When Councilwoman Chambers was last on Women Are: Fort Wayne back in Season 1, she was still running for office. In January, she and Councilwoman Sharon Tucker made Fort Wayne history by becoming the first two African-American women to serve on our City Council, and Councilwoman Chambers is the first to hold an At-Large position. In the first part of the interview, Chambers shares her experience winning the election and beginning 2020 with a lot of hope and excitement.

The first major hurdle of 2020 was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Chambers shares how the pandemic affected her work with city council, and the efforts she made (and continues to make) to try and bring hazard pay to essential workers. She shares her views on the months ahead of the pandemic, and why it's so important to wear a mask.

If Covid-19 defined our spring, then early summer here in Fort Wayne was defined by the civil unrest following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Chambers shares what it was like working downtown during the protests, her reaction to the violence and rioting that occurred, and her perspective on what people should take away from the Black Lives Matter movement this year. She also shares her experience being appointed as the Chair for the Mayor's Commission on Police Reform and Racial Justice. She talks about the lessons that both sides of the debate have to learn from each other, and what some of the possible paths forward could look like.

As if 2020 didn't hold enough challenge already, Councilwoman Chambers speaks courageously about her recent battle with breast. Her positive outlook on such a terrifying diagnosis moved Stephanie Gottesman to ask her about how she manages to stay so positive in the face of such big challenges, and she eloquently shares her wisdom.

The last part of the conversation looks forward to next week's election, and she shares her views on what's at stake for women and minorities in this election. She encourages everybody to get out and vote, and to encourage everybody in their immediate circle of life to also get out and vote.

We're happy to welcome back KelsiCote as our featured musician. Singer-songwriters, Kelsi Lee & Cote Godoy bridge distinct cultural roots forming a fresh sound that is uniquely their own. The song, Bloomingbird, is off their new album, Ayun. The recording features the KelsiCote Amig@s – Tommy Saul on piano, Colin Boyd on percussion, Derek Reeves on Viola, Casey Stansifer on bass, and Cote Godoy on acoustic guitar. You can find KelsiCote's music at www.kelsicote.com, or on Spotify, Facebook, and Bandcamp. They also have a family friendly performance with the full KelsiCote Amig@s group, playing music from their new album at the Clyde Friday Night Vibes with Meet The Music's Julia Meek on the 20th of November at 7 pm. 

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn.

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

As the Vice President of Philanthropic Services for the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne, Alison is responsible for collaborating with people on their personal philanthropy, developing and implementing strategies for growth and helping elevate philanthropy throughout the community. For the last two years, she's been working to complete the first study on women and girls in Allen County since the early 70's. Our community has never has a Women's Fund, and the steering committee decided early on that a study was necessary to guide the direction the Women's Fund would take.

In the first part of the episode, Alison shares with us a little backstory of how they designed the study and why they chose the five areas of focus – employment, education and training; access to resources for physical and emotional health and well-being; caregiving responsibilities; personal safety; and understanding girls' futures. You can find more information about their research here.

The results were released this past Wednesday, on August 27, 2020, in an Executive Summary titled Moving What Matters. The rest of Alison's interview examines the results of the study and how that information will be used to better the lives of women and girls in our county. If you would like to follow along in the Executive Summary as we go through it, you can download it from the Community Foundation website.

During the discussion of caregiving responsibilities, Alison mentions that there are childcare deserts in Allen County. Here is the link she references.

If you would like to learn more about the Women's Fund or get involved, visit cfgfw.org, and follow the Women's Fund on Facebook and Instagram.

Our featured song this episode is by Rosalind and the Way, a five piece, Fort Wayne-based Americana band fronted by Fort Wayne singer-songwriter Cassie Beer. Rosalind & The Way plays original songs that tell stories of love, homecomings, lessons learned. This song, called "Legend or Myth," is the title track of their 2018 studio album. The song wrestles with the tension of two approaches to greatness: one being the constant curation of a public persona, the other a choice to own the mess and mistakes along with the beauty and victories. 

