We Are Girls 2011 Speakers
GENaustin is partnering with numerous organizations and speakers to bring the best possible information to We Are Girls. Check out some of our speakers below.
Rosalind Wiseman
We are excited to announce that Rosalind Wiseman is our 2011 keynote speaker! Click here for more information about Ms. Wiseman.
The We Are Girls Spanish Speaking Track Signature Partner: Con Mi Madre
Con Mi Madre, founded as The Junior League’s Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program, increases the Hispanic representation of women in post-secondary educational institutions through a focus on education and social support services to girls and their mothers. We break the cultural barriers that prevent Hispanic girls from reaching their educational dreams. Con Mi Madre will be presenting several parenting workshops in Spanish at We Are Girls.
GENaustin’s Workshops
GENaustin staff will be presenting a number of workshops at We Are Girls 2011. Here are the details!
Healthy relationships:
- Abuse vs. Respect: This workshop helps girls explore the characteristics of healthy relationships and understand what to do if they ever encounter an abusive situation. Presented during breakout sessions 1 and 2.
- Defining My Values: This workshop guides girls through understanding what is most important to them in a relationship how their personal values and boundaries relate to dating. Presented during breakout session 2.
- Friendship Counts: This workshop gives girls the opportunity to discuss common friendship problems and offer solutions through activities designed to break down stereotypes and promote understanding. Presented during breakout sessions 1 and 2
Body image:
- The Healthy Ideal: This workshop helps girls investigate the problematic “Hollywood ideal” and encourages them to recognize what makes each of them uniquely beautiful. Presented during breakout sessions 1 and 2
- The Media and Me: Using real examples from film and magazines, this workshop allows girls to examine the illusion of “perfect” women and brainstorm ways to advocate for more positive portrayals of women and girls in the media. Presented during breakout sessions 1 and 2.
Communication:
- Communication with Friends: This workshop helps participants understand how consistently using assertive communication can create respect amongst friends. Presented during breakout session 1.
- Communication with Parents: This workshop helps participants understand how consistently using assertive communication will earn respect from teachers and parents. Presented during breakout session 3.
Adults:
- Help! My daughter’s being bullied: This workshop for parents provides some practical ways to support girls and empower them to overcome bullying. Presented during breakout session 3
- Don’t Box Me In: exploring gender biases in ourselves, our society, and our classrooms. Presented during session 3.
Adrien Paczosa, RD, LD of iLiveWell Nutrition Therapy
Adrien Paczosa is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian practicing in Austin and the surrounding counties. She believes that living well requires a structured approach and a commitment to three specific areas: nutrition, fitness, and rest. Helping clients find the correct balance in these three areas is what Adrien does best. She strongly believes that with positive guidance and a realistic plan, everyone can improve their overall wellness. “I am a food teacher… I teach people how to identify and eat nutritious food. My primary focus is to help my clients improve their overall wellness.” Adrien will be presenting her workshop “Fuel for Success” during breakout sessions 1 and 2 at We Are Girls.
Annie’s List: Genevieve Van Cleve
Annie’s List is a statewide political network that raises money for Democratic women candidates. Genevieve Van Cleve, Deputy Political Director, and veteran slam poet, will be representing Annie’s List at We Are Girls. She will be presenting her workshop, “You’ve Been Asked” during breakout sessions 1 and 2.
Badgerdog Literary Publishing: Cecily Sailer
Cecily Sailer is the Education Programs Manger at Badgerdog Literary Publishing, an Austin-based literary arts nonprofit offering creative writing workshops in schools and community spaces. Cecily has taught in classrooms both in Texas an abroad. She is a fiction writer, runner, and amateur gardener. She will be presenting her workshop, “The Voices in Our Heads” during breakout session 2 at We Are Girls.
Ballet Austin’s Butler Community School: Boo Ruiz
Boo Ruiz is a Certified Pilates Fitness instructor and is on staff at Ballet Austin’s Pilates Center. She also has more than 20 years of dance training in jazz, hip-hop, tap, lyrical, and contemporary dance. She currently teaches Contemporary Dance and Pilates for Ballet Austin’s Butler Community School. She will be presenting her workshop, “What Moves You?” during all three breakout sessions.
