Presenters - Women Rising! New Visions for a Post-Patriarchal World

Chandra Alexandre

Chandra Alexandre is a Tantric Bhairavi who has served as a spiritual leader for the past 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area through SHARANYA (www.sharanya.org), a federally-recognized goddess temple she founded after receiving direction from her teacher in India to, “Go and spread Mother Worship!” Dedicated to Her mysteries as pathways to personal transformation and social justice, Chandra works both in community and in the nonprofit sector for change. She received diksha (initiation) into Tantra in India, her Ph.D. in Asian & Comparative Studies from CIIS (with an MA in Women’s Spirituality), and her D.Min. in Creation Spirituality. She also holds an MBA in sustainable management and is a certified fundraising professional specializing in internationally-focused causes and grassroots women-led change. She teaches Fundraising & Philanthropy at the University of San Francisco in the Masters of Nonprofit Administration program and serves as Vice President of Development at Global Fund for Women.

Mandy Benson

Headquartered in Sacramento,CA, Mandy J. Benson is an experienced consultant and trainer specializing in workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. Over the last 19 years, Mandy has trained executives, managers, employees, and students for clients representing a variety of industries and organizations, including the business and hi-tech sectors; higher education; and the non-profit, public, and private sectors. Mandy works with your leadership team and Human Resources professionals to understand your current work place culture and develops strategies to ensure the entire team is safe at work and able to thrive. As an experienced HR professional and a women’s rights advocate, Mandy brings unique expertise to the table when coaching individuals and in training sessions. Mandy’s Bachelor’s research for her Bachelor's degree in Behavioral Studies and Master’s degree in Women, Gender and Social Justice, have taught her to be particularly sensitive to all parties involved. Mandy has researched and presented papers on the cycles of abuse and socialization, as well as systems of oppression. All employees deserve a safe and respectful work environment.

For more info: https://www.mjbensonconsulting.com/

Cristina Biaggi

Cristina Biaggi, Ph.D. has widely exhibited her work in the U.S. as well as in Europe . She has also lectured on her work in the U.S. , Europe and Australia . She has created a number of large outdoor works including a series of three dimensional webs made with various sizes ropes and spheres (see enclosed illustrations) for various venues in the U.S. (such as Mount Holyoke College, MA, Chesterwood Sculpture Park, MA; Rockland Center for the Arts, NY as well as other places) and in Europe (Parco di Villa Tigullio, Rapallo, Italy; Parc de Derrieres Bourges in Lausanne, Switzerland and in Sophia, Bulgaria, among others). Large “human” nests made with vines and leaves in the U.S. (de Cordova Museum, MA; Chesterwood Sculpture Park, MA, Woodstock Byrdcliff Guild, Woodstock, NY as well as others) in Europe (Bex & Art in Bex, Switzerland and others) and other large works on permanent collection such as her nest in Europa Parkas in Vilnius, Lithuania and others.
She has created a number of large commissioned collages which are located in several private houses in the United States .
Dr. Biaggi’s works are also included in several private collections including Elizabeth Sackler’s in Brooklyn , NY , Jane Fonda's in CA and Sean Scully's in NY. She has worked on a number of portrait commissions both in the U.S. and in Europe .
Her Goddess Mound proposal (see enclosed booklet) is being considered by the Grail at Cornwall, NY sculpture park and she is one of the sculptors who will be producing a proposed maquette for WHY ARE THERE NO WOMEN IN CENTRAL PARK.

Please refer to her website for more details of her work: http://cristinabiaggi.com/

Leilani Birely

Leilani Birely is a Hawaiian Kahuna and Ordained Daianic High Priestess and Ceremonialist who brings ancient Hawaiian healing and Goddess wisdom to the community. She is dedicated to sharing the forgotten and lost knowledge of her ancestors and Foremothers so that it can become a vehicle for womyn to move forward together in Sisterhood. She believes that it is our right and blessing to reclaim, preserve and perpetuate the traditions and ceremonies of our ancesters - and that her role as a Priestess of the Goddess is to provide community, the Aloha Spirit and a space for womyn's Mysteries to continue onward as our legacy, honor and birthright.

Elisabeth Bolaza

Elisabeth Bolaza is a PhD candidate in Human Sexuality at CIIS. She earned her Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley, and Bachelor’s in Biology from UCLA. She brings to sexuality studies her background in molecular biological research, clinical research, street-level sex education, and clinical sexual health counseling. Drawing on intersectional feminisms, biopsychosocial and socioecological perspectives, and a drive to engage in political and biological discourse, her research focuses on the sexuality of motherhood and birth, and social justice issues facing birthing people. Her current mixed methods project, The Birth Pleasure Study, examines pleasure as experienced in labor and birth.

For more info: http://www.elisabethbolaza.com

Denise Boston

Denise Boston is Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at CIIS. She has been an artist, social activist, researcher, and educator for over 40 years in a variety of community and advocacy settings. In collaboration with community partners, Dr. Boston has implemented several prevention/intervention programs and her African-centered methodology has been beneficial in increasing resiliency and in preventing and/or decreasing participants' harmful behaviors. She has taught psychology courses at HBCU's, religiously affiliated colleges, public, and private institutions, as well as instructed and facilitated training workshops abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Denise's interests in diversity and inclusivity in higher education have been shaped by her personal experiences as an underrepresented scholar in academia, and her community work where she provided creative and culturally-based interventions (CBI) with variations and extended African and Africa American Families.

Jessica Bowman

Jessica Bowman holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology, a Master’s Degree in Women’s Spirituality and Creative Expression as well as California Single Subject Teaching Credentials in Social Science and English and Administrative Service Credentials. She is an Associate Superintendent for a rural high school district focusing on support for underrepresented students. Jessica is also an artist, healer, and seeker. She is a doctoral student at the California Institute of Integral Studies researching Social Justice and the application of Goddess Consciousness as a Women’s Leadership Model. For more information on some of her work please see www.creativityandthedivinefeminine.com and www.magicalapothecary.com

Michelle Ruth Boyle

Michelle Ruth Boyle is passionate about the transformative capacity of wild nature and the wild psyche to bring us ever closer to integration and harmony. Michelle is currently in the East West Psychology doctoral program at CIIS, where she received an MA in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies. Michelle also studied fine arts at the Massachusetts College of Art and since 1998 has been in private practice as a somatic healer and educator in San Mateo county, where she lives, raises her children, and finds nourishment and inspiration in the wildish land there. She is trained as an integrative counselor and ordained as a minister in the Church of All Worlds, and offers equine facilitated eco-spiritual counseling on the San Mateo coast.