Although Rosalind and the Way often play shows locally, they have just stepped back from public shows to record their next album, and we're excited to hear what they create next. You can find their music on Spotify, or by visiting their website at rosalindandtheway.com. And make sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram for updates on new releases and upcoming shows.

Have you enjoyed our content? Would you like us to make more? We've just launched our Patreon, and would be super grateful if you hopped over to www.patreon.com/womenarefortwayne and showed us some love. We're offering three tiers of membership for very small amounts each month. Each tier comes with new ways to engage with the Women Are: Fort Wayne community and our mission to build bridges, break silos, share stories, and promote empathy. The money we make off our Patreon will go straight into creating more (and better) content, starting with the launch of our weekly livestreams so we can share more of what's going on in various pockets of the Fort Wayne community.

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn.

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Stephanie Gottesman is joined by two women with direct experiences around transgender issues. Amanda Grimes shares her story of growing up transgender in Northeast Indiana and becoming an advocate for the transgender community. She created two support groups at 3Rivers Wellness and is working on forming a Fort Wayne LGBTQ Resource Center. Jenna Shock, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Cameron Psychiatry, works with transgender clients and is the parent of a transgender teen.

CW: This episode talks about some challenging topics, including transgender discrimination, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. We encourage you to listen with care. 

Women are women. We feel it in our heart and soul even if we were born into bodies that didn't represent as female at birth. And that can feel like an impossible challenge to overcome for many who were misgendered. Society is beginning to catch up to the idea that we don't all fit into neat little boxes of gender identity and there are growing resources for transgendered individuals, but there is still a long way to go. Understanding and appreciating the difficulties and joys someone goes through to fully become the person they are can best be found in the stories of people who have actually lived the experience. For this reason, we feel honored and grateful to share these stories in the hopes that we can all come to a place where we can respect and accept people as they are.  

Amanda Grimes is a public speaker, diversity educator, social justice advocate, and writer, and is finishing her bachelors degree in psychology from Indiana Tech. Her work addresses diversity and inclusion, LGBTQ issues, discrimination, minority stress, healthcare disparities, cultural humility, poverty, and privileged perspectives at schools, universities, businesses, healthcare systems, and organizations in Indiana and Kentucky. Designated male at birth, Amanda spent decades concealing her true gender identity. She lived an entire life – including career successes, marriage, kids, and many battles with suicidal ideation – before coming out and starting her transition in 2013. She has started support groups for both transgender individuals and their parents, and hopes to pursue her Ph.D., expanding the current body of knowledge and understanding regarding gender identity. 

Her current projects include founding the Northeast Indiana LGBTQ Resource Center in Fort Wayne and publishing her autobiography.  The Resource center does not have an online presence at this time, but for anyone interested in volunteering and helping to move this project forward, you can email Amanda at [email protected]. 

Amanda serves as the facilitator for two support groups available through 3Rivers Wellness. TRANSupport is available for 18+ members of the transgender, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming community in the Fort Wayne are.  TRANSparent is a support group for parents of transgender, genderqueer, or gender nonconforming individuals. During the COVID-19 crisis, all meetings are being held on Zoom.

We are happy to welcome back Jenna Schock, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Cameron Psychiatry. You may remember Jenna from our most recent episode, where she shared her perspective on the mental health impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. In getting to know Jenna for the last episode, we learned that she works quite a bit with transgender clients. She's here today to share a therapeutic perspective on the unique struggles faced by the transgender community. Jenna also has a close relationship that has aided in her awareness around LGBTQ issues; she has the heartfelt perspective of a parent discovering that her daughter is transgender. 

During the interview with Jenna, Stephanie mentioned an MRI study showing that the brain patterns of transgender individuals more closely match the brain patterns of their desired gender.  The abstract for this study can be found here and an article done for Global News can be found here.

