It was the dawn of a new chapter in the life of someone I love dearly, my oldest daughter Katherine. She was turning twelve years old and I knew deep within my being that I wanted to help ignite the next part of her journey as she transitioned from girl to young woman with beautiful lessons and ancient truths told from women around the world.
Echoing deep within me were the words of the African spiritual teacher Sobonfu Somé:
“A woman’s medicine is another woman.”
Since the beginning of time, we have symbolized various life passages for girls and boys with the markings of ceremony, celebration, ritual and community. I want these same gifts for Katherine in her own way. From the metaphoric Red Tent, to Quinceañeras and Sweet Sixteen parties, to spiritual and religious ceremonies, we all have our own native ways to honor various coming of age traditions.I wanted to recognize our traditions, yet I also wanted to sprinkle in something else…
I wanted Katherine to experience the broader context of her own becoming.I wanted her to see the next evolution of herself from trailblazing women role models who share their stories, their dreams and their invaluable lessons learned.I wanted to help inspire her own truth that is beginning to take shape within her.
Not too long after these inklings, I received a message from Emerging Women thatJane Goodall was going to be the keynote speaker at their upcoming conference in San Francisco.Stop, breathe, synchronicity.The Jane Goodall… the one that Katherine has admired from an early age with sweet book reports to boot?I quickly called my husband and within minutes we had our plan.
No, this would certainly not be the Red Tent.But it would be our own unique way to start the conversation. We would blend multiple traditions into our very own, and it would be rooted in the powerful wisdom of the words of Joseph Campbell:
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
I sat down and wrote Katherine’s twelfth birthday letter.While the strokes of the keys came from my fingers, they were equally infused with the love and mutual support of my husband who adores and cherishes the young woman in our daughter.
Dearest Katherine,
We want you to know that you have every tool that you will ever need inside of you.The heart is the seat of your soul.It is the strongest voice you will ever hear.Listen to its precious whispers and it will always guide you home to the truth about your next step on your path.
We want you to know that in the peaks and valleys of life, the ups and downs, the ebb and the flow, that self-compassion and self-love will be your greatest friend.
We want you to know that you are an extraordinary young woman and your light shines so bright in this world.We are humbled and grateful to share this path with you, and as your parents, we will always, always, always love, support and honor you as your own unique person.
When you were in the fourth grade, you did a report on Jane Goodall because she inspired a calling that was already brewing inside of you – a love for animals and a voice for those who do not have one. So, for your birthday, you and I are going to take a sojourn to San Francisco and you will get to see Jane Goodall LIVE.Our special birthday wish for you as you embark on this next chapter in your life, is that you always live a life inspired by what moves you the most.Touch this place inside and you will live a life of authenticity and deep human fulfillment.
With incredible love, empowerment and inspiration for you,
Mom and Dad
What started as a seedling in my awareness manifested into a truly transformational weekend with my daughter.We laughed, we cried, we danced, we played, we talked, we ate amazing food, we rode the trolley and we paid a visit to the magnificent redwoods.Most significant of all, we shared the collective umbrella of connectedness among a group of women who care deeply about bringing who they are to the table to help change our world.
There is a powerful exchange in the mere presence of people like Dr. Goodall. In Katherine’s own words: “Her presence was incredible, I could feel it from 5 rows away.Seeing her in person brought a lot of real to the situation.She sparked something in me to keep doing what I am doing, thinking what I am thinking.I look at her and think; she is one of my people, she speaks my language, she understands.”
These moments help define who we are. I asked her to share what she would tell other parents about this particular phase of her life, and she offered that “this stage of development is most crucial besides babyhood, and it is great to be embraced by people who are making change and good in the world.These are the women that I want to fan girl over.”I couldn’t agree more!
“These are the women that I want to fan girl over.”
As parents we sprinkle the very soil of our families with our own nutrients, our own fertilization, and the traditions that resonate with us.As we do so, we watch our children rise from this ground into their own becoming.
On the eve of our last day together, I watched Katherine stroll down a path in a cathedral of redwoods with lightheartedness and gratitude.I could not help but to think of these amazing trees, their incredible roots and the community of this majestic redwood grove.I reflect to my own grove, the roots who supported me into my own becoming and now who support Katherine.
