Past Events

WomanKind 2010, St. James’s Episcopal Church, Richmond Virginia
February 2010

We were thrilled for the opportunity to participate in WomanKind 2010: Saving Graces on February 12-13 in Richmond, VA.  Anne Lamott was the keynote speaker at this bi-annual event.  Her remarks centered on Grace, which she defined as the divine energy that meets us where we are. She identified some enemies of Grace (multitasking, perfectionism) and also some conduits for Grace (letting go, forgiveness, not getting your own way . . .), and listeners were challenged to put their dreams on the calendar today and move toward them.

Workshop leaders included women from a variety of religious and professional backgrounds.  Woman's Perspective's Executive Director, Lorraine Antieau, presented a workshop twice on Saturday, "Your Money Journey", to over 60 women.  The participants were open and eager as during discussions on how learning from past money experiences can move us toward using money consciously in the present. The workshops ended with reflection on "21 Money and Spirit Practices for a Holy Season", exercises to help participants bring money into spiritual context in their personal lives.

Connecting Your Pocketbook to Your Soul through Art: Workshop with artist Janet Slom and Rosemary Williams, Black Rock Art Center, Bridgeport, CT

Using art as a tool, this workshop took participants on a personal money journey. The students began by identifying the often confusing messages received in childhood about money, then learned to understand their feelings around such issues as abundance, scarcity, earning, investing, spending and giving. As we compared these messages and feelings with our core values and/or spiritual beliefs, a picture emerged both literally and figuratively. By the end of the workshop, the participants were able to create plans to align actions with values.

HIV/AIDS Orphans Tell Their Stories in Photos
Photo Exhibit at Rockwell Art Gallery, Wilton, CT

A photographic exhibit of remarkable images created by a small group of orphaned children in remote Kisumu, Kenya was the featured event at this gallery. Organized through Women's Perspective, this interactive art project was the brain child of Ann Reeves of Redding, CT and Charyn Atkin of Weston, CT, who traveled with Women's Perspective to Kisumu to provide the children an opportunity to tell their own stories.

The resulting photographs, which were developed in Kisumu and copies given to the children for their scrapbooks, revealed much about their lives. “We were absolutely amazed by the quality of these photographs,” said Reeves, a psychologist who works with children and is an avid amateur photographer. “None of the children had every used a camera before and few had ever seen one up close”. The resulting art show brought home to the viewer the inherent resiliency and capability in children despite tragedy we cannot imagine.

HIV/AIDS Widows Conference
Kisumu, Kenya

Invited to present two workshops on Financial Destiny to the 200 widows gathered at the 4th International HIV/AIDS Widow Conference, Kisumu, Kenya, Rosemary Williams traveled there with more than just workshops in mind. For Charyn Atkin, Jane Burruss, Barbara Burhans and Ann Reeves, who accompanied Rosemary, travel to Kisumu, opened the way for a Women's Perspective “transformational trip”.

There were ample opportunities for these adventurous women to learn, and to be moved to put their money into inspired action. It was on this occasion that Ann and Charyn provided a group of orphaned children an opportunity to see their world through the lens of a camera and to carry with them forever the photos of their life on one day in November, 2004. Children in this dusty corner of east Africa had, for the most part, never seen a camera up close, much less used one. The results were spectacular. The joy and excitement experienced by the children and the creativity and talent displayed were evident.

Women's Perspective Retreat
Findhorn Foundation, Findhorn, Scotland

Findhorn is a place where everyday life is transformed by living, working and learning with spiritual values. The Findhorn Community is a major international center of spiritual education and personal transformation. Our retreat group joined Experience Week, the doorway to the community's essence and its spiritual principles.

Money and Spirituality: A Woman's Perspective - Workshop
Divine Compassion Center for Spiritual Renewal
White Plains, NY

Participants examined how powerful messages and conflicted feelings about money effect self-image, relationships and spiritual journey and began a do-able action plan that nurtures alignment between their spirit and choices about earning and spending money.

