This past holiday season, we invited Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute participants to show us how they had incorporated EFLI’s four C’s (creativity, confidence, connection and community) into their lives outside of the program through our 2012 Holiday Challenge. Our winners, Emily Faro, Isra Ameen, and Jado Morris, created some amazing and inspired presentations that they shared with us over our Facebook page. As a reward for their excellent work on the holiday challenge, the three girls along with Program Coordinator, Aimee Aubin, and Alumnae Coordinator, Shoba Barratt, traveled to Cinema Village on the Lower East Side to attend 10×10′s screening of their new documentary: Girl Rising.

The film follows the stories of nine young women from around the world, who worked with authors from their home countries to find a way to share their stories surrounding the theme of girl’s education. The vignettes created speak to the trials and triumphs that girls the world over face in their efforts to receive education, even on an elementary-school level, while also providing statistics on girls access to education and the positive impact educating girls has on communities.

After the screening, Jado Morris wrote about her experience of seeing the film on her blog. Her words describe the experience best:

“It amazes me, how although some of these girls do live in the scariest parts of this world, they are so brave. They have so many aspirations and  have been through so much,  they have been through things that no human being should ever have to go through, yet they are one of the most the most positive and bright, inspirational and innovative group of girls I have yet to seen and learn about through a film… this was also a really humbling experience, and I really urge every single girl, boy, woman, man, HUMAN BEING to watch this. It makes me realize just how fortunate I really am for all the simple things I have in life, and most certainly the fact that I am able to share my voice and express my opinions. I feel like that is one of the most abused and unappreciated forms of human rights that we as women in America possess, because as shown in Girl Rising, it was literally too dangerous for two of the girls to reveal themselves because otherwise they ran a very high risk of being killed, simply because they were sharing their stories, because they were GIRLS.”

We couldn’t be prouder of our Holiday Challenge winners (who are now discussing the idea of screening Girl Rising for their peers and larger EFLI community)! To read Jado’s full post, please visit her blog at societaltransformations.tumblr.com.

Christmas lights and streamers twirled their way across the ceiling and slowly diminishing platters of cupcakes, sweets, and sushi lay about. The Youth Ambassadors Board (YAB) and past Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute (EFLI) participants along with their friends, Eileen Fisher employees, and other community members found their way into the space.

On the fifteenth anniversary of V-Day, February 14, 2013, the Youth Ambassadors Board of the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute held their own One Billion Rising event. The mission of One Billion Rising, which was founded and sponsored by V-Day, sought to connect one billion people from across the globe to rise up, dance, and demand an end to violence against women worldwide. The event also gave our past participants of the EFLI summer programs a chance to reconnect, reembody their summer space, and reinterpret what Valentine’s Day could be.

We began the evening with the reading of a communal poem, written collectively by members of the Youth Ambassadors Board. The poem touched upon themes of how EFLI had changed their understandings of self and of home, as seen in the following passage:

At EFLI, we’ve grown up.

We’ve felt happy and whole.

We’ve found out things about ourselves that we never even knew

We were missing. 

We’ve felt beautiful for possibly the first time.

We’ve felt ever so grateful for the experience,

surrounded by amazing young women 

and able to come back

again and again,

and again and again

to one of the only places

We feel we can be our true self.

At EFLI, we grow into ourselves.

Following the poem, the concept of One Billion Rising was introduced by two of our incredible YAB members, Jado Morriss and Aliyah Hakim. They introduced a video produced by the One Billion Rising campaign (which can be seen here) and our attendees settled into the room, sitting with friends old and new, to watch and listen.

The video begins with women experiencing different understandings of gender-based violence. From harassment in a white-collared office space to assault in cities far from our Irvington, NY, headquarters, the short film highlights the injustices that the One Billion Rising campaign was working against.

As happens occasionally, whether serendipitously or simply by chance, technology was not on our side, and the sound on the video would not work. Through the minutes that the video played, nearly forty teenaged girls sat, remarkably, in complete silence. They sat – watching as the film moved from images of violence against women into women standing up for themselves and for one another and breaking into dance – without a sound. And when the film was over, for a moment, the silence continued.

Still, we were gathered together that evening with a purpose – to dance. Music was put on and the lights were lowered, but the girls remained along the edges of the room, eating snacks, talking to their friends, not dancing. After a moment, one of our YAB members called out to the back of the room. “Mario,” she said, “would you teach us some ZUMBA?” And with that, Mario, a favorite facilitator of our EFLI participants, came to the front of the room, pushed up the volume, and called the girls into the center of the room. The girls began by following Mario (in some incredible moves), but in just a short time, they were laughing, dancing on their own, and dancing together.

In writing about the event, Youth Ambassador Board member, Jado Morris, says, ‘I was extremely terrified… I’m a terrible dancer! But you know what? WHO CARES! Rather than stressing about the minute details of how my body was flailing around, my mind was much more open to the actual cause and the real reason as to why I was doing what I was.”