Chandra Brooks

Chandra Brooks is a wife, mother of four, author, and entrepreneur. In 2017 Chandra launched The SocialPreneur, a purpose-driven business that prepares potential candidates to get ready to run for political office. Her book is titled, Black, Brown & Political: Get Informed, Get Empowered and Change the Game. Chandra is an appointed Commissioner of The Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, Chair of the Justice and Advocacy Committee, and elected Delegate for The California Democratic Party. Chandra received the Portrait of Success Award from the Hispanic Development Corporation , Activist of the Year Award from Latinos Action Media (LAM). One of the Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley from The Silicon Valley Business Journal and inducted into the East Side Unified High School District Hall of Fame, Named Women of the Year from 100 Black Women of Silicon Valley and Latina with Vision Award from New York Life. Then in 2017 received the Leadership Award from The California League of United Latin American Citizens.

Rachel Bryant

Rachel Bryant MA, CMH, believes in the innate wisdom and intelligence of everyone to be their own healer. She became a clinician to bring culturally responsive services to her local community and has worked closely with consumers and indigenous practitioners to help redefine community mental health practices. Rachel brings more than 15-years of advocacy and social justice experience working in public/mental health to her current roles as Assistant Professor, and Director of the Mental Health Services Act Project.

Alexandra Cichon

Alexandra Cichon Ph.D., Priestess of Avalon. I am, in service to Goddess, director-performer, seeker, wanderer, writer, weaver of Goddess spirituality, with sacred drama, psychology, and psychodrama. Recipient of Oxford University Dramatic Society’s Best Actress Award in the UK and Jefferson Award for Performance in the States, I received my doctorate in the tradition of depth/imaginal psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. My dissertation revisions the myth of the Goddess Ariadne, excerpts from which are published in A.S.W.M.’s Myths Shattered and Restored. My reflections on theatrical improvisation are published in The Double Dealer, literary journal of New Orleans’s Faulkner Society.

Joan Cichon

Joan M. Cichon has a PhD in Women's Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her dissertation is entitled: "Matriarchy in Minoan Crete: a Perspective from Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies.” For the past twenty-five years she has spent several months in Crete each year studying, visiting archaeological sites and museums, and exploring the island. Joan has published an article tracing the origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries to ancient Crete, and another elucidating how archaeomythology enables us to understand the spiritual life of the ancient world in the anthology entitled: "Myths Shattered and Restored" (2016).

Rev. Sunshine Michelle Coleman

Sunshine Michelle Coleman is a doctoral student in Transformative Studies at CIIS on empowering authentic self-expression within women of color. She holds a Bachelor’s in Organizational Behavior and a Master’s in Consciousness Studies. In 2016, she founded Authenticity Journey of Renewal, a faith-based non-profit dedicated to authentic self-expression. Sunshine Michelle has designed and delivered many self-empowerment workshops for women, and is a ritualist with a passion for convening sacred space. She is an ordained minister, a seasoned Human Resources professional, a native of the Bay Area, and enjoys creative writing and being in service to life.

Max Dashu

Max Dashu is a historian who uses images to teach women’s global history and heritages. She founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research egalitarian matricultures, female spheres of power, and systems of domination. Dashu is known for her expertise on female iconography and spiritual leaders and vast collection of images. Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion is the first book in her 15-volume series, Secret History of the Witches. Dashu produced two videos, Woman Shaman: the Ancients (2013) and Women’s Power in Global Perspective (2008), and the Deasophy Coloring Book of Goddesses, Spirits, and Ancestors (2017).

For more info: http://www.suppressedhistories.net

Kimberly Davis

Kimberly J. Davis is a spiritual activist, teacher, intuitive and energy healing practitioner, yoga instructor, and the owner of Journey to Wholeness Center, a holistic healing and wellness center in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Kimberly is a student at the California Institute of Integral Studies pursuing a PhD in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Women’s Spirituality. Her mission is to be a conduit of love, light, and healing. It is her desire to empower others to heal from within; acknowledging that self-healing is the precursor to universal healing which is desperately needed on this planet today.

For more info: www.journeytowholeness.org

Adeeba Deterville

Adeeba D Deterville, MA/PhDc is co-founder of Sankofa Cultural Institute and she holds a masters degree in Transpersonal Studies and is a doctoral student at California Institute of Integral Studies in the Transformative Studies program. Her primary focus is African-centered Psychology and spirituality as applied in educational discourse. Adeeba is currently working on her dissertation – Jegnaship: A Rites of Passage Model for Africentric Praxis. She has served as the Western Region Graduate Representative for the Association of Black Psychologists, National Student Circle Board of Directors and as the Student Circle Board Chair for the Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists. She is currently serving on the National Board of ABPsi in the role of Western Regional Representative. Adeeba has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the non-profit sector and has worked in the financial services field as a Community Development Officer.

May Elawar

May Elawar received her PhD in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Women's Spirituality from CIIS. She holds an MA in International Relations from the American University in Washington, DC, and a BA in Political Science. May teaches in the Transformative Inquiry Department and the School of Undergraduate Studies at CIIS, and is interested in bridging spirituality/religion with social justice activism. May is Lebanese, and came to the US as an international student. She is particularly interested in exploring alternative and non-western philosophical frameworks to address theories of knowledge, identity, gender, colonialism/postcolonialism, and globalization. May's research and activism has focused greatly on social justice in the Arab and Muslim world, particularly for women.