Ballet Austin’s Butler Community School: Vicki Parsons
Vicki Parsons is the Director of Operations for Ballet Austin Academy and the Butler Community School. Her primary role is to manage the operations of both schools and to implement and manage dance and fitness programming in the Butler Community School. She worked for over 25 years in direct care as a Recreation Therapist, using therapeutic recreation as a treatment intervention to improve overall wellness. She holds current certifications as a Senior Fitness Instructor, a Youth Fitness Specialist, and a Group Exercise Instructor. She is also a certified Fitness Business Manager, and just recently completed her certification in Advanced Sports Nutrition. She will be presenting her parenting workshop, “Someone’s Watching You!” during all three breakout sessions at We Are Girls.
Barb Steinberg, LMSW
Barb Steinberg is a Teen Life Coach, speaker, and workshop facilitator for teen girls, their parents, youth professionals and women. Barb, as a masters level social worker, has worked with adolescents for over 20 years, has been featured on KVUE-TV, KUT News and Fox7 news as an expert on teen girl issues. She will be presenting her workshop, “The Wisdom of Girls: Teens, Sex & Truth” during session 1 and “Empowering Your Daughter” during breakout session 2 at We Are Girls.
BIG-Building Independent Girls: Sandy Cox
Sandy Cox, founded BIG – Building Independent Girls in 2010 after 21 years of successfully leading technology businesses and operations world-wide. She is an Austin Business Journal “Profiles In Power” Finalist for two years, recognized as one of the top 100 Leaders in Freescale Semiconductor, and was honored to speak at the Texas Conference for Women – “Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office” in 2005. She will presenting her workshops, “Capitalizing on Your Strengths” during breakout sessions 1 and 2 and, “Identifying and Managing Your Career” during breakout session 3.
Camp Lantern Creek
Lantern Creek is a residential girls camp in Dobbin, Texas. Set against a backdrop of traditional summer camp activities such as swimming, canoeing and cooking, Lantern Creek modernizes the typical camp model by offering a robust curriculum in both performing and visual arts, as well as a national-class leadership program. Liz Gates, Sunni Markowitz, and Ange Atkinson will be presenting their workshop “Build Yourself, Build a Community” during all three breakout sessions at We Are Girls.
Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble
The Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble is a collaboration between SafePlace and the Theatre Action project. They are a group of high school age artist/activists who create original performances about issues that affect teens. During the school year, the students create a play in the fall semester which they tour in the spring to various middle schools and community events. Their goal is to ignite dialogue about issues like …bullying, dating violence, prejudice, homophobia through the art of theatre. During the school year, their students are paid a stipend for their work. They will be presenting their acting workshop during breakout session 1 at We Are Girls.
Deirdre Earls, MBA, RD, LD
Having used an imperfect diet instead of chemotherapy to reverse her own disabling disease, Deirdre’s objective is to use more than twenty years of experience as a Registered Dietitian to bring the healing power of food to others. She will be presenting her workshop, “Your Healing Diet at Any Time of Your Life” during breakout session 1 at We Are Girls.
Dell “Wise” Employee Group
The “Wise” Employee Resource Group at Dell is focused on creating a culture of inclusion through programs and initiatives that support our team members, our business results and the communities in which we live and work. Wise is dedicated to the acquisition, retention and development of female talent, with a focus on community involvement to grow initiatives focused on women in technology.
Emily Harris, Storyteller
Emily’s lifelong engagement in the creative process inspires her to infuse her workshops and storytelling programs with imagination, improvisation, and play. The schools, libraries, hospitals, synagogues, churches, conference and community centers where she presents appreciate her lighthearted approach. She will be presenting her workshop, “Kiss Your Worries Goodbye” during breakout sessions 2 and 3 at We Are Girls.
Experiment and Explore, Valentina Valé
Experiment and Explore is the effort of Valentina Valé to encourage all people to remain friends with their inner artist. Through 3-D exercises, participants explore forms, relationship and functionality; each person solves their design in a different way as they experience their own choices, taste and pace. When one attends Jewelry Design Workshops fulfillment of the need to express one’s individuality can occur. Valentina will be presenting her workshop, “Jewelry Design” during breakout sessions 1 and 3 at We Are Girls.
