion Into Action Women's Conference.

  

Be inspired, be motivated, be moved!  Join guest speakers Nina Simons, Jean Shinoda Bolen M.D., Tiffany Dufu, and Kathy LeMay plus fifteen workshops, musical performances, a Haute Trash fashion show and more, Friday & Saturday, April 29 & 30, 2011.  Tickets are limited.  Click here to register.

Today on See Jane Do - Celebrate Women's History Month - Passion Into Action

Help us celebrate Women's History Month today on See Jane Do.  The annual month highlights contributions of women to events in history and society.  The event traces its beginnings back to the first International Women's Day in 1911.  
 
This week the White House released the "first comprehensive federal report on the status of women in almost 50 years." While we have definitely made strides in the right direction including gains in education and labor force involvement we still need to keep fighting for pay equity and equal representation. 
 
Today we'll feature women who are working to change that.  They are training women to take the lead and run for office or they themselves have run and now representing their communities.   Two of these extraordinary women will participate in our upcoming Passion into Action Conference, April 29th and 30th, 2011, in Grass Valley, CA.

Marie Wilson, founder and former president of The White House Project shares her personal story as a mother who just wanted to make a difference for her children and how that transformed to empowering and training women across the nation to take the lead.  We are thrilled that Marie is one of the keynote speakers this year at the See Jane Do Passion Into Action Women's Conference.
 
Nevada Littlewolf is The White House Project's Rural Leadership Field Organizer. Nevada joined WHP after attending a Debate Boot Camp in 2007. She continued her involvement by helping plan and implement the truly historic rural training that adapted the Go Run political leadership training model to the needs of a rural community. Nevada is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and was the first Native American and only woman currently elected to the Virginia, MN City Council. Nevada's life experience provides insightful knowledge of rural communities along with a unique cultural perspective that bolsters the work of the Minnesota team. She is an artist and mother of two.  Nevada will speak Friday, April 29th and lead two workshops on Saturday, April 30th during Passion Into Action.

Finally, Marilyn Nyborg and Robin Milam will stop by the show to talk about this year's annual Gather the Women Celebration, happening Tues, March 8th, 2011, in Grass Valley, CA at the Holiday Inn Express.  The event is scheduled on the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day and will ask the question of "What's Next?"     

Please join us today from 1-2PM on KVMR 89.5FM or online at www.kvmr.org for this exciting program.  Thank you and be sure to thank a fellow sister this month for her good work.
 
All the best,

Elisa and Jesse