We are standing on the shoulders of our mothers, and our grandmothers and with much reverence, and my daughter is standing on mine.
This week, Juicy Bites is all about YOU and how you experienced Emerging Women Live 2014. Emerging Women is all about your strong voices, and we love the beautiful and varied ways you speak about October’s event.
So whether you joined us in NYC, tuned in via livestream, or gleaned inspiration via social media, we encourage you to join in the conversation. Let us know what your experience with Emerging Women Live was. We love hearing similarities, synchronicities and new points of view from our tribe.
1. 11 Changemakers Who Rocked ‘Emerging Women Live’ via Rewire Me
The Rewire me team compiles their favorite moments from 11 speakers, panels and workshops in this inspiring round-up of EWlive14.
“You can see Amanda Steinberg’s fearless attitude in this exchange: when asked if she ‘just wanted to be taken care of,’ she replied, ‘No—but my ex-husband and my boyfriend do.’”
Did you relate to the “time to play big” message that so many of the speakers were referencing? Melissa shares her realization in this personal essay.
“I have woken from my slumber and have remembered why I am here. Though my voice will quiver and my hands will shake I too find courage when I stand and say, ‘This is who I am.’”
Peggy saw the women around her brimming with the magic of connection and inspiration. So why was she feeling disconnected and down?
“I’m at a stage in my life, on the other side of struggling through the healing process, where I believe in my worthiness and value as a human being. But, when I find myself making comparisons I sometimes still doubt it.”
This is the series to read if to get thoughtful recaps of your favorite speakers’ main themes. Start with Kris Carr on resilience, then follow the links at the bottom for 3 more.
““Emerging means to come into being, transformation, to become manifest, to come into view, to come out from under. It’s not just happening to women. It’s happening to the feminine.” ~ Chantal Pierrat
5. 14 Things Danielle LaPorte Did Not Teach Me via Casey Erin Wood
Casey Erin Wood was wild about Danielle LaPorte – the kind of wild that leads to crazy, fantastical expectations about what might happen when they meet at EWlive14. Did the reality stand a chance of living up?
“The first time I found her it felt like she was living in my heart and whispering the words of my soul back into my ear.”
In this video, Susie Mordoh shares a common thread that she heard from multiple speakers at EWlive14, a message she wants to spread to help women uplift each other worldwide.
Sera Beak’s powerful story of being advised to masculinize her voice spoke deeply to Kathrine Aspaas, who knows the discomfort of trying to live “as expected” instead of as is.
“We will use the F-word without shame.
Without fear of being burnt on academic, economic and political fires.
We say it out loud:
9. On Cultural Cockroaches, True Greatness, and Eating the Apple via Colors of Gratitude
Clear and elegant thoughts sparked by Even Ensler’s amazing keynote. Brief and thought-provoking.
“Unless a significant amount of individuals realizes her/his true power, the world will keep pushing the narrative of lack so it can keep selling less than excellent thoughts & stuff.”
Elizabeth Gilbert is the beloved author of the 2006 runaway bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. At the time of this interview, her TED talk on creativity has over 8 million views, and her latest novel, The Signature of All Things, has been celebrated as “the novel of a lifetime” by O Magazine. Liz was a featured presenter at the 2013 Emerging Women Live Conference, and the following is a transcript of the conversation we had just before that event.
Chantal Pierrat: There’s a lot of places that we’ll probably end up going today, but I wanted to start with your book since it’s sitting here right in my hands. You were so kind to send me an unproofed copy. I’ve had a chance to dig in a little bit, and I have to say, it’s kind of a page-turner.
Elizabeth Gilbert: Oh, I’m so glad it’s making you turn the pages. That’s what I want. I want you to sprain your wrist turning pages with this book. [Laughs]
CP: Yes, I’m definitely falling down the rabbit hole. But it’s interesting—I’ve not read your fiction. I’ve read, obviously, Eat, Pray, Love, which had such a big effect on me. I’m curious to hear more about how this process was for you, not really writing about yourself. In the last two books, you’ve been writing memoir style. How did this feel?