Our musician this week comes from Fort Wayne's LGBTQ community. Funayurei, the darkwave-inspired duo of Mandy Kawa and Rob Parker. Mandy is herself a lesbian, and was excited to be part of this episode. Funayurei makes 80's inspired music with their own twist. They started out as a one-song collaboration just for fun, and followed that up by recording, mixing, and releasing their first record, "Liminal," in 2019. This song, "What Happens Next," was the second song they created and is about being in a tumultuous relationship where communication, energy, and commitment are repeatedly not reciprocated.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Funayureimusic. We encourage you to check out their music on iTunes, Spotify, and Bandcamp.Have you enjoyed our content? Would you like us to make more? We've just launched our Patreon, and would be super grateful if you hopped over to www.patreon.com/womenarefortwayne and showed us some love. We're offering three tiers of membership for very small amounts each month. Each tier comes with new ways to engage with the Women Are: Fort Wayne community and our mission to build bridges, break silos, share stories, and promote empathy. The money we make off our Patreon will go straight into creating more (and better) content, starting with the launch of our weekly livestreams so we can share more of what's going on in various pockets of the Fort Wayne community.

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Stephanie Gottesman seeks answers on all her questions about the novel coronavirus by interviewing Erika Pitcher from the Allen County Department of Health, Nicki Meier, who is recovering from having COVID-19, and Jenna Shock, a mental health professional.

Is it Blursday yet? I mean, really, does anyone else feel like one day just rolls right into the next? Most of us can connect to the feeling that living through this pandemic has become a blur of uncertainty and tedium. COVID-land is a real place and some parts of it aren't just a little uncomfortable, they are downright tragic and heartbreaking. We completely get it if you are tired of hearing about COVID-19, and truthfully, we aren't far behind you. There are so many conflicting bits of information floating around and this social distancing we are being asked to maintain goes against our most basic needs as humans. Host Stephanie Gottesman is back at it again, finding reliable voices to help close that gap of uncertainty. Fair warning, it's a heavy episode, but one we felt we had to do. We love you all for joining us on these deep dives into some uncomfortable realities and we appreciate YOUR effort to learn and grow with us.

Our first guest is Erika Pitcher, Director of Community Health and Case Management for Allen County Department of Health. Erika worked alongside Health Commissioner Dr. Deborah McMahan right up until her retirement a few weeks ago managing Allen County's response to the COVID crisis. Erika offers information on the precautions we can take, where Allen County stands as far as the growing number of cases are concerned, and suggestions on how we can safely come together and minimize the spread of COVID-19.  If you feel you may have COVID you can reach out to the local health department at 260-449-7556.  You can also check out their webpage for information on where you can get tested (there are places you can go for FREE testing!) as well as up to date information on numbers of cases, deaths, and the government's response on the impact the virus is having. As sobering as the numbers are, we hope you are able to find some comfort in these statistics and arm yourself with solid facts to take care of yourself, your loved ones, your community.   

After our episode with Nicki Meier last season (Women Are Creating a Culture of Nonviolence) we knew we would want her back as a guest again. We never expected that she would be coming back to us as someone who has lived through and is still recovering from COVID-19. Nicki works for the Center for Nonviolence, supporting people affected by violence in today's culture and helping create a system that raises the voices of marginalized people. She is a genderqueer feminist, and recently finished teaching her first class at PFW and completed her Master's of Education in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus in Trauma & Resilience in the Classroom Setting all while fighting through the effects of COVID-19. All of us at Women Are: Fort Wayne are relieved that her case was relatively mild. She wasn't hospitalized and has made it through the ordeal better than many. She's here to share her experience as a window into the ways that a mild case of COVID differs from other viral infections we're more familiar with.  Nicki also shares her hope for us to all come together as a community, regardless of race or gender, to take care of each other and recognize where we can lift others up so they can receive the help they need.  

