Frances Moore Lappe'- Best Selling Author (Diet for a Small Planet) and Activist

FRANCES MOORE LAPPE’ is the author or co-author of 18 books including the three-million copy Diet for a Small Planet. Her most recent work, released by Nation Books in September 2011, is EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want, winner of a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Environment/Ecology/Nature category. Jane Goodall called the book “powerful and inspiring. “Ecomind will open your eyes and change your thinking. I want everyone to read it,” she said. She is the cofounder of three organizations, including Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy and, more recently, the Small Planet Institute, a collaborative network for research and popular education seeking to bring democracy to life, which she leads with her daughter Anna Lappé. Frances and her daughter have also cofounded the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide.

Frances appears frequently as a public speaker and on radio, and is a regular contributor to Huffington Post and Alternet. Articles featuring or written by Frances have also appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine, Harper’s, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, People, and more.

Holly Near- Award Winning Singer/Songwriter, Teacher & Activist

HOLLY NEAR is a unique combination of entertainer, teacher, and activist. An immense vocal talent, Near’s career as a singer has been defined by an unwillingness to separate her passion for music from her passion for human dignity. She is a skilled performer and an outspoken ambassador for peace who brings to the stage an integration of world consciousness, spiritual discovery, and theatricality.

Near’s participation crosses over many cultures and countries. Some samples of her work in the last few years include:

• One of the “1000 Women for Peace” nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005
• Joined Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Sally Fields, Christine Lahti, and noted Mexican performers in Juarez, Mexico to protest the uninvestigated killing of hundreds of young women
• Participated in a two-day discussion with Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Harry Belafonte, and Pete Seeger that focused on political song, responsible citizenship and the effect that protest music has had on public policy
• Has received numerous awards including honors from the A.C.L.U., the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, Ms. Magazine (Woman of the Year), the Legends of Women’s Music Award, and Impact Fund

Near’s portrait hangs at The Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio along with those of other social change artists including Paul Robeson, Marion Anderson, Pete Seeger, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, and Woody Guthrie.

Sista Monica Parker- Award Winning Singer/Songwriter

SISTA MONICA PARKER dubbed, “the lioness of the blues,” has performed with huge music industry stars including Indie Arie and BB King and is well on her own way to establishing a highly noted place in the blues and gospel genres. She has released nine CDs which include “Soul Blues & Ballads,” “Sweet Inspirations,” “Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down,” and “People Love the Blues.”

The Blues babe’s list of awards has been growing and includes a 2012 Blues Music Award nomination for “Best Soul Blues Female Artist” by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee. She was awarded “Artist of the Year Award” for all of Santa Cruz County, in California for both her talents and community service in which she spearheaded a Tsunami Relief Benefit Concert that raised thousands. In 2002 she received the “Artist of the Year Award” at the 17th Annual Monterey Bay Blues Festivalwhich joins her to the ranks of the legendary Buddy Guy, BB King and Etta James in receiving this prestigious award.  Most recently with a placement on the Fox Television network’s hit show, “So You Think You Can Dance,” Sista Monica has proved that she’s a force to be reckoned with.

She is a captivating and dynamic performer, speaker and producer.  Today, Sista Monica is one of the most admired women on the international festival music scene.

Jensine Larsen- Founder, World Pulse

JENSINE (Yen-See Nah) LARSEN is a social media expert, international journalist, and recognized leader in the movement for global women’s empowerment.  At age 28 she founded World Pulse – an action media network bringing women a global voice– after working as a freelance journalist covering indigenous movements and ethnic cleansing in South America and Southeast Asia.

Today 40,000 women in over 185 countries are connecting through World Pulse and producing a multiplier effect of change. Women previously unknown by the global public are having their stories picked up from World Pulse by the BBC, PBS, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, the UN, and the Huffington Post and beyond.  In addition, by networking through World Pulse’s website grassroots women leaders are finding job opportunities, starting new programs and businesses, launching women’s cybercafés, and finding international speaking opportunities that are changing their lives and lifting their communities.