So we danced for Jado and all the other girls in the room that they may stop feeling terrified of their bodies. Some of us danced towards an end to gender-based violence. Some of us danced to a beat of nine, in recognition of the number of seconds at which a women in the US in assaulted or beaten. But, more than anything, we danced with friends in a place that we understood, as the poem had said, as home. Like in the film we had watched earlier in the evening, we began quietly, timidly, but we had physically and perhaps even mentally risen up. As the evening came to an end, the girls entered into a circle holding hands and danced their final dance together.

Come dance with the young women leaders of the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute as they observe “One Billion Rising” – an international movement designed to underscore the global, human issue of violence against women.

Bring your family, your hot crush, or just your own most powerful dance moves and RISE! Join the FACEBOOK Event here!
Be sure to check out One Billion Rising’s website: http://onebillionrising.org/
And watch this video about the movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl2AO-7Vlzk&feature=player_embedded

“One in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. One billion women violated is an atrocity. One billion women dancing is a revolution.”

Check out why we’re rising…

We are excited to welcome our new Program Coordinator, Aimee!!

Born and raised on Long Island, Aimee Aubin joins the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute team with a commitment to the advancement of young women professionally and creatively. A graduate of Hampshire College, Aimee studied how the arts could be used in community development with a lens turned specifically towards women’s lived experiences. Her final thesis explored telling real women’s stories in fiction through anthropologic research. She joins EFLI after having spent a year in Chiang Mai, Thailand where she worked with Art Relief International, an organization focused on creating grassroots change in individuals and communities through arts-based therapy. While she still dreams of curries and gold-leafed temples, she is overwhelmingly excited to enter into the role of Program Coordinator and begin enacting change in communities closer to her roots.

We’re so excited to have her with us.. Just in time to open 2013 applications! Keep your eyes peeled for next week’s announcement.

2012 LIFE Fellow, Aliyah H. attended the ‘How to Make Your Voice Heard: D4D On the Road training’ at Pace University this past Friday. We’re glad to hear she had a great time. Check out her blog post below!

Went to a civic engagement conference today!

It was called “How to Make Your Voice Heard”, sponsored by D4D (Debate for Democracy).

We discussed and exercised different ways to engage with and communicate stories and issues within your community, whether those issues surface in only your local area or on a global scale.

Effective styles were discussed: providing statistics and using credible sources among many others. The method that captured my attention the most was called “giving face”. When an issue is posed as a statistic, it loses that connective quality; it creates a distance between the issue and the audience that it is being presented to. “Giving face” allows you to align your issue with a body, a face, a person— incorporating the human element into an issue— transforming it from a statistic to a story.

That’s why I love the Theatre of the Oppressed practice so much— TO “gives face” to an issue; it EMBODIES it, and communicates a problem in its literal sense— launching the problem out into the community and thus compelling the audience to evaluate it on a personal level.

Perhaps the most valuable idea I took away from the conference was the reminder that you don’t have to be a political scientist to be involved with policy making. As the facilitator put it: “As Americans, we are invited to engage in political processes, but not compelled to do so.” Tis a beautiful thing, methinks.

EFLI is quickly growing and currently looking for a Program Coordinator, Lead Facilitator and 2013 workshop facilitators!

The Program Coordinator will work directly with the Program Director to support all aspects of the programming, specifically the programmatic organizing, administration and scheduling. The ideal candidate will be self-motivated, able to work independently, have a positive attitude and a dedication to the mission and philosophy.

The Lead Facilitator will work directly with the Program Director to further develop EFLI’s core curriculum in the Activating Leadership, Leading for Impact and LIFE Fellowship programs. The ideal candidate will have experience working with youth, strong facilitation skills, a positive attitude and a dedication to the mission and philosophy.

See the Responsibilities and Qualifications at the connected links. Download Job Descriptions Here: Program Coordinator Description Lead Facilitator Description and 2013 Call for Facilitators

Please send resume and cover letter to efli@eileenfisherleadershipinstitute.com. If sending an email, make sure to put the applicable Job Title “Program Coordinator/Lead Facilitator or Workshop Facilitator” in the subject line. No telephone inquiries or recruiters please. Replies will only be sent to qualified applicants. EFCF is an EOE.

Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute is now on Tumblr! We’re posting videos, photos, quotes, etc. of all the things we’re interested in! We’re also keeping up with and re-blogging our EFLIers out there doing big things Here is one of our favorite posts from the Standing O worthy performance by The Apollo Teens: Video Post

We definitely miss the laughter, hugs and joyous smiles from all the young women involved in EFLI – can’t wait to see who shows up at REUNION!!! Reunion is open to all EFLI alum! If you have participated with EFLI and would like to RSVP for reunion – click here!

This Friday, August 17th, brings the completion of the EFLI Summer 2012 season! The closing ceremony will be our last goodbye, allowing both Activating Leadership and Leading for Impact participants together to share their experiences with family and friends.

In the past week, AL has continued to develop a dynamic and personal definition of leadership through the practices of Confidence and Community, as well as prepared plays for Theatre of the Oppressed that address critical moments of conflict in their lives.