This pandemic is taking its toll on more than our physical health, for many of us it is wreaking havoc on our mental health.  Our third guest, Jenna Shock, is a Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Cameron Psychiatry talking about the mental health impact she's seeing as a result of the COVID-19 conflict.  Jenna sympathetically moves through discussing what many of us are struggling with and offers resources to help those of us who feel mentally beat up by what's happening in the world around us.  If you or someone you love is feeling as though they may be considering self harm you can call 911 and request emergency care CIT officers who have been specifically trained in how to help with a mental health crisis.  Another resource is the suicide prevention hotline, 1-800-273-8255. Seeking a therapist can be a challenge and Jenna suggests calling 211 to connect with a mental health care provider.  This number is available 24/7 and is free, no insurance required.  You can also text the word HOME to 741-741 if texting is an easier form of communication.  For youth in the LGBTQ community who may be living in untenable situations, The Trevor Project offers help through their website and also text support; text the word START to 678-678 if you are in need of support. We know this pandemic is weighing heavily on many people in various walks of life and we want to say that we see you, we hear you, your life has value and help is available for you.  

For the study of mice, isolation, and heroin that Stephanie mentioned in this portion of the episode, you can find that study here.   

Stephanie and Jenna also talk about the "magic" of EDMR therapy.  If you are looking for more information on this form of therapy, you can listen to our episode Women Are Mindfully Healing Trauma with LMHC Ruth Fearnow.

Our featured artist is Grace Minnick. Grace currently writes, creates, and performs new songs around Indiana, leading her own band as well as adding harmonies and instrumentation to the Addison Agen Band and the Jenn Cristy Band. Grace recently released a music video for her song "Eyes" from her latest album Mostly Home. She has upcoming performances if you would like to see her perform live.  All dates, times and ticket information is available on Bandsintown. 

Rock the Plaza at Allen County Public Libray, August 8, 2020 at 8:00 pm

Junk Ditch Brewing Company, August 18, 2020 at 5:00 pm 

You can find Grace's music on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play. You can also follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Bandsintown. You should also check out her beautiful website for more images and information about this soulful artist.  

Have you enjoyed our content? Would you like us to make more? We've just launched our Patreon, and would be super grateful if you hopped over to www.patreon.com/womenarefortwayne and showed us some love. We're offering three tiers of membership for very small amounts each month. Each tier comes with new ways to engage with the Women Are: Fort Wayne community and our mission to build bridges, break silos, share stories, and promote empathy. The money we make off our Patreon will go straight into creating more (and better) content, starting with the launch of our weekly livestreams so we can share more of what's going on in various pockets of the Fort Wayne community.

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Our first guest is Traci Henning-Kolberg, the co-founder of Monstrous Regiment Media and producer of Women Are: Fort Wayne. She shares the story of her fifteen year journey to earn her bachelor's degree, the many challenges she faced and overcame, and how COVID took away her last semester on campus and graduation ceremony. She also spoke about the struggle of having to home school her highly energetic five year old son and be there for the emotional needs of her family, all while attempting to finish classes. We take this time to celebrate Traci's graduation with her, and all the 2020 graduates who are missing out on experiencing some very big milestones. Our hearts are with you and we sincerely congratulate you. It is with great pride that we are able to announce in this episode Traci's acceptance to the University of Glasgow in Scotland for their Master's program in Museum Studies.  

Traci's suggestion for a good educational app for young children, Khan Academy Kids, because we all need a break sometimes and it's ok for our children to have screens to save the sanity of the parents. We get it. No judgement from us.  

Dr. Deborah Bauer is our second guest and comes to the interview as an Assistant Professor of History at Purdue University Fort Wayne and the mother of two young sons. She shares a particularly relevant look at what the historical impact of this moment is and how, in so many ways, it reflects, but is also different from, what has happened when there have been global crises in the past. Deborah tells Stephanie of the struggles her students have faced because the PFWcampus was closed leaving them without many of the tools students need to succeed. Overseeing her students and checking in with them to see that they are ok is already a large part of Deborah's daily responsibilities, but add full time motherhood to it and, even with help from her husband, life becomes intensely more complicated. During this time Deborah has had to set aside some of the pieces of her life that have fed who she is, but she finds solace in spending more time with her family and friends, near and far (via the internet, of course) and she feels hope from seeing the way Fort Wayne takes care of each other.   