For more info: https://www.ciis.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/may-elawar

Rebecca Farrar

Rebecca M. Farrar, M.A. is an archetypal astrologer and writer living in San Francisco, CA. In 2013, she completed my M.A. at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness (PCC) program. Her thesis, titled “Stargazing: Re-enchantment Through Language,”combines philology, consciousness studies, and enchantment with the stars. While she considers herself an intersectional feminist she also acknowledges her whiteness, cisgender and able-bodied privilege is a constant process of uncovering. Pre-astro geek and coming out of the "broom" closet, Rebecca worked for more than a decade in PR and marketing and had brief forays as TV reporter, speed dating hostess, spokesmodel, yoga instructor, and world traveler. When not staring at her astrology transits, she can be found wandering Ocean Beach, curled up with a good book, or "force" cuddling her kitty Freyja.

Rose Wognum Frances

Rose Wognum Frances’ artwork has been shown internationally since 1970 in numerous museums and galleries, including the American Craft Museum, NYC, New York, and the Corcoran Gallery and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. She has been a professor at Florida International University (1975-1985), New College of California (1988-2001), and California Institute of Integral Studies (1993-2010), where from 1994-1998 she served as head of the Womens Spirituality Program. Rose has been a studio artist in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1985. During that time, she has presented lectures and seminars at Antioch University West, San Francisco City College, Stanford University, the Graduate Theological Union, and various international conferences.

Jacqueline Freeman

Jacqueline Freeman taught writing, literature, and Women’s Studies for 13 years. Her graduate studies in The Netherlands focused on women’s images in the media and how they impacted sense of self and self-esteem. She left education to focus more intently on helping women heal their relationship with their bodies and started Rites O’Passage Ceremony & Coaching. She has facilitated for the World Academy for the Future of Women in China and participated in a mentoring grant for CIF-International in Russia. She has developed a curriculum around the initiatory tale of Vasilissa & Baba Yaga and is working on a book on excavating the Goddess from the Abrahamic traditions.

For more info: https://www.kitchentablealchemy.com/

Jack Gescheidt

Jack Gescheidt is an environmental artist and activist, and founder of The TreeSpirit Project; an environmental art project featuring photographs of humans, naked and vulnerably communing with trees. The project’s mission: to raise awareness of the critical role trees and forests play in all our lives, ecologically, emotionally, and spiritually. Today, we live in an era of anthropogenic climate change — human-caused global warming, which 97% of the world’s climate scientists confirm. This is due in large part to deforestation. We need Earth’s forests more than ever to survive, let alone thrive, as a species.

For more info: http://treespiritproject.com/

Heide Gottner-Abendroth

Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth, a mother and grandmother, earned her Ph.D. in philosophy and theory of science at the University of Munich. She has published extensively on matriarchal society and culture, including “Matriarchal Societies. Studies on Indigenous Cultures across the Globe,” and is the founder of Modern Matriarchal Studies. In 1986, she founded the “International Academy HAGIA for Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality” in Germany, and since 2003 has organized three international conferences on matriarchal studies and politics. In 2005, she was nominatedord for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2012, she received the Saga-award from “The Association for the Study of Women & Mythology.”

Judy Grahn

Judy Grahn is internationally known as a poet, writer, and cultural theorist. She has published fourteen books, and graduated in the first Women’s Spirituality Ph.D. cohort at CIIS in 1999. She was co-director and core faculty in the Women’s Spirituality MA at New College of California and The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. For twenty years Judy worked closely with Betty De Shong Meador as writing coach while Betty transliterated the poetry of Enheduanna. A Jungian psychotherapist, Betty De Shong Meador published two books of the Sumerian priestess’ poetry along with scholarly notes on her life and times.

Shylah Pacheco Hamilton

Shylah Pacheco Hamilton is an Afrosurrealist filmmaker whose creative research interests meet at the crossroads of experimental video, Black and Xhicana feminisms, and ritual performance. Her most recent work consists of experimental video and installations that explore social justice, memory, dreams, and ritual performances of the sacred. Selected exhibitions include The Hague, Dok Leipzig, CinePalium Fest, DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, L'Alternativa, It's All True International Documentary Film Festival, SFMOMA, SomArts, Oakland Underground Film Festival, International Black Women's Film Festival, and The San Francisco Black Film Festival. Shylah lives in Oakland and is a member of the artist collective, The Black Woman Is God. Her writings can be found in Ana Castillo's La Tolteca Magazine and Iyanifa Woman of Wisdom: Insights from the Priestesses of the Ifa Orisha Tradition, Their Stories, and Plight for the Divine Feminine.

Shah Noor Hussein

Shah Noor Hussein (MA) is a multidisciplinary artist & scholar who crafts environments that cultivate creativity & storytelling in communities through the mediums of writing, photography, videography and arts education. noor collaborates on projects that speak to the diverse issues facing black, brown, queer & marginalized communities to empower their narratives through playful, magical & healing modalities. noor's recent book, Gazing at Gods is a continuation of a three year multidisciplinary art & scholarship project, Black GRRRL Healing, which produced a zine, two short films, three symposiums, four residencies, five publications, a workshop series & a masters portfolio on the intersection of queer black feminism & healing justice. shah noor currently serves as a guest lecturer, freelance writer and aspiring doctoral student conducting work that (re)centers marginalized voices in dialogues on alternative epistemologies and cultural reproduction.

Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Helen Hye-Sook Hwang is researcher, writer, publisher, and advocate of Magoism, anciently originated tradition that venerates Mago as the Great Goddess. She earned her MA and Ph.D. in Religion with emphasis on Feminist Studies from Claremont Graduate University, CA. She also studied toward a MA degree in East Asian Studies at UCLA, CA. Since 2012, Helen has initiated and directed the Return to Mago E-Magazine (magoism.net), Mago Academy (magoacademy.org), and Mago Books (magobooks.com). Her authored, co-edited, and published books include Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture, The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess, and She Rises, Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Hallie Iglehart Austen

After graduating from Brown University, Hallie Iglehart Austen drove from England to Nepal and back again. This journey, described in her first book Womanspirit:A Guide to Women’s Wisdom, led to her synthesis of spirituality and feminism, which she began teaching in the 1970s. Since then, she has led workshops, rituals and conferences at universities and the United Nations’ Women’s Conference. She is the author of The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine (1990, 2018), cofounder of Seaflow: Protect Our Living Oceans and founder of All One Ocean: Educating Our Communities, Protecting Our Ocean. Hallie lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dianne E. Jenett

Dianne E. Jenett, Ph.D, former co-director and core faculty of the Women’s Spirituality MA program at New College of California, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Sofia University. Co-author of Organic Inquiry: If Research Were Sacred, Dianne teaches qualitative research methods in depth and transpersonal psychology and women’s spirituality. Her work has been published in the US, India and the UK. Dianne’s love for Kerala takes her there nearly every year where she participates in community rituals for the goddess Bhadrakali.