International Women’s Day Celebration
"Weaving a World that Works"
1st Congregational Church on the Green, Norwalk, CT

Women's Perspective joined women from across the US to gather together to inspire, collaborate and celebrate International Women's Day. Margaret Auma, Kisumu, Kenya, Rosemary Williams and Kathleen Gorelick, Women's Perspective, delegates the UN Commission on the Status of Women, updated the group on the Commission's activities. Margaret, Springs Ministries, also spoke about her work with AIDS widows and orphans in Kenya. Pat Krause, MayaWorks, a Fair Trade Organization, described her work with Mayan artisan weavers in Guatemala, Elise Harrison led the group in sacred circle dances, and Rosemary Williams held a mini-workshop on money and values. International Women's Day, first observed in 1909, is the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is commemorated by the UN and is a national holiday in many countries. Our celebration in CT was part of Gather the Women's nationwide and international celebration.

Entrepreneurship in Alignment: Connecting Your Money with Your Spirit – An Entrepreneurial Woman's Network Professional Development Workshop
Westport, CT

Rosemary Williams, workshop leader, focused squarely on the issues that confront today’s entrepreneur: how do you understand money, create wealth, and manage your resources while remaining true to your core beliefs and inner spirit.

An Evening with Jean Shinoda Bolen
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fairfield, CT

Dr. Bolen discussed her newest book, Crones Don't Whine and the "crone" qualities women of all ages can cultivate. Crones speak the truth with compassion, listen to their bodies, reinvent themselves, and savor the good in their lives. Visit Dr. Bolen's website at: www.jeanbolen.com

Bi-Cultural Leadership Immersion Trip to Haiti

Women's Perspective led students from St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN on a Bi-Cultural Leadership Trip to Haiti that was part of their social justice course. The group experienced city and country life, met with an advocacy group serving rape survivors, worked in an orphanage, talked with women leaders in health care, education, and media, as well as archivists, attorneys, volunteers and activists. Evenings were spent in conversations about the root causes of poverty and how our lives in the US affect the lives of Haitians and others in the developing world.

Women, Money and Spiritual Vision – Workshop
The Mandala Center, Des Moines, NM

Align financial values with spiritual vision. An interactive Money Journey workshop based on Rosemary’s book, A Women’s Book of Money and Spiritual Vision. Jane Burruss, MBA, PhD, JD, and Women's Perspective board member, co-led the workshop with Rosemary Williams. Jane lectures on business and stewardship topics.

Money and Spirituality: A Woman's Perspective - Discussion and Booksigning
A "Table Talk" at the White Dog Cafe, Philadelphia, PA

Rosemary Williams, director of Women’s Perspective, lead a discussion on women’s unique perspective on money, faith and economic resources. Rosemary spoke about ways to combine a sense of money with a sense of spiritual purpose, to align core values with the power of one’s resources to make a difference in the world.

Connecting Your Pocketbook to Your Soul™ – Workshop
Cenacle Retreat Center, Warrenville, IL

Money's powerful force in our life and spirit explored. Attitudes and feelings about money can deeply affect our lives, spiritual journey, self-image, relationships, work and community involvement. Through their better understanding, participants discover how to connect their pocketbook to their soul and experience the possibilities that open when financial choices and spiritual vision are aligned.

Guatemala - Semana Santa (Holy Week) - Transformational Trip

The group visited with weavers, farmers, healthcare workers and teachers. The daily schedule included opportunities to talk with religious leaders, officials and volunteers who live and work in Guatemala and learn about its complex political, economic and cultural realities. We shared friendship, knowledge, resources, hope, and faith across cultural and economic lines.

Women, Money and Spirituality – Workshop Mercy Center, Madison, CT

Attitudes and feelings about money and spirituality were explored via the money journey, a key step to aligning financial choices to spiritual vision. The group collaborated with Clara Wainwright, renowned quiltmaker and celebration artist, on the design of a quilt symbolizing a woman’s money journey.
Click here to see quilt.

Women’s Perspective Week of Prayer and Meditation – Retreat
Gampo Abbey, Pleasant Bay Cape, Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

A quiet week of prayer and meditation at Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastery, located on the northeastern coast of Cape Breton Island near Highlands National Park above the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Pema Chödrön is the resident teacher.