Deborah and Stephanie's suggestion for a great way to find all the good eats in the Fort - Facebook group 2GoFW. 

We are delighted to have 2019 Teacher of the Year at Carroll Middle School, DeAnna Koons, as our third guest. DeAnna is not only an award winning teacher, she is also a wife and mother to five children. She has used her compassion, creativity and determination to be there for her students as much as she can considering the restrictive circumstances, while at the same time figuring out how to help her five children manage the stresses caused by online learning for everyone. She has been present for her colleagues as the school system shifts in a way that none of them expected. DeAnna is a stellar example of how educators are working to support their student's educational, and sometimes, emotional needs as well.  

Our featured song this episode is by Sarah Smith, also known as Sun Dog Sarah.  Sarah makes lo-fi electronic pop music and is currently holed up in downtown Fort Wayne.  Her song, "Close to Home" speaks to her journey in and out of love with a past partner. She shared with us, "I wrote these lyrics about an on-and-off relationship, and basically the struggle to find the balance of freedom and stability with a romantic partner, and finding comfort in a big unfamiliar world as we grow older."

Sarah does not have any upcoming events at this time but some new music was recently shared on the YouTube channel "To Hear From There," a brainchild of C Ray Harvey in which Fort Wayne-based musicians make music during quarantine and post it there. She also collaborated with her friend Cloudmaker on another video shared on the same channel.  

You can follow Sarah on Instagram and find her music on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. 

Fort Wayne is truly an amazing city and one of the best things about it is how the people living here show up for each other. Artist Alicia Pyle has established a Facebook fundraiser to raise funds for local artists who are completely out of work due to the Covid-19. She writes on her about page, "Everyone knows that I have a passion for supporting local music & musicians, and this economic catastrophe is going to put some under who rely on live-performance to support their families." The group is called Fort Wayne Freelance Musician Fundraiser SOS. We ask that if you have not been financially impaired by what has happened and you have the ability to give, that you choose to donate to this worthy fundraiser. Fort Wayne wouldn't be the same without its artists and we truly appreciate Alicia's effort to support her community. She will be on our livestream in the next couple weeks to discuss this passion project and how it's helping those in need.  At this time $11,420 of the $15,000 goal has been donated. Thank you to all who have helped!  

Have you enjoyed our content? Would you like us to make more? We've just launched our Patreon, and would be super grateful if you hopped over to www.patreon.com/womenarefortwayne and showed us some love. We're offering three tiers of membership for very small amounts each month. Each tier comes with new ways to engage with the Women Are: Fort Wayne community and our mission to build bridges, break silos, share stories, and promote empathy. The money we make off our Patreon will go straight into creating more (and better) content, starting with the launch of our weekly livestreams so we can share more of what's going on in various pockets of the Fort Wayne community.

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn.

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Britney Breidenstein joins host Stephanie Gottesman to talk about the courage, vulnerability, and creative perspective needed to pivot away from a stagnant career. She shares about her unique approach to expanding outside her comfort zone, the self-work she did to figure out her new direction, and the tools she's been discovering to help her along the way.

Many of us reach points in our life where we need to make a change. Either our careers have stagnated, our priorities have shifted, or we've lost a sense of purpose in what we're doing. Often, when we reach that point, we end up feeling stuck because we simply don't know what to try next. Our guest this episode, Britney Breidenstein, has reached a pivot point in her career. 

Breidenstein is no stranger to accomplishment – she's spent most of her career leading and launching programs to build up the Fort Wayne community, with her last years devoted to workforce inclusion initiatives, business development, and corporate training for Easterseals ARC, where she developed new programs, created more than 100 jobs, and placed scores of people with disabilities on life-changing career paths of their own. After a decade of accomplishments, though, Breidenstein reached a point in her career where accomplishments weren't enough, and even though her next steps were not quite clear, she knew she needed to take the time to pivot, explore new challenges, and figure out where she wanted her career to go. She's here today to share some of her journey – the work she did with Easterseals ARC, the creative strategy she's used to get more connected to the Fort Wayne community, her take on building community and creating safe spaces, and the courageous leap of faith she's taken to make space for her next chapter.