Nané Jordan

Nané is a birth-keeper, artist, scholar, and mother, active in the midwifery and mother-centred birth movement for over 30 years. Nané completed her MA in Women’s Spirituality (New College of California), a PhD in Education (UBC), and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Paris 8, France. She seeks to uplift women’s lives and experiences, women-centred artistic and spiritual practices, healing arts, mothering, birth, and Earth-based wisdom and ways of knowing. Nané currently teaches textile studio arts at UBC, and is an family preservation counsellor with Xyolhemeylh Aboriginal Children and Family Services of the Sto:lo First Nation in British Columbia, Canada. Nané pursues narrative, arts-based, life writing research and collaborative artistic practices, and has published widely, including her recent anthology, Placenta Wit: Mother Stories, Rituals, and Research (Demeter Press, 2017).

Lynesha Monet Kately

Lynesha Monet Kately, MA Associate MFT, is dedicated to serving the community. She is a
graduate of the Expressive Arts Therapy program at the California Institute of Integral Studies
(CIIS) and has over 12 years experience serving children, youth and families with agencies such as
Larkin Street Youth Services, Glide, WestCoast Children’s Clinic and Seneca Family of Agencies.
Lynesha uses her expressive arts therapy, compassionate spirit and sense of humor to connect with
her clients.

Mara Lynn Keller

Mara Lynn Keller, PhD, is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she directed Women’s Spirituality graduate studies, 1998-2008. Her research centers on Goddess cultures of Crete and Greece; and Women’s Visionary Culture (poetry,fiction, and film). Articles include: “The Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone,” “Ancient Crete of the Earth Mother Goddess,” “Archaeomythology as Academic Field and Methodology,” and “Women’s Spirituality and Higher Education.” Previously she taught Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Riverside and San Francisco State University, where she co-founded Global Peace Studies.

For more info: http://www.ciis.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/mara-lynn-keller

Jade Kelly

Jade Kelly is a writer, freelancer, ghostwriter, and former editor for the literary journal Hotel Amerika. Their work has appeared in The Red Wheelbarrow, The Interlochen Review, and was featured by SHARKGRAVY and The Living Room Punks on their album Never Lucky Always Falling. They are currently working on a collection of transgenre pieces dealing with being a, frankly, absurd teen called Hammered. In their free time they enjoy subverting the Patriarcho-capitalist-hegemony, community outreach, mainlining podcasts, and the smell of lavender. They hold a BA in fiction and currently serve as Creative Director for Ransack Press.

Dr. Anne Key

Central New Mexico Community College

Dr. Anne Key (WS CIIS 2005) is a faculty member at Central New Mexico Community College. Founder of the independent press Goddess Ink, Dr. Key, she is the author of Desert Priestess: a memoir, Burlesque, Yoga, Sex and Love: A Memoir of Life under the Albuquerque Sun, and co-editor of The Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet and Stepping Into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses. After numerous articles and presentations on Mesoamerican Goddesses and priestessing, she has co-created The Jade Oracle deck, based on ancient Mexican deities and symbols. Anne resides in Albuquerque with her husband, his three cats and her snake.

Jeannette Kiel

Jeannette Kiel is an ecofeminist activist, artist, scholar, and an adjunct professor in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Sacramento City College. Jeannette believes that all forms of injustice are interconnected to nature and that these must be addressed to create real change and transformation for peace to thrive in our world. Jeannette earned a Ph.D. in Women's Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, an MA in Women’s Studies from San Diego State University.

Anna Knox

Anna Knox is a “Cultural Artologist,” incorporating cultural history, spirituality, ritual, and magical beliefs all focusing on the feminine. She is a painter, dancer, singer, and creator of costumes and masks. Her work was exhibited in “The Many Faces of Mary,” and she is well known for her dedication to Frida Kahlo. She has a BA in Psychology, MA in Women's Spirituality, and MFA in Creative Inquiry from New College of California. She sits on the Board of the San Francisco Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, participating in the S.F. Carnaval and other civic events for over 40 years.

Letetia Layson

Letecia Layson is a Filipina, Feminist, Futurist, Priestess of Morphogenesis (Form Coming Into Being), High Priestess of Diana; Priestess of Isis, Priestess Hierophant in Fellowship of Isis and The Temple of Isis Los Angeles. Letecia is one of the Founding Mothers of the Center for Babaylan Studies; adjunct faculty for Women's Theological Institute – Reformed Congregation of the Goddess; a member of International Feminists for a Gift Economy, Modern Matriarchal Studies Network and a member of the organizing team for Modern Matriarchal Studies Day.

Keyona Lazenby

Keyona Saquile Lazenby is the founder of Blessed is She: an interfaith women’s ministry that provides services and offerings to help women achieve self-actualization. Keyona is passionate about delivering pre and post-release services to system involved populations. She is an Adjunct Professor with the Prison University Project/Patten University. An avid traveler, she believes that cultural exploration is the world’s greatest teacher. She received her Master’s in Social Transformation and Certificate of Women Studies in Religion from Pacific School of Religion/Graduate Theological Union. She is currently pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Professional Studies at Pacific School of Religion and plans to enter into a Ph.D. program in the Fall of 2020. Reverend Keyona is an ordained Interfaith Minister and a graduate of One Spirit Interfaith Seminary.

Cindy Ma

Cindy Ma is a writer, film and video producer, founder of SHE LivingTV and SHE Productions. She has interviewed dozens of thought leaders, healers, women of wisdom, and birthers of the new paradigm, hosting and producing her show “Tea with SHE”. She is executive producer of the film “Fly by Light”, and produces, writes and distributes short-form media and dialogue, broadcasting women’s wisdom as a pathway to the collective healing of humanity and the earth.