With her finger on the pulse of women’s voices globally, Jensine is increasingly sought after for inspirational keynotes, current affairs lectures and radio programs and has appeared on NPR and PBS and presented keynotes and panels at TED, Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship, Bioneers Global, Digital Earth, WebVisions, Women in Technology International, the Women’s Funding Network, and the Conference on World Affairs, to name a few.

Jensine has been recognized with several leadership awards including being honored as a contemporary woman spiritual leader by the Auburn Seminary with a “Lives of Commitment Award”following in the footsteps of Alice Walker and Jane Goodall.  In addition, she was selected as a“Woman Who Inspires” by Donna Karan alongside such luminaries as Susan Sarandan, Fatima Bhutto, and Uma Thurman.  Morgan Stanley-Smith Barney has selected Jensine as one of six “Next Generation Changemakers” under 40 in 2011.

Osprey Orielle Lake- Author & Activist

OSPREY ORIELLE LAKE, MA, is the Founder/President of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus where she is working nationally and internationally with grassroots leaders, policy-makers, business people, and scientists to promote resilient communities, foster a post-carbon energy future, while also addressing societal transformation. She is an international advocate for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and has traveled to five continents studying ancient and modern cultures while making presentations at international conferences and universities. Her book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press) won a 2011 Nautilus Book Award.

www.ospreyoriellelake.com    www.iwecc.org

Lisa Kivirist- Ecopreneur, Author & Organic Farmer

LISA KIVIRIST is a social and business entrepreneur, an author, and a leader in the growing rural renaissance and sustainable living movement. She is the co-founder of the Rural Renaissance Network, which provides educational resources and information to individuals, families and communities wishing to support more ecologically mindful and socially responsible living in rural communities.

She is the author of Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional’s Guide to Independence (Andrews McMeel) and co-author, with her husband John Ivanko, of three books, Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, Ecopreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits, and Farmstead Chef.

Kivirist and her husband are innkeepers, organic growers, and partners in a contemporary approach to homesteading, conservation and sustainable living. She is a Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow, an advocate for women in sustainable agriculture, and director of the Rural Women’s Project for the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service.

Chi Yvonne Leina- Founder- Gender Danger & World Pulse Correspondent

CHI YVONNE LEINA works as a freelance reporter for television, radio, and various newspapers in Cameroon.  She currently specializes in covering the health and religion beats.  Prior to going freelance, Chi spent four years as a reporter/on-air presenter at Equinoxe Television, Cameroon’s leading private TV and radio channel.  In addition she has served as editor of the environmental magazine Cameroon Birdline and a World Pulse Correspondent.

RHIANNON TOMTISHEN & MADISON VORVA- A desire to earn a Girl Scouts award led Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva to something much larger. The two friends created Project ORANG (Orangutans Really Appreciate and Need Girls Scouts) in 2007 to earn their award. Then they discovered that the Girl Scouts’ iconic cookies contain palm oil, and that palm oil plantations are one of the leading causes of orangutan habitat destruction. So Rhiannon and Madison started a campaign to get the Girl Scouts to replace palm oil with a more eco-friendly oil instead. They have since partnered with Rainforest Action Network, co-authoring a petition that has generated more than 70,000 emails to the Girl Scouts headquarters.

Emma’s revolution is the duo of award-winning activist musicians, Pat Humphries and Sandy O.  Called “Inspiring, gusty and rockin’”, the duo is celebrating the release of their third cd, “Revolutions Per Minute”, an electrifying soundscape of “rousing and soulful” songs of social conscience, in settings from intimate acoustic to full-on funk. Grand Prize winners in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, the duo’s songs create new standards in the art of social justice. Their songs “Peace, Salaam, Shalom” & “Keep on Moving Forward” are sung around the world, and their music has been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and Pacifica’s “Democracy Now!”

The String Sisters- 15 year olds Emilie Roberts Brockway (fiddle), Lexi Tyrrell (cello), and 14 year old Delphine Griffith (harp) are The String Sister’s.