EG: Well, it felt like a homecoming. That would be the word that I would use, that popped into my mind. It’s true, you’re not the only person who hasn’t read my fiction! [Laughs] I started out as a writer of fiction many years ago, and the only thing I ever wanted to be my whole life, my only dream as a writer, was to write short stories and novels.
So my first book was a collection of short stories and my second book was a novel. I was well on that path, and then my life fell apart, as anybody who’s got $10 to buy a paperback of Eat, Pray, Love knows. And I ended up veering very sharply into this world of confessional memoirs that, of course, I do not regret having done at all. It’s been an extraordinary encounter with myself and with readers. It’s just been an amazing phenomenon.
And then after that came Committed, the follow-up, but 12 years had passed and I hadn’t written a word of fiction. And I just had that feeling that we get sometimes in our lives where I felt like, “If I drift any further away from this essential part of myself, I will never uncover it again. It’s time.”
“If I drift any further away from this essential part of myself, I will never uncover it again. It’s time.”
And also, the luxury appointed to me by the success of Eat, Pray, Love was I could do something as whimsical as take three, four years out of my life to do a passionate study of 19th-century botany and write a novel about 19th-century botanical exploration. So the book is also kind of a celebration of this place I am in my life right now where I have the time to pursue my creativity as I’ve always wanted to.
CP: So the main character is this brilliant young woman named Alma, and she’s developing for me still because I’m still in the early part. But I do think of you when I see her, and I don’t know if it’s just because I’m looking for you.
EG: Of course I’m there, and I think my readers will find me all over the book. It’s definitely a continuation of my passion. It’s a book about passion and it’s a book about travel and about discovery of the self, the discovery of the world, and discovery of the self in the world. Those are my themes that I’ve been looking at for a long time in a lot of different ways.
Alma is—the thing I love most about her is that she’s driven by a huge, towering lust for knowledge and for learning. Certainly in that, we are familiar. I really wanted to write a book about a woman whose life is directed by a craving to learn. I feel like that’s a character who we just don’t see enough in literature. And it’s somebody who I feel like I know, and somebody I feel like I am, and somebody who I think a lot of us feel like we are.
“I really wanted to write a book about a woman whose life is directed by a craving to learn. I feel like that’s a character who we just don’t see enough in literature.”
CP: So The Signature of All Things—I’m curious how you came upon that title.
EG: The “signature of all things”is actually a theory that was posited in the 16th century by a quite eccentric German mystic, who’s also a plant enthusiast, named Jakob Boehme, who came to believe that God had hidden in the design of every plant on earth a clue as to the meaning and use of that plant. So, for instance, the simple way to describe would be that walnuts, if you open them up, they look like a brain, and walnuts are very good for headaches. And then sage leaves are shaped exactly like the human liver, and sage is very good for liver aliments.
So it was this idea, this compassionate gardener—God—wanted people to find their way to the clues hidden in the plants that would benefit us. It’s a lovely, kind of medieval mystical theory and it was well, well out of date by the time my characters in my book come along. There’s a lot of holes. [Laughs] A lot of leaves look like livers, and if you ate many of them, you would die.
You know, it’s one of those theories where he came up with a theory and tried to make the science fit to it. And my book is sort of about the opposite. My character is a real scientist who studies the world and deducts her theories after her study. However, she does fall in love with a man who still believes in that theory who’s also a botanist.
Liz’s fans send her pictures of their copy of SOAT from around the world.
And in a way, every single character in the book, all of them revolving around the world of plants, they’re all looking for the signature of all things in some different way, whether it’s scientifically or artistically or in the world of commerce. They’re trying to find the clues in the plant world to better their own life.
CP: What I love is that you are a great connector. You take us on a tangent, and yet it comes back around really beautifully to another piece. It’s not a hanging thread. It always ties back.
EG: Yes. Without a doubt. Thank you for saying that because I feel like the novels that I love—and I do love 19th-century novels. I love Jane Austen and Dickens and Trollope and Elliot. That whole gang, they’re my favorite. And I think that the mastery that they had is that they knew exactly, from the first minute of the story, where they were going and where they were taking you. And you know when you’re in their hands that you’re not going to get abandoned on the side of the road, which sometimes happens in contemporary novels where you’re like, “How’d we get here? I’m stuck here now!” [Laughs] “And I don’t think either me or the author has any idea where we’re going.”