For more info: www.shelivingtv.com

Mary Mackey

Mary Mackey, Ph.D. is Adjunct Professor of Women’s Spirituality at CIIS and Professor Emeritus of English at California State University, Sacramento where she helped found the CSUS Women’s Studies Program. She is the New York Times best-selling author of fourteen novels—five set in prehistoric Goddess-worshiping cultures including The Village of Bones, The Year The Horses Came, and The Horses at the Gate. Mary is also author of seven collections of visionary poetry including Sugar Zone winner of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dream: New and Selected Poems 1974 to 2018 recently published by Marsh Hawk Press.

Joan Marler

Joan Marler is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology, an international organization promoting archaeomythological scholarship. She is the editor of The Civilization of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas (1991), From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997), The Journal of Archaeomythology (2005-present), The Danube Script (2008), and other publications. Joan lectures internationally on the life and work of Marija Gimbutas and has authored more than thirty published articles including a biographical article about Marija Gimbutas in Harvard's Notable American Women (2004). She is the author of "An Archaeomythological Investigation of the Gorgon" in ReVision 25, 1 (2002) and, most recently, articles about the Gorgon Medusa, women in prehistoric religious practices, and women's ritual practices of Old Europe in Women in World Religions (ABC-CLIO, forthcoming).

Rev. Alice D. Martin

I am an intuitive energy healer that can read energy and facilitate healings. I do individual sessions that focus on personal healing and spiritual growth and I do energetic healing group guided meditations. Up until 2010, I was a software developer in a highly stressful position. That year I went through a pivotal period that broke me open to a spiritual emergence. I experienced a calling to the Goddess, and since then became a channeler of Angelic Realms. I am a Masters graduate student at CIIS in the WSE program on the verge of completion. I have trained for over 2 years at Psychic Horizons in San Francisco for intuitive energy healing work. I am also currently affiliated with herchurch in San Francisco as a Healing Priestess. I have been in practice with my healing work since 2012.

For more info: http://herhealing.net/

Diane Martin

Diane Martin, (WSE) graduated with her M.A. (1999) in the Women’s Spirituality program at CIIS; her PhD in Humanities at CIIS in 2013, where her studies focused on the trauma of loss, grief and healing from feminist depth psychology perspective. Diane is a writer, photographer and artist; certified WRAP® facilitator who teaches wellness programs. She completed her certification with the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. Concurrently at City College of S.F. she completed a certificate in Community Mental Health; interned Mission Mental Health S.F. Department of Public Health. Diane is a grief counselor-educator who has a passion for mentoring others in their journey to wellness with a specialized interest in women’s mythology, expressive arts (EXA) as a spiritual pathway for healing to empowerment and wholeness.

Julia Maryanska

Julia Maryanska, CoFounder of Re/Culture Media Julia is a Media Activist and community builder based in Sonoma
County, CA. She has spent a decade coproducing films alongside Oscar nominated filmmakers spanning subjects from child soldiers to Wikileaks and partners with organizations such as The Shift Network, California Council for Humanities and the Bioneers Conference as a digital storyteller. Julia cofounded Re/Culture Media to tell stories that regenerate culture. She is a codirector of Healing of Love, a feature film about the evolutionary work of the Tamera Peace Research EcoVillage in Portugal and has participated in their Global Love School for activists and changemakers since 2015. She is a multilingal relational alchemist who has spent the last decade living in community, has trained in Circling, Council, Zegg Forum, Dynamic Governance and is a Master NLP practitioner.

For more info: http://www.juliamaryanska.com

Michelle Marzullo

Michelle A. Marzullo is a practicing anthropologist and academic. Dr. Marzullo holds a PhD in Anthropology concentrating in race, gender and social justice, a Master's degree in Human Sexuality Studies, and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, with a minor in Sociology. Her work generally centers on social and economic justice issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) populations as well as youth/young adult populations. She has engaged a wide range of studies including policy, programmatic, public health, organizational effectiveness, and marketing research with Fortune 100 companies.

For more info: https://www.ciis.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/michelle-marzullo

Monica Mody

Monica Mody is a Ph.D. candidate in East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A., LL.B.(Hons.) from the National Law of India University. Monica received the Cultural Integration Fellowship Integral Scholarship 2016-17 at CIIS for her ongoing doctoral work engaging the Anzaldúan borderlands framework and its relevance for South Asian women across transnational and other borders. She moves through the world withal as a diviner and a dancer.

Sara Moncada Madril

Sara Moncada Madril is a Native educator, dancer, filmmaker, author and cultural arts advocate. She is VP of Programs at The Cultural Conservancy an indigenous rights organization, co-founder of Wise Women Circles a women-owned inspirational media company, and director/artist/educator with Sewam American Indian Dance. She was previously the Managing Director for the not-for-profit On Nursing Excellence and has been on the early team of multiple start-up technology companies with a spectrum of responsibilities including launching successful products and media programs into market. Sara speaks internationally on Native American arts and culture, is producer of the internationally successful film NURSES If Florence Could See Us Now and co-author of the new book The Dance of Caring.

Mysty Moon

MystyMoon is a certified holistic health practitioner, health coach trained by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, yoga instructor, massage therapist, and a certified Sacred Woman practitioner trained by master holistic healer Queen Afua. Mysty is passionate about working exclusively with women because she believes when a woman is balanced and in harmony she passes that on to her child and significant other. Therefore, when you heal the woman, you heal the world. She has spent 16 years studying various holistic modalities including body psychology, holistic counseling, Chinese medicine, sound healing, reiki, and womb care. Mysty has worked in environments like acupuncture clinics, holistic drug/pain rehab centers, spas, and healing retreats.