Fran Harris
Fran Harris is the Chief Fun Officer of Fran Harris Enterprises, LLC, a multimedia corporation specializing in publishing, event marketing & television production. She was a member of the Houston Comet’s first WNBA Championship team in 1997 and captain of the University of Texas at Austin’s 34-0 NCAA Championship team in 1986. Fran recently hosted HGTV’s renovation show, “Home Rules”, and has appeared as a business and life coach on The Today Show and Good Morning America. She will be presenting her workshops, “Girls Who Mean Business” during breakout sessions 1 and 2 and “Launching An Online Business” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
From the Heart Family Healing: Kimberly Smith Cavins, OTR, CPE, EFT-Cert
As a teenager, Kim functioned as mediator for her friends and family. She found she had the skill of being able to see both sides of any conflict (she’s a Gemini!). That skill has served her well as a parent educator and in individual sessions with parents and teens. Kim is passionate about helping families resolve conflict in a loving, effective way. She will be presenting her workshops, “Help! My Parents Are Trying to Control Me/Help! My Kid is Rebelling” during breakout sessions 1 and 2 and, “Getting Your Life Back: Learn to Heal Yourself from Past Hurts or Trauma” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
Fun Financial Facts: Koreena Malone
Fun Financial Facts is a program designed to help young girls understand free enterprise concepts. The goal of the program is to introduce a basic understanding of how our financial system works. This will empower young girls by looking at our financial system as a tool to help build their knowledge base and feel confident about their credit history, the stock markets, and other important financial facts. Koreena will be presenting her financial literacy workshop during all three breakout sessions of We Are Girls.
GirlPower: Dana Kerford
Dana Kerford both a teacher and the founder of GirlPower, a friendship program that inspires young girls to feel empowered, develop a strong sense of self, and love themselves while learning to manage the most important thing to them…their friendships. Dana will be presenting her workshops, “Friendship Fires” during breakout session 2 and, “The Language of Friendship, A Mother-Daughter Workshop” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
Girls Inc. of Greater Austin
Girls Inc. of Greater Austin (GIGA) inspires girls ages nine through eighteen to be strong, smart, and bold in every aspect of life, through providing them with experience, exposure, and reflection to tackle the complex barriers that they face while growing up. They will be presenting their workshops on spinal health during breakout session 2 and “Girls Inc. Mind+Body” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
Girls & Women in Entertainment (GWEN): Jennifer Black
Jennifer Black is an actress, coach, writer, producer and speaker that empowers girls and women to fulfill their dreams in life through speaking engagements, books, productions, and products with messages of empowerment. She will be presenting her workshops, “BEWARE: No Haters Allowed” during breakout session 2 and “Image IS Everything” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
Girls Pride: Anna Sharratt
Anna Sharratt is particularly interested in girls empowerment as it relates to sexuality. She is the creator of Climbing Toward Confidence, a rock climbing program that builds courage and strengthens girls’ assertive voices. She will be presenting her workshop, “Kiss and Tell: Girls Speak Out on Sexual Boundaries during all three breakout sessions of We Are Girls.”
GirlStart
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1997, Girlstart is one of the few community-based informal education programs in the nation specifically dedicated to empowering and equipping K–12 girls in STEM. GirlStart will be presenting their workshop, “Tower of Power” during all three breakout sessions of We Are Girls.
Headway Consulting, LLC: Jeanie Emilienburg
Headway Consulting, LLC provides expertise and specialization in evaluating learning disabilities, dyslexia, and psychological functioning. Jeanie Emilienburg has 9 years experience teaching in the public school system as a bilingual classroom teacher. For the past 17 years she has been assessing students from 3-22 years of age for ADHD, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, emotional disorders, and dyslexia as well as neuropsychological dysfunction as a result of traumatic brain injury and seizure disorders. She is licensed by the State of Texas as a specialist in school psychology and psychological associate and certified by the Texas Education Agency as an educational diagnostician and bilingual elementary classroom teacher. She will be presenting her workshop, “How to Assist Your Child in Improving Their Executive Functioning Abilities” during breakout sessions 1 and 3 of We Are Girls.
Karly Randolph Pitman
Karly is a coach, speaker, workshop leader, and author who helps women create a healthy relationship with their bodies, food, and themselves through self kindness, self compassion, and self acceptance–a path she calls growing human(kind)ness. She will be presenting her workshops “How to be Your Own Best Friend” during breakout session 1 and “Finding the Wise Voice Inside” during breakout session 2 of We Are Girls.
