Interview with Carol Hansen Grey
Executive Director of  Women of Vision and Action

By Kristy Levings of SpiralMuse
October 8, 2003

Carol Hansen Grey stumbled into WOVA and stayed. One unassuming day, the meditation fan, and Macintosh junkie went over to fix a friend's computer, and wound up as executive director of a women's non-profit that changed her life, and is gradually changing the world.

Women Of Vision and Action (WOVA) came about as an outgrowth of an international conference of women in Washington D.C. during the first Gulf War. Women who were part of this unique gathering recognized within it the capacity for something more, something to keep the momentum going. Thus in 1994, WOVA was born. (www.wova-archive.org)

"During those first few years, WOVA wasn't very active," says Carol of the group's history, "It seems as though WOVA was created then for right now. Now is the time when it's all coming together."

Her choice of words could not be more fitting, as WOVA's mission ascribes to "Weave a world of balance, justice, partnership and peace." Carol has a meandering, bubbling brook way of answering questions by telling a story. The story of how WOVA fulfills its mission and why it's all coming together now is woven into their most famous international activity, "Gather The Women" (GTW). (click here for a full history on this project)

Carol describes GTW as both the best and most challenging experience she'd had as Executive Director of WOVA. "Planning the first GTW event, it was exactly a 9 month period. And it had all the stages of a pregnancy too." She goes on to describe how at first there was the initial excitement. And then there was a stretching period, "where each of us had to stretch beyond our boundaries." And then, she says, came the uncomfortableness of being pregnant, pregnant with an enormous vision. After that, the intense labor pains began. Of that time, she explains how "some people couldn't take it, and dropped out."

At this point in the story, her voice drops just a notch above a whisper, and I can feel the magic and passion of her words stirring. "But then, we had the birth of this….event….that was so much more than we could have ever envisioned. It was so powerful."

That, she says, is the moment she got the full immensity of feminine energy in the world. "It's (GTW) what we talk about when we say 'infusing the planet with feminine energy'. It's about this power of compassion and nurturance, and…wisdom…and empathy…and all the things that we don't see happening on the planet right now because the planet is so out of balance."

At that, I was knocked out. Tears in my eyes, love in my heart, and a full Carol Hansen Grey fan. As the conversation continued to flow, I learned that this amazing woman isn't just he Executive Director of WOVA, she also happens to have her own company called Open Heart. Open Heart has many meanings to Carol, the survivor of open-heart surgery due to a rare heart tumor. Her inspiring story can be read on her website, (carolhansengrey.com)

Finally, I asked her about the future of WOVA. What was next? How could they possibly top Gather The Women? As it turns out, they needn't best something as amazing as GTW- simply continue it, in the form of an international Women's Congress being held in San Francisco this October 17th, 18th and 19th. "The purpose of that congress," says Carol, "is to create that network of networks…that circle of circles". And if women know how to do anything, it's circle….that deep, instinctual call to gather together as one group, to Gather The Women.

By the time we said goodbye; I was awe-struck. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have a few moments of this incredible soul's time, words and insight. Carol's heart is indeed open, and her words of wisdom continue to echo through me. Simply put, the breadth of vision, and depth of love coming from this woman are phenomenal. And if Gather The Women is any indication, then the Women's Congress will be powerful, stunning, and on the whole, a very moving experience. Perhaps even moving in circles….women's circles that is.