Category Archives: Inspiring Women

Oct7

Reading With Robin

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Reading With Robin

To celebrate my friend Julie’s birthday the other night, we went to the annual An Evening With Authors event hosted by Robin Kall of Reading With Robin.  An Evening With Authors is one of my favorite nights out, it is always a fantastic event featuring amazing writers, and this was the third year we have attended. Each year we emerge just blown away by being in proximity to such rock stars of the literary world.   We are thrilled to have heard their behind the scenes stories, tricks of the trade, and details of their writing processes.  As Avid readers my girlfriends and I are always fascinated and inspired hearing glamorous bestselling authors tell us their “dirty little secrets” of  the really not so glamorous writing life.  Spending all day writing in their pajamas, not always having a say in the jacket design of their books, renting hotel rooms to find the peace they need to write. This year we heard stories of the writing lives of featured authors Elizabeth Berg, Chris Bohjalian, and Amanda Eyre Ward.

Left to Right on the Authors Panel: Robin Kall, Amanda Eyre Ward, Elizabeth Berg and Chris Bohjalian

Discussions are based on questions that the authors themselves write to ask each other, and this year some of the  questions were about their relationships with editors, and how the stories unfold as they are writing. Following the discussion attendees have the opportunity to purchase the writer’s work and meet the Authors as they get their books signed.   The evening serves as a fundraiser to support Breast Cancer Research through the Love, Carol Foundation.  The Foundation was set up to honor Robin’s mother whom she lost to Breast Cancer in 1997, when her mother was only 53 years old.

With Robin Kall (center) at An Evening With Authors

Julie getting her book signed by Chris Bohjalian

I love that Robin Krall has created a successful career for herself based on her love of reading and books. In 2002 she launched Reading With Robin a RI radio talk show she hosts, that airs on WHJJ 920AM and is devoted to authors, readers, and the books they love.  She also writes the  “Well-Read” column for  www.golocalprov.com which appears every Tuesday.  I am so grateful that she creates events for readers and lovers of books in the community, bringing authors to our area, and enriching the depth of our reading lives.

The Author (of this blog post) with Amanda Eyer Ward and Elizabeth Berg

 

Aug20

Inspiring Women: Navyn Salem

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Inspiring Women: Navyn Salem

 

Excerpt from A life Changing Visit To Niger on The Plumpy’Blog

 

Navyn in the Plumpy’nut training room where the moms are educated about how and why this product is used.

“As I stood in the malnutrition ward of a regional hospital, my chest tightened, and I had to work hard to keep my composure. There were no welcoming smiles, only blank, empty stares. My camera, normally always at the ready, dropped down to my side. I couldn’t bring myself to snap images of so many children and mothers in despair. To my left, a little girl lay on a bed, emaciated, listless, and very alone. I didn’t know her story. “Where is her mother?” I asked myself. All I could do was watch her chest rise and fall – as I did with my own newborn girls – and I clung to the possibility that, in this place, because of the nutritional peanut-paste we make, her life would continue.”   -Navyn Salem, Executive Director, Edesia Global Nutriton Solutions

Navyn Salem was shocked when she first heard the drastic statistics on global child malnutrition, and she was amazed that she had not heard about it sooner.  As a mother herself she could not imagine a parent having to lose a child to something as easy to resolve as malnutrition, so the former stay-at-home mother of four, took it upon herself to do something about it.  With over 23 million children suffering from malnutrition in some form, and the cause of about one third of all child deaths globally, she realized there was not enough attention on the issue, and yet it seemed the simplest to tackle.  Her father was born in Tanzania,  and as an area that she had a connection to, she knew that she wanted to give back to that part of the world.    Five years ago the seeds for Edesia were planted. She began by speaking with experts, with a goal to increase access to products already out there, by expanding research and studying best practices until she developed a plan.

Photo By Navyn Salem: A first taste of Plumpy’nut is required before leaving the clinic.