Dr. Karen Rayne
Dr. Karen Rayne provides advice and support to parents on how to educate their children and teenagers about sexuality. Karen’s knowledge about adolescent development and education provides her with a solid background for guiding parents through tricky conversations. She also teaches sex education to children, teenagers, and college students. She will be presenting her workshop on how to talk to your parents about sex during breakout sessions 1 and 2 of We Are Girls.
Latinitas: Brooke Marroquin
Brooke Marroquin Maudlin is a graduate from UT’s Radio-TV-Film program. She has been teaching media production for Latinitas for over 5 years and holds the position as the Program Coordinator. Brooke designs the curriculum and trains Latinitas Club Leaders to facilitate media and technology outreach programs. She is currently earning a Master’s degree in teaching at St. Edwards University. Hosting multimedia workshops for girls remains a passion and working with Latinitas provides the outlet for creating and teaching multimedia. Brooke will be presenting Latinitas’ workshop, “Chica TV” during breakout sessions 2 and 3 of We Are Girls.
LifeWorks: Next Steps Program
Lifeworks provides a comprehensive network of services for youth and families, addressing critical needs to achieve lasting, positive change. Kasey Brady and Aleza Berube will be presenting their workshop, “Steps to Respect” during breakout session 1 of We Are Girls.
loveisrespect
Melissa Kaufmann is the volunteer and training coordinator for loveisrespect and is extremely passionate about working with young people who want to make a difference in the lives of teens and adults who are in abusive relationships. She hopes to continue educating and empowering victims of dating abuse after she receives her MSSW form the UT School of Social Work in 2012. She will be presenting her workshops, “Dating Abuse 101″ during breakout session 1 and, “How Do I Become An Empowered Ally?” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
The Money Academy
Revolutionary financial literacy education that shows kids how to “Blast the Money Trap” and how to use money for something other than spending! The best investment you can make in your kids future of financial responsibility. Money Academy will be presenting their workshop, “Blast the Money Trap” during all three breakout sessions of We Are Girls.
Moody Me Workshops: Elizabeth Decker
Finding your unique voice creatively. Moody Me is a non-traditional art and writing class that provides a safe and supportive place for women of all ages to explore, identify, embrace, share and celebrate their unique creative selves artistically, with style and a whole lof of fun! Elizabeth Decker, author, artist, mediator, and creative cheerleader is helping people find their authentic voice and creative spirit through the arts. She will be presenting her Moody Me Workshops during all three breakout sessions of We Are Girls.
Myrna Rocks!: Myrna Cabello and Belinda Acosta
Belinda Acosta is an Austin-based writer and the author of two novels. Myrna Cabello is an actress, singer, and songwriter born and raised in Austin. Her first CD, “Letting Go,” was released in 2009. They will present their workshop, “Rock Your Words” during breakout session 3 of We Are Girls.
Planned Parenthood’s Community Health Educators
America’s most trusted nonprofit provider of reproductive health care. Dedicated to providing high-quality, affordable reproductive health care and teen pregnancy prevention education to more than 30,000 men, women, and teens in Austin each year. Planned Parenthood’s community health educators will be providing various breakout sessions on abstinence, puberty, gender stereotypes, and how to talk to your kids about sex.
Regainyourtime.com: Maura Thomas
Maura Thomas founded RegainYourTime.com in 2003 and her expertise in effectiveness and attention comes from 17 years in the productivity training industry. During that time, she developed a process for getting things done with low stress and increased efficiency, called the Empowered Productivity System™. She has provided speaking, training, writing, and consulting to domestic and international business groups, corporations, and non-profits. Her productivity blog is widely read and she has a large social media following. Her work has been published in local and national media outlets such as WomenEntrepreneur.com and the Austin American Statesman, and she is currently in conversations with Wiley to publish her first book, expected in Spring of 2012. Maura will be presenting her workshops, “Your Child’s Brain on Social Media: What You Need to Know” during all three breakout sessions at We Are Girls.
