Accelerating Environmental Protection through Women’s Grassroots Solutions: An Experiential Leadership Journey
Women all over the U.S. are taking action, shaping policy agendas, raising their voices in solidarity, and amplifying one resonant message: Grassroots women’s leadership can help reshape and restore balance in our communities. The Women’s Earth Alliance Environmental Leadership Accelerator Design Team will guide us on an experiential leadership journey, sharing inspiring practices from a wide range of diverse perspectives to help us hone and refine our own visions for engaged activism. Facilitators: Corrina Gould, Pandora Thomas, Niria Alicia, Kendall Dunnigan, Amira Diamond, Melinda Kramer, Sarita Pockell, Arielle Moinester.
Interactive & Experiential Tent
October 20th | 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm
Panelists
Corrina Gould
Spokesperson
Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone
Corrina Gould, born and raised in Oakland, CA (territory of Huichuin), is the spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone. An activist who has worked to preserve and protect the ancient burial sites of her ancestors in the Bay Area for decades, she also co-founded Indian People Organizing for Change and the Sogorea Te Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women’s community organization.Pandora Thomas
Renowned Teacher
Pandora Thomas, a leading figure in the application of ecological principles to social design with 25+ years’ experience, currently combines being a caregiver for her mother with her work as a renowned teacher, writer, designer, speaker, and facilitator at several permaculture and ecological design schools and programs nationally and internationally.Niria Alicia
Xicana Storyteller
Niria Alicia, born in Oregon to a migrant farm-worker family, is a multi-lingual Xicana storyteller, author, educator, poet, and community organizer. With an academic background in environmental and Latin American studies and non-profit administration, Nira has traveled, studied and worked on social justice projects throughout the Americas and beyond, including with Earthjustice, Our Children’s Trust, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Honor the Earth, and Greenaction.Kendall Dunnigan
Director
Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s Permaculture Program
Kendall Dunnigan, Director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s Permaculture Program (whose purpose is to resist the destructive extractive, enclosure economy so communities can retain collective sovereignty, biological and cultural diversity, and regenerative livelihoods), facilitates multi-generational eco-cultural design processes with economically and environmentally marginalized communities in the U.S., Latin America, and Africa.Amira Diamond
Co-Director
Women's Earth Alliance’s
Amira Diamond, Co-Director (with Melinda Kramer) of Women's Earth Alliance’s since 2007, has worked to expand WEA’s programs, build the WEA team and create a community of support for its work. Active within the NGO community for over 25 years, she has worked for community health, environmental and food justice, LGBTQ and women’s rights, directing organizations such as Julia Butterfly Hill’s Circle of Life and Democracy Matters.Melinda Kramer
Founder and Executive Director
Women’s Earth Alliance
Melinda Kramer, founder/Executive Director of the Women’s Earth Alliance, which has equipped thousands of women with technical, entrepreneurial, and leadership skills to work on safe water, energy access, regenerative farming, land rights, and climate protection initiatives around the world, is a passionate advocate for social, environmental and gender justice who has lived and worked around the world.Sarita Pockell
Head of Curriculum & Director of Indonesia Programs
Women’s Earth Alliance
Sarita Pockell, Head of Curriculum & Director of Indonesia Programs at the Women’s Earth Alliance, is an education-for-sustainability specialist (as well as a musician, playwright, theater director, backyard farmer, mother, diversity/inclusion facilitator with the ADL, garden educator with West County Digs, and on the advisory board of the Urban REAL School). Previously at the Green School in Bali, Sarita has also worked in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Croatia.Arielle Moinester
Program Director
Women’s Earth Alliance
Arielle Moinester, Program Director of Women’s Earth Alliance, is an international agricultural development professional and entrepreneur who has worked extensively in Africa and Asia with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and is currently CRS’ Regional Technical Advisor for Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Arielle also co-founded Hands of Mothers, an NGO building women’s micro-enterprises globally and is co-owner of the raw juice company Earthjuice.
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