So I wanted to have that same sense of leading the reader on a journey and saying, “It’s OK, you can trust me. We’re going to go on this together and we’re going to come back on the other side and we’re going to have a really amazing experience in the middle.” I’m hoping that’s what the book will convey.
“It’s OK, you can trust me. We’re going to go on this together and we’re going to come back on the other side and we’re going to have a really amazing experience in the middle.”
CP: Do you feel that, in your own life, you have that same sort of philosophy as you do in your writing style, where you trust everything actually does have a purpose and will cycle back?
EG: I do! [Laughs] I do. And it is magical thinking, right? Cynics and realists of all stripes would object to that idea, but it also does seem to be the case. It’s been shown now, even in scientific and sociological studies, that the people who are the most resilient and the people who seem to have lives of the richest quality are the ones who believe that there is some sort of a purpose to their life.
And I do think it’s kind of your job, if you’re lucky enough to have shown up in this world, to figure out what your purpose is. What are we doing otherwise, right? We’re just waiting. We’re just killing time. And from earliest consciousness, I just didn’t want to live in a waiting room. And in that regard, I’m very much like Alma, my character, as well. She’s definitely a purposeful young woman who, you will see, becomes a very purposeful middle-aged woman and an extremely purposeful old woman.
CP: So the tangents that life takes us on—it’s a dance between creating your own purpose and letting it unfold and believing in the seemingly randomness of it. You want both
EG: Yes. When people have asked me if I believe in destiny, I absolutely do, but I think that destiny is a kind of contract between human beings and the Mystery—whatever you want to call “the Mystery” with a capital “M.” I just call it “the Mystery” because it’s easier. And the Mystery entails everything that happens in our lives. And I feel like destiny is sort of an open questions. Things are put before you, offers are made, situations occur, and then you sort of decide what’s going to be made of it.
Somebody asked me the other day if I felt like my husband and I, if our love story was destined. And I said, “No, I don’t think our love story was destined. I think our meeting was destined. We certainly could have blown it.” [Laughs] The invitation was presented, and then it was turned over to our care, and what came next was up to us. But we could have easily walked away from it.
And I’ve been in situations before, in love and in work and in relationships, where an offering is there, and for whatever reason, the participants are unable or unwilling to see through it and it goes away. I don’t think destiny can force you to do something that you’re not going to do.
CP: You have an incredible attention to detail. Robert Penn Warren is one of my favorite writers in this regard, and this book reminds me a little bit of that.
CP: It has that same sort of—it’s like time stops and there’s a micro focus. And yet, I always think, “Wow, Elizabeth Gilbert, she’s got such big vision.” It seems like you have a pretty good balance of those two things going on. I’m wondering if that’s ever a struggle for you.
EG: You know, I love that idea, thank you for pointing it out. I think that the big picture is in the details. And it’s not an accident that my character, Alma Whittaker, who’s a botanist, finds her way in the world through studying mosses, which are incredibly tiny and incredibly intricate and which have been largely overlooked.
“I think that the big picture is in the details.”[inline]
Liz Gilbert in Wellington NZ (via her Facebook page)
And as a woman trying to make a name for herself in the botanical world, she discovers that there’s this huge universe right underfoot that everybody is literally stomping on. And that all the bigger botanists have made their name with bigger plants and flowers—you know, the orchidists and the people who study the great redwoods. But she can’t travel to those places. She doesn’t have that luxury to be able to take on those mega-floras.
But right in her backyard, there are probably 45 different varieties of moss growing on one boulder cropping, and she’s able to find an entire universe in that moss. And she’s actually able to ask the same giant questions about the origins of life itself through the study of these few boulders as the great men of her day are asking through the study of the cosmos and through evolution and through fossil records that they’re finding.
