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Virginia Williams Founder, Executive Director Virginia Williams is an Emmy Award™ winning television producer who has written and produced a wide variety of long-form documentary specials and series for Discovery Channel, TLC, National Geographic, PBS, and other broadcasters. Her company, New View Films, LLC, also produces high-impact educational short films and media advocacy outreach campaigns about important social and public health issues. She is the producer and director of FRONTRUNNER. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco in the early 90’s, Virginia produced a public health documentary that was broadcast on Morocco’s national television station. It was during her two-years in Morocco that Virginia first became interested in the apparent inequity between East and West with regard to film and entertainment distribution, as well the negative impact that Western export of lowest-common denominator film and television (and now all digital media) has had on the developing world. She is interested in finding new ways to merge social advocacy with advanced digitial media technology. In addition to WomenRULE, Virginia developed a digital prototype for an online leadership toolkit for girls called “Be a Frontrunner.” She expects to implement the program within an existing social network provider within the next year. Virginia earned a Master’s in Film Production from American University’s School of Communication in Washington, DC and a BA in Journalism/Communications from the University of South Florida. She was a fellow at the American Film Institute’s Digital Media Institute as well as at the Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producer’s Institute for New Media Technologies, where she created the digital outreach prototype “Be a Frontrunner.”Elizabeth Powley Curriculum Design Director Elizabeth Powley is a consultant in gender and post-conflict reconstruction, with more than fifteen years of experience in non-profit leadership and program development. She has expertise in conflict analysis and resolution, training and curriculum development in cross-cultural settings, and field-based research. She has worked extensively on issues of gender and political participation in sub-Saharan Africa. Elizabeth recently directed the Rwanda Project of the Initiative for Inclusive Security, which provided technical and financial support to Rwanda’s women parliamentarians. An experienced teacher and trainer, she has designed curricula and conducted leadership training for women activists in half a dozen African countries. Elizabeth earned her Bachelor’s degree at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa and holds a Master’s degree from American University’s School of International Service in Washington, DC. Emily T. Masonick Curriculum Design Consultant Emily Masonick is currently serving as the Curriculum Development specialist for the University of Tennessee's Institute of Public Service. She is a seasoned facilitator, and has a broad range of experiences in diversity, leadership, and program development. Emily served as the International Leadership Program Coordinator for the Women & Politics Institute at American University, where she worked on a grant from the Library of Congress that commissioned her to design experiential leadership development programs for female foreign leaders (from Russia and Africa) and bring them to the U.S. to collaborate with their academic counterparts. Halima Kazem Regional Advisor, Central Asia/Middle East Halima is currently a senior researcher for Amnesty International’s Afghanistan Division, in the area of Human Rights/Women and Security. She is a former consultant to Human Rights Watch Afghan Division/Women’s Rights. From 2002 to 2005, Halima trained dozens of Afghan journalists at the International Center for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS) in Kabul. Her extensive experience in the region has also lead her to work as a media consultant for various organizations including the World Bank, UNIFEM, the Center for International Private Investment (CIPE), and Afghanistan Presidential Office. Halima holds a master’s degree in Business and Economic Reporting from New York University and is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a 2002 Scripps-Howard for journalistic excellence and one from the New York Financial Writer’s Association (2002). Nasrine Gross Curriculum Development- Central Asia/Mid East Nasrine Gross is a 2008 recipient of Civic Venture’s prestigious “Purpose Prize,” which awards funding to 15 extraordinary leaders over 60 who are taking on society’s biggest challenges. She worked for the equal rights of women in the new Constitution by collecting over three hundred thousand support signatures prior to the country’s first Constitutional Congress, or “Jirga.” She was an organizer of two conferences of Afghan Women in 2002 and 2003, attended by thousands of Afghan women. She taught at Kabul University for five years and for two years served as Director of Social Science Research at Kabul University’s National Center for Policy Research. ************************************************************ WomenRULE is developing strategic partnerships with women's leadership advocacy groups and educational experts to develop the curriculum and content of WomenRULE. Funding is being sought to carry out the 2-year campaign. For a full proposal and budget please contact Virginia Williams at: virginia@womenrule.tv |