Women's eNews Announces
21 LEADERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, 2008
Building Peace and Connections
Lorraine Drammer Serena Honored as
International Leader of the 21st Century
(WOMENSENEWS)--Lorraine
Drammer Serena has been selected as one of
Women's eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century - 2008 for building peace and
connections as Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara based global
collaboration, Women Beyond Borders. A Gala Benefit Dinner hosted by Martha
Stewart Living Omnimedia will be held in New York City on Wednesday, May 21,
2008. Past leaders have included Elizabeth A, Sackler, Shahnaz Bukhari, Eileen
Fisher and Pat Summitt.
In
1991, Lorraine Drammer Serena of Santa Barbara, Calif., realized that the act
of sharing an artistic endeavor with others had a particular power. The insight
came while discussing with several artist friends how to "connect with
women around the world, honor their voices and visions."
This
was the beginning of Women Beyond Borders.
A
plain wooden box--"the size of a human heart, big in expression but small
in dimensions," as Serena describes it --became the vessel for women to be
free to create whatever they wished.
To
spread the idea, they contacted other artists and curators around the world and
asked women to contribute by word of mouth. One even put the boxes in their
children's and friend's backpacks as they prepared to travel. Boxes came
back
transformed into miniature works of art from places as diverse as Israel,
Singapore, Argentina and Austria. Some boxes are enameled or painted; others
have been cut up to make figures. One artist wrapped hers in rubber bands to
express the tension of being a woman. Another fashioned her box into a face
with a long tongue bearing a quotation about the power of women's words.
Over
5,000 women and children have contributed works from 50 nations. In Kenya,
Women Beyond Borders had the first all-woman exhibition in the national
museum's history. The project has received boxes from women in Afghanistan to
Zambia and from every continent.
After
15 years collecting hundreds of boxes, Serena and the Women Beyond Borders
staff and board are searching for a permanent home.
Other
esteemed 2008 leaders include a sport executive who wrested $11.5 million from
one of the powerful pro basketball franchises, the New York Knicks, for
tolerating the sexual harassment of her and her co-workers; another trains
indigenous women to become paid reporters for her news services in Mexico and
Nepal. Yet another energizes historically black women's colleges in the United
States and organized women to topple a brutal African dictator. These leaders
and the 17 others Women's eNews names today share a vision of a better world
for women
Choosing
the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century 2008 was especially difficult this year
because of the overwhelming response by readers, contributors and Women's eNews
freelance writers. The Women's eNews staff and board members carefully
considered each nomination and were inspired by all of the nominees' personal
commitments, strategies and victories.
"I
continue to be surprised, amazed, heartened and humbled by those nominated to
be a Women's eNews 21 Leader," says Rita Henley Jensen, editor in chief of
Women's eNews. "Their often unnoticed initiatives are enormously
significant in the worldwide efforts to ensure women take their place in all
aspects of daily life, from the equitable distribution of food to ending
tyranny and all that is required to accomplish both."
Women's
eNews invites its readers to be amazed too by the work of Serena and the other
Leaders for the 21st Century 2008.
These
21 Leaders for the 21st Century have waged and won significant battles on
behalf of women and girls. Women's eNews cheers the commitments and visions of
these accomplished advocates, and hopes women worldwide will bask in their
triumphs.
Alexus
Jones is development associate at Women's eNews.
For
more information Women Beyond Borders, listing of all 2008 awardees and Women’s
eNews Gala Benefit Dinner below:
http://www.womenbeyondborders.org
http://www.womensenews.org/21leaders2008.cfm
Gala Benefit Dinner
Honoring
21 Leaders for 21st Century 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Hosted by Martha Stewart Living,
Omnimedia, Inc.,.
The Starrett-Lehigh Bldg
601 West 26th Street
(btwn 12th and 11th Ave.)
New York City
Click Here: Check out
"benefitoffice.org"