For more info: https://www.mystymoonwellness.com/

Mary Beth Moser

Mary Beth Mosér holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion with a specialty in Women’s Spirituality from the CIIS. Mary Beth has searched for – and found – her Ancestors through dreaming, genealogy, scholarly research, and relationships in and with her ancestral lands. Mary Beth’s award-winning dissertation, “The Everyday Spirituality of Women in the Italian Alps,” reflects her passion for her ancestral homeland, which carries forward in her leadership of the Seattle Trentino Club, ongoing research trips, writing, and giving presentations around the country. Ancestral values and folk women’s wisdom inform her vision for sustainable ways of living. (See her web site: AncestralConnections.net)

Karen Nelson Villanueva

Karen Nelson Villanueva, Ph.D. is Faculty at the Institute for Contemporary Buddhist Ministry, and a Lecturer at Holy Names University and San Francisco State University. She is also an Interfaith Chaplain and volunteers with the No-One-Dies-Alone program at Laguna Honda Hospital. As a Vajrayana Buddhist practitioner, she has led Buddhist ritual and meditation at the Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies in San Francisco. Her dissertation, "Invoking the Blessings of the Tibetan Buddhist Goddess Tara Through Chanting Her Mantra to Overcome Fear," explores the effects of chanting mantra with contemporary Western practitioners at an urban Buddhist meditation center.

For more info: https://www.ciis.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/karen-nelson-villanueva

Lauren Ornelas

Lauren Ornelas, director of the Food Empowerment Project. From the FEP Website: "Food Empowerment Project seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one’s food choices. We encourage choices that reflect a more compassionate society by spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, the unavailability of healthy foods in communities of color and low-income areas, and the importance of not purchasing chocolate that comes from the worst forms of child labor."

Jennifer Ortiz

I received my Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University in journalism and have spent the last 25 years as a writer for a variety of sectors, including health care and non-profit. I have also worked as a publications and book editor. Additionally, I have published essays and articles in both printed and online platforms, including The Oregonian and Portland Monthly Magazine. My return to academia culminated with a Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from Marylhurst University, and a thesis titled: Jane Addams: The Embodiment of American Pragmatist Philosophy. I have presented papers at several conferences, including an international symposium - Coffee and a Paper: The Value of Printed News to American Communities; Strange Fruit: Poetry, Marx, and the Antilynching Movement; and Beyond Hull House: Jane Addams and the Search for an Authentic Democracy. I am currently working on a PhD in Transformative Inquiry at the California Institute of Integral Studies on the subject of women’s incomplete history and feminist consciousness

Kasia Pereira

Kasia Pereira, Ph.D., is a recent graduate of the Women’s Spirituality program at CIIS. She is an ecofeminist artist and activist who challenges patriarchal attitudes regarding the human domination of plant and animal beings. She proposes that an ecofeminist interspecies thealogy can restore an understanding of the sacredness of nature and of all living beings, so that we may sustain harmonious, healthy, and fully ethical lives. Additionally, her proposed thealogy asks us to make compassionate consumption choices in order to honor the sacred plants and animals with whom we share our earthly home.

Evelie Posch

Evelie is a devoted singer (in 34 languages) seeking to connect to the Divine, the Ultimate Mystery and inspire all beings to magical action. She is a Certified Sound Therapist, Pranic Healer, multi-instrumentalist, music teacher, sacred song composer, and ritualist. She has been singing all her life according to her mother and first teacher, Divinia. Evelie has led chant, drum & singing circles for over 35 years worldwide. Evelie's music ministry brings her to assisted living & rehab centers, hospitals, retirement homes, & even prisons. Meditating since age 14, Evelie's daily practice includes chant, Tibetan and kundalini yoga. Please connect with her at 510-684-0654 or Evelie511@gmail.com.

Anique Radiant Heart

High Priestess of the Global Goddess, Goddess Scholar, Sacred Singer Songwriter, internationally acclaimed Spiritual Teacher, Anique Radiant Heart is a well loved member of the International Goddess Community. A wise crone now 70, she was crowned Foremother of the Australian Goddess Community at the Australian Goddess Conference. In 2010, she manifested the Temple of the Global Goddess for all to enjoy. and began teaching a 3 year Priestess Training program in the Temple of the Global Goddess in Maitland. Dedicated to assisting women to reclaim their natural spiritual authority, Anique continues to teach women the power and joy that comes from a sacred path which celebrates the Divine Feminine.

Maria Ramirez

Maria is a woman of Chicana,Puerto Rican and Apache ancestry. Her activism began in the late 60’s by supporting the farm workers struggle and the fight to open up the colleges and universities to 3rd world students.where she used teatro as a means to build bridges of understanding. She has always been active in her community, and stood up for Women’s strengths. She created this multimedia presentation of oral history, music,rap and storytelling to present a feminine perspective to the colonization of the America’s.

Kohenet Cedar Ranney

Cedar (they/them, she/her) is a multimedia artist, digital storyteller and community weaver living in Huichin (Ohlone) territory known today as Oakland, CA. They grew up in Minnesota in a multifaith household, a seeker and a bridge-builder. After graduating from Macalester College with a major in Hebrew and Arabic Languages, they drove across the country to California to immerse in earth-based Jewish community and begin training as a Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess). Currently a student at the Tamalpa Institute for movement-based expressive art therapy, Cedar facilitates liberatory spaces for creative expression and spiritual connection.

Arisika Razak

Arisika Razak, CNM, MPH (Health Care Administration, UC Berkeley 1978, Certified Nurse Midwife, UC San Francisco 1980), is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Women's Spirituality, and past Director of the Women's Spirituality MA and PhD program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is also Director of Diversity at CIIS. Arisika is an African-American healer, ritualist, spiritual dancer, and educator who practices an eclectic mix of Earth-based spiritual traditions. She has worked with indigent women as an inner-city nurse-midwife for more than 20 years, focusing on the lives and cultures of women of color, which has led to her research interest in feminist, womanist, mujerista, and postcolonial epistemologies and worldviews, and in women's health. Arisika is a diversity trainer and spiritual dancer who leads spiritual and healing workshops. She has performed nationally and internationally; she was the 2008 American Association of Religion-Western Region's conference chair and vice president, and she is the organization's 2009 president.

For more info: https://www.ciis.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/arisika-razak

Marguerite Rigoglioso

Marguerite Rigoglioso is founding director of Seven Sisters Mystery School, an online and in-person school dedicated to helping restore the ancient way of the priestess and authentic priest in service to today’s world. In this role, she offers pioneering courses and private mentoring to helps people cultivate their spiritual path. She’s the author of two pioneering books, The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece and Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity. Marguerite holds an MA in philosophy and religion, and a Ph.D. in humanities, from CIIS, as well as an AB from Vassar College.