Navyn worked with Nutriset, a French company already producing ready to use therapuetic and supplementary food products.  These products were revolutionary because unlike previous supplements available to treat malnutrition, they did not need clean water or refrigeration, two things scarce in much of the developing world.   Edesia began by opening it’s first plants in Africa, where it created jobs for production workers, helped local farmers and by producing the products locally, cutting shipment costs and lead time to access to the life saving nutritional aid when needed in the area. These plants are part of the Plumpyfield Network which is comprised of fourteen partners, twelve of which are located in developing countries.  The network strives to create nutritional autonomy in countries where malnutrition is prevalent. Plants in the Plumpyfield Network have continued to be opened  in the areas of the world that need them most such as Niger, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Haiti, and The Democratic Republic of Congo, putting to use local human resources and raw materials. Most of these production facilities are being run by women, which is striking in areas of the world where women would not traditionally have the opportunity for such a leadership role.

Photo By Navyn Salem: Using the muac tape. This child is severely malnourished as you can see the red.

 

The products are peanut based and filled with nutrients, unlike here in North America, peanut allergies are not an issue in these populations. Plumpy Nut, the Edesia product used to treat the most severe cases of malnutrition can bring a child from the brink of starvation back to health in just four to six weeks of use. Three years ago Edesia opened a production plant in Navyn’s home state of Rhode Island, it was the height of the recession and provided much needed jobs to the area.    West and East Africa have the greatest need for the products produced by Edesia, and with drought becoming more frequent, and weather patterns becoming more severe, the need to put early warning systems in place and invest in agricultural development in these areas is critical to success. Despite what may seem an a bleak issue to some, Navyn remains optimistic.

Photo By Navyn Salem: Women sorting Peanuts by hand for use in the Plumpy’nut products.

She told me that she sees the potential within a couple of decades of investment in African agriculture and infrastructure as beneficial to the rest of the world. Africa is a large continent with untapped agricultural resources poised to become a net exporter of food that will benefit populations globally.  Meanwhile better planning and strategies such as early warning systems and pre-positioning of supplies  in advance are critical in getting help in time to those who need it most.  She says that although sometimes it seems insurmountable, when she sees what a better solution Plumpy Nut has provided than previously available it gives her hope.  The solution exists, she believes and increasing awareness is just one step in the right direction.  In the meantime until we figure out better solutions to agricultural issues Navyn says that when she sees just one child’s life saved by these products, she knows that is one family who has been spared the grief of losing that child and it is all worth it.

 

 

 

 

Mar24

Inspiring Women: Rana DiOrio

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Inspiring Women: Rana DiOrio

Rana DiOrio

 

I am a mother to four kids who on most days feels like I can barely keep my house in order and kids clean, fed and dressed.  Women like Rana DiOrio, the founder of Little Pickle Press, fascinate me.  Did I mention that she has three young children of her own? Rana agreed to let me interview her over the phone to assist me in my quest of understanding her particular breed of überwoman.

The first indicator of her destiny to be successful is probably in the fact that from a very young age she knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.   She wanted to be a doctor, and though it may seem at first glance that she veered off her course, she would be the first to point out that despite detours along the way, she is on the path to doing exactly what she set out to do.  I asked her if she planned to go back to medical school, and she said no, but that she is now helping children in the way that she had always wanted to.  It turns out that the alternative route that she took ultimately made her uniquely suited to do the work that she does. When she was accepted to the Ivy League 7-year medical school she had applied to, around the same time the HMO came into existence, she did the math and recognized the long road to financial liquidity if she pursued medicine. Instead she went to law school where her investment in her education could pay off more rapidly.  She became a lawyer then an investment banker, and a real estate investor. Each career switch imparted various pieces of knowledge that she would ultimately put to use in forming Little Pickle Press.

Her first book What Does It Mean To Be Green? was written for her children.   It was Inspired by her own move from not very environmentally aware Rhode Island, where she grew up, to San Francisco in 1991 where she witnessed a different approach to the environment.  People in the Bay Area were already recycling, composting and eating locally sourced foods, all of which struck a chord with Rana.  She had already changed her way of living by the time she became a mom, so of course she was an environmentally conscientious mom. It was when she felt her children were old enough to begin to understand their relationship to the environment that she wrote the book What Does It Mean To Be Green? as a way to help explain it to them.  She wanted to give them the construct to comprehend sustainability, to write a book that served as a springboard for discussion of how to be green, so that they would not just do it because she told them to but because they understood why it was important.   It was a book that they read together and was intended just for them at that point.