So all the answers are everywhere. It’s just that they’re in miniature for her because that sort of suits her life. And I also thought that was a big metaphor for women’s lives in general. I think for most of history, women have lived very rich, miniaturized lives. When you look at the artwork that women have done in Western civilization, it tends to be tiny. It’s needlework or it’s painting tea cups, it’s textiles, it’s tiny knots. Because women’s lives had been kind of compressed, unfortunately, into a smaller scale, and yet women bring their creativity to that small scale and make magnificent things on that scale.
“Women’s lives had been kind of compressed, unfortunately, into a smaller scale, and yet women bring their creativity to that small scale and make magnificent things on that scale.”
So I thought it would be interesting to have a female character who does the same thing in the scientific world, and who reaches the same conclusions as the great men by doing that. So I do think in her life, and in our own lives, there’s tremendous greatness to be found in the very small and the very everyday.
CP: There was a Harvard Business Review study where they compared male and female professionals, and whether it’s true or perceived, women scored lower in visioning. Everything else was equal or higher than the men. The only score that they didn’t meet and were actually below men was the ability to vision.
EG: The big, big picture. And I think another thing that is the danger of that is, of course, a little myopia and also perfectionism. I think that it was really important to me to write a novel about a women with a towering intellect, and I really didn’t want it to be a story about a woman who was brilliant but nobody would listen to her because she was a woman. I just felt like that was an oversimplification and also didn’t honor the real lives of the real, incredibly respected 19th-century female botanists who I studied as I was working on the book.
But what I do find—and this is a huge generalization but I think it’s a point worth making—that a lot of times what holds women back in the world is this idea that they can’t put something forward until it is perfect. And we all know that has never stopped men. [Laughs]
“…what holds women back in the world is this idea that they can’t put something forward until it is perfect. And we all know that has never stopped men.”
That’s the thing that I’m always trying to convey to younger women, to young artists, to young executives, to any woman I meet who’s entering the world at all. Don’t hold back your voice. Don’t hold back your ideas until they’re perfect because first of all, perfect doesn’t exist, and secondly, you’ll be overrun by people who are throwing out all sorts of stuff that’s half formed, and yours is 95 percent formed. You know, 95 percent’s good enough! Push it forward, put it out there.
Alma suffers from that level of perfectionism. And I think it’s probably one of the terrific saving graces in my own life that I actually don’t have a problem. [Laughs] I grew up with a mother who taught me from me a really early age that done is better than good. That was one of her mottos I grew up with. “Just finish it, just put it out there. It doesn’t have to be immaculate, it just has to be done.”
And I feel like that’s gotten me so far. That’s probably the reason I have six books instead of one. Otherwise I would still be editing that first one. I’m willing to throw stuff out there in the world. And I’m always trying to empower women to do the same.
“I’m willing to throw stuff out there in the world. And I’m always trying to empower women to do the same.”
To be continued… You can listen to the recorded version of this interview HERE
>>Like what you’re hearing? Join us for an experience that will last far beyond the four days we spend together. Learn more here>>>
We are proud to announce another exciting addition to the stellar line-up of Emerging Women Live 2014: Eve Ensler!
If you were at Emerging Women Live 2013 in Boulder, then you know how fortunate we are to have Eve joining us again in NYC. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience by the time she finished her incredibly moving talk, “The Power of Voice.” EWLive veterans – am I wrong? She was powerful, graceful, vulnerable, courageous and DANCING her truth. We look forward to another breath-taking performance from Eve this year.
“An activist is someone who cannot help but fight for something. That person is not usually motivated by a need for power or money or fame, but in fact is driven slightly mad by some injustice, some cruelty, some unfairness, so much so that he or she is compelled by some internal moral engine to act to make it better.”
About Eve Ensler:
Eve Ensler, Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been translated into over 48 languages, performed in over 140 countries, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway’s Westside Theater and on London’s West End (2002 Olivier Award nomination, Best Entertainment). Her experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to create V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls which raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of her award-winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2011, over 5,600 V-Day benefits took place. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $100 million and educated millions. V-Day’s most recent global campaign, ONE BILLION RISING, galvanized over one billion women and men on a global day of action towards ending violence against women and girls in February 2013. Her latest book “In the Body of the World” (Metropolitan Books) — is a brave and beautiful examination of an illness, unlike anything ever written about cancer. She was named one of US News & World Report’s ”Best Leaders” in association with the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard Kennedy School and one of “125 Women Who Changed Our World” by Good Housekeeping Magazine (2010). In 2011 she was named one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Changed the World” and The Guardian’s “100 Most Influential Women.”
a href=”http://www.eveensler.org/about-eve/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Read more about Eve Ensler HERE>>>
About Emerging Women Live 2014:
Emerging Women Live aims to support and propel the emerging movement of women who are stepping up and changing the world. #EWLive14 is a one of a kind conference that helps women to harness the power of the feminine, rock the business world, and create a new paradigm for success.