LFI participants continued to conceptualize the ideas of impact, collaboration, cultivating curiosity, and compassion while concurrently doing project work and starting to see their projects come to fruition. Projects this summer have consisted of tackling social pressures with the it happens tumblr/blog, working on raising awareness about the Dream Act, creating a drive for victims of Abuse – working with My Sister’s Place, and creating an awesome mural on body image – reminding everyone to: LOVE YOURSELF! Every day has brought new obstacles and new opportunities for growth.

As we look back upon the past six weeks of programming, we are invigorated by the growth these young women are experiencing – a growth that we all work through together. As Eileen and Antoinette said at the closing ceremony – this summer has been a process of both holding on and letting go.

Summer 2012 has been an exciting year of growth for the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute! Over the last two weeks, we have welcomed a new program for second year participants, Leading for Impact.

Leading for Impact (LFI) program kicked off with a three day retreat at Bailey Farms, a familiar and beloved site for the returning girls. 

Day 1: Community building with games and activities including Prui, blob tag, and mini tanks! Followed by lunch, journaling, intention setting and paired sharing while walking through the grounds. 

Day 2: Revisiting our tree from Idea Day a month earlier, we clustered around issues that we are passionate about, and came together into groups around those passions. One of the topics that we’ve been questioning: How do we collaborate around issues that we care about? How do we find commonalities and something tangible that we can pursue in a project together? A great tool to help us figure out some of the answers: post-it brainstorm! This tool helped us to develop ideas on how to address the problems we see. While coming together around project ideas has been a challenge, the results have been exciting! Throughout the evening we continued to develop our bond as a large group with a Story Council where we shared stories to help us each learn from the experiences of the group. “A story can heal, inspire, and move communities to action.” ~ Peer Spirit, Circle Way 

Day 3: Project work continued! How do we map out our next steps and work collaboratively among our large group to give each other ideas and feedback? Activities like building a road map helped each group represent the steps necessary to reach desired outcomes. After lunch we moved into a world café style discussion about feminine leadership, giving us an opportunity to challenge assumptions about femininity, masculinity and what types of leadership are necessary for the world in which we want to live.

Day 4 and 5: Field TRIPS! Princeton Blairstown Center (PBC) – we went CANOEING! PBC facilitators split us into two groups in which we did awesome team building activities to help us learn skills for collaboration (including communal food prep and clean up)! Jacob Burns Media Center - Jacob Burns in Pleasantville is a hidden gem of Westchester! Theresa Dawson, who led the Reel Change for Non-profits class throughout the Spring, shared technique of how to create our own media and showed us awesome clips of others who have made their own media. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant and then had the opportunity to make our own videos with our project teams!

All in all, it was a great start for LFI that let us move into the first week of August in full swing with the exciting challenge of having two programs running concurrently at 2 Bridge Street! The week of August 6th brought the start of the August session of Activating Leadership (AL) and the continuation of LFI.

AL got started on a high note with a new batch of great girls. All week they have come together to explore their personal definitions of leadership through practices, Theatre of the Oppressed, leaders, workshops and more. Some highlights: 

The LFI participants have settled back into the space here at EF with ease, getting started with new practices and project work. They continue to explore the meaning of leadership as well as impact through group work and activity.

The larger group brings a sense of community and connection to the program. We are happily looking forward to retreat this weekend for AL, and to another week of excellent programming!

Facilitator LOVE! We welcomed Mel Matining who's joining us to help with LFI!

The final week of the July session started with a fantastic retreat at Bailey Farms in Ossining. The days were filled with creativity practices in the morning, a combined fashionista/feminism workshop and a Q&A with Dr. Manel Silva in the afternoon. After dinner were evening bonding games while Sunday brought early morning flying yoga workshop, guided meditation, self-reflective silence and afternoon workshops of dress making and active imagination. The rest of the week was packed with local leader visits and skill builders by, Pop Culture Pirate Elisa Kreisinger speaking about feminist media remixing, Heather Woodley instructing belly dancing, and Naajidah Correll with spoken word.

Friday, July 27th, was the remarkable closing ceremony for the July session. It was an event-filled evening that showcased what all of the participants had been working on throughout the 12 day experience. After a delicious dinner from Good Life Gourmet and desserts from Rich Brownies, guests, participants and facilitators all took seats to view a slideshow of photos of the session’s best moments.

The evening continued with a fashion show of dresses made in Carolina’s dressmaking workshop.

Each participant radiated happiness displaying the product of her hard work. Next was another fashion show; this time participants from Aliya’s Radical Fashionista workshop flaunted the creative apparel they had been crafting out of recycled clothing. 

Katy Rubin of Theatre of the Oppresssed led the forum theatre portion of the evening after the fashion shows. The girls put on two plays, one about unfair treatment in schools, the other addressing gender discrimination in sports. In the style of forum theatre, the audience (or “spec-actors,” as they are referred to) was invited to reenact a scene of choice in order to help the protagonist get what she wanted. 

Before receiving their certificates of completion, the girls were given a few encouraging words from Eileen Fisher. Eileen, Antoinette, and Cheryl Campbell awarded the certificates with the help of Sara Gonzalez, the program facilitator.

We closed out the night with a spontaneous song from the girls from Danielle’s Active Imagination workshop. 

It was a great night that all the girls can surely be proud of!