When Barak Obama was elected President, her children were four and five years old, and there existed no context to help explain to them why this was such an amazing development.  She wrote What Does It Mean To Be Global? to  introduce to them the concept of diversity and accepting others with their differences. She wanted to plant the seed of the idea that we can only be successful within a community if we embrace diversity.  When Rana showed this book to friends, the feedback was so positive that she decided to see about getting it published.  Everyone agreed that her books were refreshing and distinctive.  Of course she knew the publisher could only be one with environmental integrity, but even the most progressive publishers print in China on virgin paper and still use dust jackets.  The Publishing industry as a whole she found was still entrenched in 20th century practices.  Rana saw an opportunity to build a 21st century publishing company.   There were a few elements she knew she wanted to include, the green publishing element was paramount. She sourced recycled paper, soy inks and made her books without dust jackets—superfluous paper that children inevitably remove and waste.  She also wanted to make sure to give back by donating a percentage of the revenue to a charity.  Having grown up with a brother who is a two time survivor of leukemia, Rana knows first hand how important support for the families and children with critical illness can be. Because of her experiences, 10 % of the revenue of her first three books is donated to Starlight Children’s Foundation .

I gave this one to my 13 year old!

Rana picked up the bible of the self-publishing industry The Well Fed Self-Publisher: How To Turn One Book Into A Full Time Living by Peter Bowerman.  Published in 2006, this book became the cornerstone of her research in forming Little Pickle Press.  At that point in time she could not have known that three years later she would be sitting on an experts panel with Peter Bowerman and have the opportunity to meet (and thank) him in person.

She has built a company that has become a certified B Corporation , a community of companies that strive to be the change they seek—environmentally friendly, humanitarian, and good to their employees. Little Pickle Press was recently honored as a Top Ten Best for the World B Corp with 10 employees or fewer.

Our discussion next turned to the power of women. Rana pointed out that she thinks women are gaining prominence in government and boardrooms because of the different way that they approach and solve problems.  Typically, women listen more than they talk and synthesize what they hear to devise strategies. Fewer egos tend to be involved and they know how to calibrate what they hear and observe to solve problems. Her advice to other women starting out is trust your instincts, listen to your inner voice, and rely upon your multifaceted skills and attributes.

This past week Little Pickle Press, won the Appy award in the Muticultural Media App category for “Being Global”.  The Appy Awards are the Oscars of the Digital world, and they pay tribute to the world’s finest and most exciting new apps in every imaginable category. The winners were announced Monday night in San Francisco,  competitor up against Little Pickle Press for the award was Disney’s “It’s a Small World” app.  Three years ago Rana DiOrio, who founded of Little Pickle Press did not know the first thing about the publishing world.   Since its inception in April of 2009 she has founded an Environmentally friendly publishing company, written and published numerous award winning children’s books, and has now successfully conquered the digital publishing world.  Meanwhile donating 10% of all book profits to charity.

The newest book in the What Does It Mean series

I fell in love with the books that Rana had written the moment I encountered them.  The messages they teach are all things I had been trying to impart to my own children for a long time,  finally I had found these comprehensible ways to help my kids understand important topics that can be tough to explain.  I loved the opportunity to find out more about the woman behind them in my interview with Rana DiOrio. I can not wait to watch Little Pickle Press Grow!

 

This month Little Pickle Press is offering the following Specials:

 

  • What Does It Mean To Be Green? is a FREE download in the iBookstore (http://bit.ly/green-ib) and in the Nook Bookstore (http://bit.ly/greennookbook) during the month of March, and all of our other eBooks are discounted.
  • We are offering 25% off and FREE SHIPPING on any order that includes What Does It Mean To Be Green? on our website during the month of March. Just enter LPPGreen2012 to take advantage of the offer.
  • Check back in to Documama.org on Monday for the chance to win all Four Little Pickle Press “What Does It Mean To Be…?” Titles Signed by the Author!