Join us for an experience that will last far beyond the four days we spend together. Early Bird tickets are available HERE until July 1st. Learn more here>>>
“Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.” ~ Margaret Sanger
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ~ Anais Nin
This week in Juicy Bites, we discover:
A woman challenges the pressure to start a family
The women Michelle Obama honored for their extraordinary courage
10 ways we can lead with courage
How to challenge the way society describes successful women
A feminine approach to feminism
Bella Abzug, lifelong activist, leader and hero
At the end of this post, we encourage you to join us for a conversation. This week’s Juicy Bites question for you, dear emerging women, is:
Check out Suzanne Heintz’s answer to the annoying and limiting question “Why aren’t you married?” The Denver-based art director’s photos are truly worth a thousand words to challenge the outdated but frequently implied notion that a woman without a husband and kids is somehow suspect.
“Do we live our lives with a keen awareness of how it feels, or just how it looks?” – Suzanne Heintz
2. U.S. Honors Extraordinary International Women of Courage via Mashable
March 8th marked the 103rd anniversary of International Women’s Day. In celebration, Michelle Obama presented the 2014 Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award to 10 exceptional women, whose work and achievements, often in the face of personal risk, serve as an inspiration to women worldwide.
“While our circumstances may be different, in so many ways the solutions to our struggles are the same. So when we see these women raise their voices and move their feet and empower others to create change, we need to realize that each of us has that same power and that same obligation.” – Michelle Obama
3. Lead With Courage: 10 Lessons From Women At The Top On Closing The Gender Gap via Forbes
Using specific examples from women she’s met in her own career path, Margie Warrell shares 10 inspirational insights on courageous feminine leadership, from “Don’t go it alone” to “Lift as you climb.”
“I firmly believe that only when we women born in the western world step up to the leadership plate, and refuse to cower in the face of fear or failure, can we hope to permanently close that gap and create a more equitable world for the millions of women who have none of the opportunity we so easily take for granted.”
4. How to Write About Female Politicians Without Being a Sexist Sh*thead via Jezebel
A few weeks ago, you emerging women started an awesome conversation about the power of words here. In the same spirit, with an added dose of humor, Lindy West challenges publications to be mindful of their language, and to dissolve the damaging double standards applied to news coverage of female politicians.
“Here, I made a template (just fill in the blanks and your article is done!): NEWS REPORT: [Female Politician] did [politics] today. [Describe politics.] THE END”
5. Ms. Opinionated: Am I a Bad Feminist if I Don’t Take a Stand on Every Issue? via bitchmagazine
In this advice column, Sydette Harry challenges the expectation that a feminist should have a decisive stand on every feminist issue. We appreciate this reminder to bring a feminine edge to feminism.
“Remember that you become a feminist to love people and support them and to challenge the systems that don’t. That’s the important thing: Not what someone call themselves, not whether they have all the correct opinions, but how they’re working to make a better life for women.”
Suzanne Braun Levine, author and first editor of Ms. Magazine, tells Makers about her hero, Bella Abzug, “an activist and leader in every major social movement of her lifetime,” and a woman who truly, outspokenly, lived her truth every day.
“She didn’t knock lightly on the door. She didn’t even push it open or batter it down. She took it off the hinges forever. So that those of us who came after could walk through.” – Geraldine Ferraro
We are excited to start a conversation and learn more from YOU, dear emerging women. Please join in with a comment below:
Like what you’re hearing? Dive deeper with us this October at Emerging Women Live 2014. Register before July 31st to enjoy deep discounts.