For more info: https://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/

Gina Rizzo

With fifteen years of experience in education, Gina Rizzo combines her love of visual and verbal communication to create educator lessons and children's books under the name, Regina Sparrow. Her work embraces diversity, gender and ethnic neutrality, and addresses ecological and social issues. Rizzo is a PhD candidate at CIIS in its Transformative Studies department where she researches why art exists and applies her research to education by harnessing art’s educational power through integrating mind-body activities. She received her Master of Art in Teaching from Chapman University and holds two California Teaching Credentials to teach Pre-Kindergarten to college levels.

For more info: www.ReginaSparrow.com

Brenda Salgado

Brenda Salgado is founder of Nepantla Consulting and Moons Rising Circle. She holds degrees in Biology (BA), Developmental Psychology (BA), and Animal Behavior (MS). Brenda has over 17 years of experience in leadership development, nonprofit management, spiritual teaching, movement building, women’s health, and environmental and social justice. She is a curandera and has received training from Purepecha, Xochimilco and Toltec indigenous elders in traditional medicine, limpias and healing ceremony. She draws on the powers of the natural world to guide her work as a spiritual leader. She serves on the boards of Movement Strategy Center and the Lion’s Roar Foundation and is a Founding Member of WisdomWomen. In the past, she has served as the Director of the East Bay Meditation Center, and as a Senior Fellow at the Movement Strategy Center. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time.

Kohenet Yael Schonzeit

Kohenet Yael Illah is a devotional musician, liturgist and ceremonialist. She is committed to the ancient power of art to transform and shape our lives. She sings and prays in multiple spiritual traditions and offers healing music to individuals and communities. She also crafts drums and leads drum-birthing ceremonies. Inspired by the gifts and challenges of her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, Yael is dedicated to cultivating spiritual community and practice that is dynamic, embodied, feminist, earth reverent and counter-oppressive. Yael lives in Ohlone Territory, known as the SF Bay Area where she is pursuing a Masters in Divinity at Starr King School for the Ministry, a multi-religious progressive theological seminary at the GTU.

Beverly Oye Reed Scott

Oye is a womanist, poet, speaker and the Creatrix of Momma Earths Soul Garden a physical and virtual Womyns Wysdom and Empowerment Center. Her activism She is a womyn of deep soul and emotional intelligence and a current student (quite possibly the oldest) at Goddard College in Plainfield Vermont. Her activism in Chicago was empowered by her strong intuition and courage to say, do and go through the difficult things. She served as a Community Liason to the Office of Public Engagement (Obama Administration) and is currently writing a memoir.

Dr. Elisabeth P. Sikie

Dr. Elisabeth P. Sikie is a shamanic practitioner and teacher of sacred European female spiritual traditions and a scholarly seeker of women’s subaltern history. She earned her PhD in Philosophy and Religion in 2017, with an emphasis in Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her dissertation explores ancestral relational states of consciousness and the historic role of European women’s spiritual legacies in making sustainable culture.

Erica Holmes Starks

Erica Holmes Starks earned a MA Women’s Spirituality from Sophia University in Palo Alto, California, where her thesis work combined pilgrimage, creative writing, and a cross-cultural examination of ancestor reverence through a lens of archeaomythology. She also holds a MA Education and a BA Humanities from San Jose State University. For the last 22 years, Erica has taught high school aged students with learning and emotional differences and enjoyed teaching in the final year of the Women’s Spirituality Program at Sophia University. She looks forward to researching, writing and teaching on women’s spirituality topics for years to come.

Aishwarya Subramanian

Aishwarya Subramanian is an interdisciplinary scholar-artist-practitioner and a third-year student in the Counseling Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy Master’s Program at CIIS. A dancer, writer, and singer, she has performed and presented at various events, festivals, and conferences in the US, UK, Mexico, India, Indonesia, and Africa. Her work integrates multimodal creative arts approaches to promote holistic body-mind-spirit wellness and positive well-being. She brings to the field years of experience as a trained Indian classical dancer and singer, strong theoretical background in principles and foundations of counseling psychology, and a deep passion and curiosity to listen to others’ stories.

Erin Sweeney

Erin was born by the ocean and was raised on the land that has been inhabited by her Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors for generations. Her people come from what is now Ireland, Scotland, England, France, and Germany. Erin is a holistic health practitioner who works with clients to discover their innate relationship with the natural world and their ancestral lineage. Recognizing and healing the wounds that have been passed down to us, she supports clients through deep listening, energy healing, guided imagery, creative expression, and ritual. She is a workshop facilitator, teacher, and holds monthly New Moon circles in Oakland, CA. Erin holds a master’s degree in Integrative Health, is a certified reiki and guided imagery practitioner, and has been studying and practicing ancestral healing work with her teachers Kimmy Johnson and Atava Garcia-Swiecicki since the Spring of 2015.

For more info: http://www.erincaitlinsweeney.com/

Emy Tafelski

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Sex Therapist, Empath and Intuitive in the state of Florida. The cornerstones of my practice and my life are authenticity and love. In my practice I work to help people uncover their true selves and have the courage to live from that place of authenticity. I obtained my MA from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and am currently engaged in doctoral studies at Saybrook University where my specialization is Consciousness, Spirituality and Integrative Health. I am married to my beloved and am the tender of two very magical cats.

For more info: me-therapy.com

Mariam Tazi-Preve

Mariam Irene Tazi-Preve, born in Innsbruck, Austria, Adj.Prof. at the University of New Orleans. Before that University of Vienna. Areas of research: political/feminist theory, politics and reproduction, theory on civilization. Author, coauthor, editor of several books and numerous scientific articles. Among those Motherhood in Patriarchy (2013) and Fathers Aside (2007). In 2015 she co-launched Boomerang. Journal of Critique on Patriarchy (Austria, USA). Mariam’s recent book “The Failure of the Nuclear Family. Capitalism, Love and the State” (currently in German, in 2019 in English) was released 2017 and received much public attention.
For more info: https://www.mariamtazi-preve.com/english/

Joy Tomchin

A nationally recognized activist in the LGBT, women’s and children’s rights movements, Joy joined the Board of Directors of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1987, and served as GMHC’s Board President from 1989-1992, co-founding the Lesbian AIDS Project. In October of 1990, she was appointed by Mayor David Dinkins to the Board of the Economic Development Corporation of the City of New York and served for four years as the Board’s only openly LGBT member. Joy served as the national co-chair of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund ( 1992-1996) and received, among other awards, the Victory Award in recognition of her service. She now serves on the SAGE National Leadership Council. A graduate of Syracuse University (BA in psychology) and Temple University (MA in psychology), she worked for some years as a psychologist specializing in vocational counseling and business consultation. For over 35 years, she has been a partner in Vanguard Investors Ltd., a New York City real estate firm engaged in the acquisition, development, renovation, and management of both commercial and residential properties. In that capacity she spearheaded the start of the Sutphin Boulevard Business Improvement District and served as chair for three years.

