Anne is a communications and PR expert with a background in polar science and environmental policy. She works with leading global academic institutions and international businesses to select and train the most promising students worldwide. With experience ranging from fact-checking presidential speeches to coordinating research in Antarctica, she applies her knowledge, conceptual abilities and human skills to help our projects reach the broadest audience with the most effective outcome.
Rod trained as a professional singer and musician at the University of Redlands School of Music. Following graduation, he was drawn to the San Francisco Bay area by the innovative technology industries at what came to be known as the dot com years. Here, in 1997, he co-founded green design agency Celery Design Collaborative, pioneers in sustainable design and corporate responsibility strategies for industry leaders in clean tech, renewable energy, culture, education, and community development.
Bette is an artist and a writer, also known as Bette A. She studied Image & Language at Art Academy in Amsterdam. After doing a Master in Creative Writing at Oxford University she started writing in English and Dutch. Bette writes novels, short stories, makes drawings and videos and often blends different art forms together. She believes that collaboration between artists and scientists helps social progress, and global solidarity between all women supports equality.
Maya is an activist and feminist. They are an advocate for equality and queering society. The performativity of gender, roles of women in society, diversification of knowledge production and art practices, are their fields of interest. They are a project developer and researcher for the Heroines! Movement. Through their background in interdisciplinary research practice, gender concepts and theory, they help build and expand the ethical foundation and content of Heroines! Movement.
Feryad is a project developer and strategic advisor, and he coaches young entrepreneurs from immigrant backgrounds. We rely on his innovative strategy, creative solutions and helicopter view as we grow the network, as well as his advice on topics like diversity, law, future leadership and inclusion.
Researchers and writers who are developing story projects about exceptional women in their own countries.
Babs is a spoken word writer and artist who has influenced a generation of young writers and artists in the Netherlands. Woordsalon, which she founded, and Poetry Circle, which she co-founded, have become platforms for more diverse and marginalized voices to be heard. Babs has won both the Black Achievement Award in arts and culture and the Global UNESCO Spoken Word competition. She wrote 'Het Begint Met Een Droom', the Dutch Heroines! book, to inspire Dutch girls of all backgrounds.
Pragya Karki has studied Global Public Health and is a program manager for various community health projects. Her expertise lies in project implementation, people-centred operational management, and monitoring and evaluation of programs. She is looking forward to using her relationship building and motivation skills to create a strong team for Heroines! in Nepal.
Jasna studied comparative literature and she graduated from postcolonial studies. She worked at a local kindergarten for nine years, but then decided to change the direction of her career. In 2020, she joined the APIS Institute in Ljubljana as a volunteer. Since then, she has had her own group of immigrant women, with whom they improve the level of the Slovene language through conversation and reading of Slovene literature. With APIS institute Jasna has developed a workshop for Heroines! Slovenia and aims to create a book.
Dalia is a student of international relations in Iraq. She is also a film maker. With the support of the Heroines! Movement, she is working on a film about the strength and inner peace of the Yazidi women. The mission of this film is to empower women and girls, and to amplify the voices of the Yazidi ethnic minority. She wants to show the strength, the peace and the joy of Yazidi women, and send a powerful message to women and girls, telling them: You are strong, you are equal, you can have peace.
Heroines! Movement has joined forces with The HerStory Education trust, a cultural movement that tells the story of mythic, modern and historic women. “The Herstory Education Trust is thrilled to partner with Heroines! and work together to achieve our shared vision. In contrast to the handful of women we learn about in Irish schools, we discovered that there are over one thousand fascinating women featured in the Dictionary of Irish Biography. From talking to academics we know that the amnesia of women’s stories is not just an Irish problem - this is a global phenomenon.” says Founder & CEO Melanie Lynch.
Michela and Francesca are working on a Heroines! Project focused on highlighting and celebrating the role of women in agriculture. Their organization Casa Rosa is a non-profit and life project started by a group of people that decided to move away from cities in Northern Europe to move (back) in Tolve, Basilicata, a town like many in rural areas of South Italy at risk of depopulation. Michela and Francesca are conducting community-based research on gender stereotypes about rurality / agriculture and on inspiring women figures, and developing a platform to share their stories.
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