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(in
alphabetical order) |
The following women added their voice to the Congress through the gift of story. |
| Eleanor Mulloney LeCain, the Founding President of WOVA, is the founder of New Way, USA, a strategic communications center for the United States. Ms. LeCain has done strategic planning for groups committed to positive social change including government, non-profits, and philanthropy. She has recently returned from a trip to Afghanistan as part of a V-Day project where she facilitated a Women's Leadership Program to over 30 women from different grassroots and community based organizations within Afghanistan. |
| Janice Mirikitani is a Multicultural visionary and poet. She serves as the Executive Director of Glide Memorial's 52 programs and President of the Glide Foundation. A third-generation Japanese-American, Janice has developed groundbreaking multiracial, multicultural programs which have transformed and empowered the Tenderloin community in San Francisco, especially the lives of women and children. Guided by Janice's leadership, Glide's growth has been phenomenal, with an annual budget of $11 million, a diverse staff of 230, and a volunteer cadre that swelled in numbers to 35,000 in 1999. As an author, Mirkitani has written and edited dozens of landmark books, journals, and anthologies, and her own three books of poetry. In 2000, her achievements as an author were recognized with the prestigious appointment as San Francisco's Poet Laureate. (www.glide.org) |
| Joyce Oneko, from Kenya, West Africa, is a founding member of the Mama & Dada Management Project (MADAM), a community-based initiative based in a small rural lakeside village on the shores of Lake Victoria in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. The project is geared toward HIV/AIDS prevention, awareness creation and care and support interventions. It assists in empowering girls and young women to gain mental and financial independence through education. Joyce holds a law degree from the University of Wolverhampton, England, and a Diploma in Counseling. (www.mamanadada.org) |
| Rama Joyti Vernon, WOVA's Founder and President Emeritus, is the Founder and President of the American Yoga College, and the Co-Founder and President of the Center for International Dialogue. During the 1980's she traveled to the Soviet Union forty-seven times in seven years organizing over two hundred Soviet-American programs. Mikhail Gorbachev credited her citizen diplomacy efforts as a major contribution to ending the cold war. In 1991, she was invited to organize and design conflict resolution dialogues for areas of regional conflict in Armenia, Azerbiajan, Africa and the Middle East. In 1995, she led the Women of Vision delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. |
| Barbara
Wolf is founder of Global Meditations Network, a vast Internet
peace organization, www.globalmeditations.com. |
| Margaret Wolff is a journalist, trainer, storyteller, and corporate health care consultant -- the author of several books, including the best-selling "In Sweet Company, Conversations With Extraordinary Women About Living A Spiritual Life." She holds degrees in Art Therapy, Psychosynthesis, and Leadership and Human Behavior. Five years ago, she was in a serious car accident that induced a head injury that robbed her of 80% of her peripheral vision, a large part of her memory, and her ability to process and communicate information in a linear fashion. Today, Margaret leads women's retreats around the country -- including the highly-praised "Women As Peacemakers," "Inner-Conflict Resolution," and "Listening to Your Inner Voice" -- and is a popular speaker on the healing power of creativity and brain injury recovery. Margaret was a recent delegate to the United Nations conference in Geneva, The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders. www.InSweetCompany.com |