For more info: http://sageusa.care/about-us/our-investors/joy-tomchin/

Elizabeth Ursic

Elizabeth Ursic, PhD, (Religious Studies, Arizona State University) is an Adjunct Professor of Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a full-time Religious Studies faculty at Mesa Community College where she teaches Women and World Religions in hybrid and online formats. She also holds an MDiv from Yale University where she was a Fellow at the Yale Divinity School Institute of Sacred Music. She has presented papers on the intersection of religion, art, and gender at the American Academy of Religion, the National Women’s Studies Association, and the International Congress Qualitative Inquiry as well as the CIIS conference series Expanding the Circle: Creating an Inclusive Environment in Higher Education for LGBTQ Students and Studies. Currently, she is the chair of the Women’s Task Force of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Her book, Women, Ritual, and Power: Placing Female Imagery of God in Christian Worship, makes an important contribution to Christian theology/thealogy and liturgy. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a cellist, pianist, and composer. She has recorded a CD, Unspoken Touch.

Rachael Vaughan

Rachael A Vaughan is a core faculty member of the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a licensed psychotherapist. She has a lifelong interest in issues of culture, identity and inclusion, and the intersection of people, psyche and the land. She publishes The Ethnopsychology Blog and has studied at the CG Jung Institute of San Francisco. She holds a Permaculture Design Certificate and practices plant propagation and seed-saving.

For more info: www.smallgreensprouts.com and http://ethnopsychology-blog.blogspot.com

Nancy Vedder-Shults

Nancy Vedder-Shults, Ph.D., was named a Wisdom Keeper of the Goddess Spirituality Movement in 2013. A keynote speaker and author of The World is Your Oracle: Divinatory Practices for Tapping Your Inner Wisdom, Nancy has presented classes and workshops nationally since 1993 and the recording of “Chants for the Queen of Heaven,” a CD of goddess chants from around the world. She is the thealogical columnist for SageWoman magazine and blogger for "Tikkun Daily" and "Feminism and Religion.” She formerly taught Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin –Madison. Her work focuses on women’s empowerment and spiritual growth. www.worldyouroracle.com

Batya Weinbaum

Batya Weinbaum operates Feminina Sube on Isla Mujeres and Handmaids Gate in Floyd VA. She edits Femspec, which invites papers and coverage from this conference. A prominent feminist critic and multicultural scholar, artist, and creative writer, she has published 13 books and currently teaches at American Public and Life Universities. She earned her doctorate from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her dissertation, Islands of Women and Amazons: Representations and Realities, was published by U of Texas Press and is available electronically on Amazon and smashwords.

Annette Williams

Annette Williams is chair and core faculty in the Women’s Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Religion with specialization in Women’s Spirituality. Research interests have centered on soul healing from sexual trauma, and the theme of women’s spiritual power and agency within the Yorùbá Ifá tradition, with specific reference to the primordial feminine authority of àjẹ́. She collaborated with Lucia Birnbaum and Karen Villanueva on the compilation of She is Everywhere! An Anthology of Writing in Womanist/Feminist Spirituality Vol. 2 and has authored “The Divine Feminine in Yoruba Cosmology” found in Goddesses in Myth, History, and Culture. Her entry, “Drumming,” appears in the forthcoming Women in World Religions: Faith and Culture Across History.

For more info: https://www.ciis.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/annette-williams

Gail Williams

I am a Visual Artist and Iya l’Orisha (Orisha Priestess) engaged in sacred art making practice with mixed media, digital media, clay, and altars for community ritual. I earned an MA in Philosophy & Religion, Women’s Spirituality at CIIS in 2001. Making Art for the Spirit, The Intersections of Feminist, Sacred, and Creative Practice, my thesis, presents artworks, research, and narrative of my creative process. I began learning Ifa spirituality from Yeye Luisah Teish in 1993, and received initiation for Sango in 2007. One of my priestess responsibilities is Akpon-ritual songs leader.

For more info: http://www.gailwilliamsart.com/

Emiko Yoshikami

emiko is an intimacy healer and surrogate partner. She has worked with clients of varying genders, sexualities, bodies, and histories over the last six years. Her work was featured on CNN’s “This is Life with Lisa Ling” in 2017. She holds a Master’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation. She is a Buddhist meditation practitioner and social justice warrior. As a mixed-raced queer, she practices holding contradictions in compassionate tension and open discernment. Her favorite definition of power (by Dr. Wade Nobles): “Power is the ability to define reality and have other people treat it as if it were their own.”

For more info: http://www.healingintimacy.org

Lisa Young

Expertly trained in the language of conversation and an award-winning linguist, Lisa Young, M.A. has lived much of her life as a cultural cameleon, learning the languages of and fitting herself into cultures around the world. She is one of the first Masters in Forensic Linguistics in the United States as a linguistic profiler, and has represented multiple fortune 500 clients, influencing C-level and executive prospects internationally. Lisa has 20+ years as a freestyle and social partner dancer of countless genres and is a singer/songwriter with Loveangelists, a musical duo performing uplifting music (tackling difficult topics) about love as a means of empowerment. A former Diversity Equity & Inclusion consultant, Lisa now presents dynamic interactive experiences deepening audiences’ self connection and connection to others around them for collective empowerment. Lisa also coaches visionary women to create loving & lasting relationships without sacrificing their independence, individuality, and big goals & dreams.