Chelsea Brookshire
Executive Assistant and Relationships Manager
Chelsea has over 15 years of experience in administrative and executive support. After her years of working in the legal and oil and gas industry, Chelsea has made it her passion to fill her life with creativity and incorporates that into everything she does. Her position at Emerging Women allows her to expand on that creativity and assist with empowering women around the world. She is a native of Colorado and enjoys spending time with her husband, her son, bonus son, family, and friends. In her free time she loves camping, painting, and all things creative.
Michelle Caggiano
Online Business Manager
Michelle studied Marketing and received her degree from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her passion for marketing, combined with great attention to detail, and over 7 years of experience in the tech-world makes her a valuable asset to the team! In addition to Emerging Women, she is also a solopreneur and works with a number of different clients in the online business realm. She is an experienced Online Business Manager and Virtual Assistant who specializes in marketing operations, project management and online course launch management. She is a Colorado native, mother of two dogs, a cat, and a turtle, and step-mother to an amazing little girl. In her spare time she enjoys live music, good food, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family.
Jen Jefferson
Power Circle Administrator
Jen comes to Emerging Women with over 25 years of experience in event operations and volunteer management. She has worked various types of events as a Volunteer Manager for Integral Life conferences and as an Event Coordinator for various large arts and sports festivals throughout Colorado. Alongside her passion for creating and producing events, she worked as a hospital administrator for over a decade in one of Denver’s largest hospitals helping make care affordable to hundreds of patients. Jen was born in Lima, Peru but has spent most of her life in Colorado. In 2016, a year sabbatical morphed into a life living abroad. Jen has been living in Cusco, Peru for the past four years and cherishes her life in the Andes mountains. In her spare time she enjoys exploring the world, playing capoeira, and deepening her yoga and meditation practices.
Nicole Fegley
Director of Power Circles
For over 13 years, Nicole has been a producer and connector in the field of personal and professional growth and transformation, creating diverse content, life-changing curriculum, and exquisite live and online experiences. She loves to unite and facilitate people in their work to live more good, true, and beautiful lives. She’s honored to bring this diverse expertise to Emerging Women. For the past two years she has been the lead producer for Emerging Women Live, and now is bringing her extensive production, coaching and facilitation skills to EW’s Power Circles. Nicole works in private practice as a Certified Integral Master Coach™, through her company, Unabashedly You, and has worked with hundreds of women (and men) individually and as a group facilitator. She also creates programs and interviews fascinating teachers and wellness experts in her role as U.S. Content Producer for Conscious Life. She is the co-founder of Core Integral, an educational company offering a comprehensive and accessible approach to learning integral theory. Prior to this work, she owned a large and lively restaurant and brewery in Pennsylvania. She has studied extensively and worked alongside Ken Wilber (Integral Theory), Daniel Brown, PhD (Tibetan Buddhism, Self-Development, Attachment, and Positive Psychology), and Sofia Diaz (Hatha Yoga and Feminine Embodiment). She holds a Masters Degree from Lehigh University. She regularly delights in the sunshine and mountains of Colorado with her two dogs and her partner Clint, and is a new mama to her daughter Truly Golden.
Chantal Pierrat
Founder & CEO
Chantal’s mission is to increase women’s leadership across the globe. After earning an MBA from the University of Colorado, Chantal left a career in medical device manufacturing in search of work that would align her dedication to transformative leadership with her passion for living an inspired, impactful life. In September 2012, she founded Emerging Women, a global leadership and media platform that serves over 70,000 women worldwide and has advanced women’s leadership within Fortune 500 companies such as HP, Oracle and more. Chantal’s ultimate vision is to weave feminine leadership and authenticity into businesses, and to create a world where women have a strong voice in the shaping of our future. Prior to Emerging Women, for over a decade, Chantal served on the executive team as the VP of Sales and Marketing for Sounds True, a multimedia publishing company focused on spirituality, personal growth, and holistic living. Chantal is a sought after speaker delivering keynotes at The Grace Hopper Celebration, Wisdom 2.0, and many other stages where women’s leadership is critical to the conversation. When she is not dancing or working to empower women around the world, Chantal enjoys family time with her husband and two sons in Boulder, CO.