SafePlace: Randy Randolph
Randy Randolph is the Expect Respect Prevention Education Manager at SafePlace in Austin, a Texas domestic and sexual violence survival center that is a nationally recognized leader in the development of resources and training related to dating violence prevention and issues facing adolescents. Ms. Randolph has worked with SafePlace for over ten years creating and providing educational programs on creating healthy relationships, preventing sexual violence and promoting youth leadership. She has worked with thousands of youth and adults on promoting safe and healthy relationships. She will be presenting her workshop, “Exploring Gender Issues to Prevent Bullying & Sexual Harassment” during breakout session 1 of We Are Girls.
Shameka Christon
Shameka Christon is an entrepreneur, fashionista, and WNBA All Star. She will be presenting her workshop “You’ll Win… If You Don’t Quit” during breakout sessions 1 and 2 of We Are Girls.
Sol2Soul: Evelina Solís
Evelina Solís is the President & Founder of Sol2Soul, a career/life coaching and inspiration speaking resource who uses a multi-media platform to reach her audience. She co-hosts Ujima TV with Damita and Evelina on Channel Austin, writes for Ujima Magazine and co-hosts 501 News with J.R. Gonzales on KDRP 103.1 FM. She will be presenting her workshop, “American All S.T.A.R.S” during breakout sessions 1 and 2 of We Are Girls.
Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense, Joy Williamson
Joy Williamson is head instructor at Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense. She holds a second degree Black Belt in Seido Karate and is a certified self defense instructor through the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation. She believes that everyone deserves to feel safe and respected, and that we all can work to prevent violence. Sun Dragon will be presenting their workshop “Stand up for Yourself!” during sessions 1 and 3 and “How To Talk To Your Daughters About Violence (Without Scaring Them)” during session 3 of We Are Girls.
THRIVE Consulting: Catherine Hearn
Catherine Hearn is a 26 year old native Austinite, wellness coach, and founder of THRIVE Consulting. When a health scare in 2008 forced her to reassess her life, Catherine’s outlook on line and herself changed forever. She now knows that truly nothing is impossible and in the past 3 years has developed a true passion and drive in life, become fluent in Spanish, traveled the world, lived and worked in Argentina, and opened her own wellness consulting business in Austin. She now strives to spread the message that changed her life to other young women so that they too can begin believing in themselves and their dreams, and live the life they have always imagined.
Travis County Attorney’s Underage Drinking Prevention Program (UDPP)
UDPP identifies the link between underage drinking with more highly visible social issues in addition to drinking and driving. They will be presenting their workshops, “Busted” and “Why Risk It?” during all three breakout sessions of We Are Girls.
Thomas Meredith
Thomas J. Meredith is a Founder and Managing Member of Meritage Capital, L.P. Prior to establishing Meritage Capital, L.P., he served in various positions at Dell Inc. (“Dell”) including Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, and Managing Director of Dell Ventures. Mr. Meredith was instrumental in refining and extending Dell’s highly successful direct business model. Prior to joining Dell, he was Vice President and Treasurer for Sun Microsystems and Co-Founder and General Manager of Amdahl Capital Corporation. Mr. Meredith serves as Vice Chairman of Brightstar Corp. and as a member of the Board of Directors. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Motorola Mobility Holdings and BazaarVoice, Inc. His career spans over thirty years and includes extensive experience in corporate finance, manufacturing, finance operations and global financial markets.
Mr. Meredith received his LLM degree in taxation in 1977 from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; his Juris Doctor degree in 1975 from Duquesne University of Law; and his Bachelor’s degree in political science in 1972 from St. Francis University, Loretto, Pennsylvania. In addition, he also received honorary degrees from St. Francis and Duquesne University Business School.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo is presenting their financial literacy workshop, “Hands on Banking” during session 1 of We Are Girls.
Yoga Rx: Caroline McCarter
Caroline McCarter has been practicing yoga since 1995, but it became more of an interest to her after taking a college yoga philosophy course in ’97 during her undergraduate years at the University of Michigan. She continued her studies there eventually early a masters degree in Library and Information Sciences. While she excelled as a librarian, the draw of her yoga studies pulled her away from that career. After several years of serious study, which include maters in the field of yoga, Caroline opened a private therapy practice in Austin, TX creating a new way for the city to look at traditional yoga practices. She will be presenting her workshop, “Yoga for Better Body Image” during session 1 of We Are Girls.