Breakthroughs
Posted on Apr 15th, 2008
by 
Jeff Klein
Jeff Klein
I wrote this last night, on my way home (to Northern California) from Washington, DC, where I participated in the Breakthrough Summit convened by the Women, Faith, and Development Alliance (WFDA), held at the National Cathedral Sunday with a leadership circle working session yesterday at the Academy for Educational Advancement. What an amazing and inspiring two days. In addition to representing FLOW and our Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs campaign, I was honored to represent the Whole Planet Foundation and to present their commitment live (one of ten that were presented at the event at the Cathedral; the other 60+ were presented in the program and projected onto a screen). WPF is rapidly expanding their very effective Micro-credit program in countries where WFM sources products.
While I can’t even begin to convey the depth and breadth of impressions I took in (the people, place, and presentations were amazing), a few stand out. First, Her Excellency Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, is one of my new heroes. It is no wonder that Ireland is where it is today. What an amazing person – clear, wise, skillful – a true role model. Madeleine Albright, who gave the keynote yesterday, was superb - straightforward and effective. And the young people (from Jamaica, Uganda, and Kenya) who spoke towards the end of the event were probably the most inspiring and touching, so poised, grounded, and passionate. And Ashley Judd, who introduced and interviewed them, was great.
The work of this new alliance is to advance the position of women in society and, specifically, to do whatever it takes to alleviate poverty and other violence against women. Women Thrive Worldwide, one of the core partners in the Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs campaign I am producing with FLOW, is one of the core partners of the WFDA, and played a central role in organizing the gathering as it is playing in catalyzing the ongoing work of the Alliance. The AWE campaign will be deeply connected to the WFDA.
I was thrilled to reconnect with Linda Higdon, who is now running PEACE X PEACE (she was their partnership director when we worked together three years ago in the context of the Celebrate Peace program I produced for Peace Cereal). Their online portal to facilitate women to make personal connections with other women around the world is taking off.
I also met Kimberly King, who now owns the Peace Company (another Celebrate Peace partner) and is part of the organizing circle for the Women’s World Summit slated for 2010 in Sophia, Bulgaria.
And had a great time last night at dinner at the Egyptian Embassy with Elise Smith, the co-founder of Women Thrive Worldwide and a delightful woman of great service, and with Chris Grumm, CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, who kept me in stitches all evening (I suppose it was an even exchange). I must admit, working with women is great fun.
Hearing stories of rape, murder, HIV-AIDS, and other atrocities and abuses that many of the women experienced directly – themselves, in their families, communities, and in their work – was humbling and motivating. But the overall spirit was one of hope, unity, and determination, with deep commitments to coordinated action.
On another note, last Friday a small group of us were privileged to take a workshop with Jim Costello, who flew up to SF from LA to introduce us to his extraordinary brain fitness program™. Drawing on my experience with Spinning, ChiRunning, and music marketing and business development, I am working with Jim to package his program and take it to a mass market. He is an incredible person, who has worked for years to understand how the brain and body work together – physiologically, chemically, et al – how most of us have gaps in the development of our nervous system, which creates stress and dysfunctional patterns, and how we can re-pattern our system to achieve a profoundly higher level of well-being. It makes so much sense, and the results he produces with athletes, children with ADD, survivors of stroke, high pressured executives and others is quite remarkable.
A friend of mine who participated, who suffers from something called hand-eye dystonia, loved it and wrote:
The thing he is doing integrates several pieces, which I have been experimenting with for the past year and a half to manage the dystonia. I definitely learned a lot and I want to know more! Instead of manage it I would like to FIX IT! I would really like to correspond with him to see if we could do something remotely. Can you persuade him to move to the Bay area!
Stay tuned for more.
While I can’t even begin to convey the depth and breadth of impressions I took in (the people, place, and presentations were amazing), a few stand out. First, Her Excellency Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, is one of my new heroes. It is no wonder that Ireland is where it is today. What an amazing person – clear, wise, skillful – a true role model. Madeleine Albright, who gave the keynote yesterday, was superb - straightforward and effective. And the young people (from Jamaica, Uganda, and Kenya) who spoke towards the end of the event were probably the most inspiring and touching, so poised, grounded, and passionate. And Ashley Judd, who introduced and interviewed them, was great.
The work of this new alliance is to advance the position of women in society and, specifically, to do whatever it takes to alleviate poverty and other violence against women. Women Thrive Worldwide, one of the core partners in the Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs campaign I am producing with FLOW, is one of the core partners of the WFDA, and played a central role in organizing the gathering as it is playing in catalyzing the ongoing work of the Alliance. The AWE campaign will be deeply connected to the WFDA.
I was thrilled to reconnect with Linda Higdon, who is now running PEACE X PEACE (she was their partnership director when we worked together three years ago in the context of the Celebrate Peace program I produced for Peace Cereal). Their online portal to facilitate women to make personal connections with other women around the world is taking off.
I also met Kimberly King, who now owns the Peace Company (another Celebrate Peace partner) and is part of the organizing circle for the Women’s World Summit slated for 2010 in Sophia, Bulgaria.
And had a great time last night at dinner at the Egyptian Embassy with Elise Smith, the co-founder of Women Thrive Worldwide and a delightful woman of great service, and with Chris Grumm, CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, who kept me in stitches all evening (I suppose it was an even exchange). I must admit, working with women is great fun.
Hearing stories of rape, murder, HIV-AIDS, and other atrocities and abuses that many of the women experienced directly – themselves, in their families, communities, and in their work – was humbling and motivating. But the overall spirit was one of hope, unity, and determination, with deep commitments to coordinated action.
On another note, last Friday a small group of us were privileged to take a workshop with Jim Costello, who flew up to SF from LA to introduce us to his extraordinary brain fitness program™. Drawing on my experience with Spinning, ChiRunning, and music marketing and business development, I am working with Jim to package his program and take it to a mass market. He is an incredible person, who has worked for years to understand how the brain and body work together – physiologically, chemically, et al – how most of us have gaps in the development of our nervous system, which creates stress and dysfunctional patterns, and how we can re-pattern our system to achieve a profoundly higher level of well-being. It makes so much sense, and the results he produces with athletes, children with ADD, survivors of stroke, high pressured executives and others is quite remarkable.
A friend of mine who participated, who suffers from something called hand-eye dystonia, loved it and wrote:
The thing he is doing integrates several pieces, which I have been experimenting with for the past year and a half to manage the dystonia. I definitely learned a lot and I want to know more! Instead of manage it I would like to FIX IT! I would really like to correspond with him to see if we could do something remotely. Can you persuade him to move to the Bay area!
Stay tuned for more.
Access: Public
accelerating women entrepreneurs
July 2008