So she started asking people to coffee – she stopped counting at 39. In the course of her journey, she got to know Fort Wayne in a new way. She joined the boards for Own Your Success, the women's entrepreneurial community that we featured in our second episode last season, and Bring It, Push It, Own It, an organization whose mission centers around empowering teen girls. In the course of our conversation, she talks about a few tools that have helped her on her journey – a book called Pivot Point: How to Build a Winning Career Game Plan for Mid-Career Women by Julie Kratz, Dare to Lead by Brené Brown and the Dare to Lead Workshops taught by Sabrina Moon's Problem Solving Institute. Her story is both simple and relatable, while also showing courage and creativity. 

Today, Breidenstein is working as the Principal Growth Strategist for UpLinked, a company dedicated to helping businesses simplify yet enhance their Linkedin presence through education, coaching, and management services. She still doesn't know exactly where her career is going to take her, but has fully embraced the white space of this transitional time.

This month, Andie Hines-Lagemann invited us to collaborate on recording an Own Your Success Working Breakfast. If you're not familiar with Own Your Success or Andie's work, check out our second episode last season, called Women are Supporting Each Other as Entrepreneurs. The topic for this working breakfast was collaboration vs competition, and while we were there, we invited the women who attended to offer some appreciation to women in their lives that have empowered them. This episode's shout outs are from that recording.Both Own Your Success and Women Are: Fort Wayne are soon going to be launching membership programs, and the recording will be available to our members. Stay tuned for details!

Our featured song this episode is by Mad Scatter Music, founded by Trinell to produce music that challenges the boundaries of jazz concepts, and the idea of genre-static music.  Trinell is an improvisational vocalist, who explores the vocal "scatting" technique, made famous by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald. She incorporates "Indie", Alternative, Soul, & Classic Rock into a crowd pleasing jazz fusion experience relative to multiple generations of listeners. This episode's song, "Bayou," is actually about Trinell's relationship with God, and how society tends to discredit an individual's spirituality if they don't appear to be a "traditional Christian." She has always had a fascination with Louisiana culture, although I she's never been, so she opted to write the lyrics as a play on words. She hopes listeners will find their own emotional connection to the song.Assuming life has resumed its normal flow, Mad Scatter Music will be performing at the Big Apple Jazz Club Series at Wunderkammer on June 14th. In the meantime, you can find her music on Spotify and Facebook. 

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne and Silverbirch Entertainment. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn. Our episodes are recorded at Silverbirch Studio, with an extra thank you to sound engineer Steve Tyler and assistant engineer, Harrison Tyler. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Mary J. Montes, Executive Board Member of the Greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, joins host Stephanie Gottesman to share her story as a Dreamer and DACA recipient, her passion for community outreach, and the work the GFW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce does to strengthen networks and create opportunities for the Fort Wayne Hispanic and Latino communities.

Immigration issues have been in the news a lot over the last few years, and the debate has often centered on Dreamers, a term that has been used to describe young undocumented or unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, who have lived and gone to school here, and who in many cases identify as American. The term Dreamer originally took its name from a bill in Congress, but it has a double meaning about the young immigrants who have big hopes and dreams for a better future. The bill, called the DREAM Act (short for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act), would have granted legal status to certain undocumented and unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and went to school here. Although several versions of the bill have been introduced in Congress since 2001, it's never passed. While the media tends to paint dramatic and often exaggerated pictures of who DREAMers are, few news stories give an actual window into the lives of the real people who have lived this experience, and with somewhere between 690,000 and 800,000 DREAMers in America, that's a lot of underrepresented stories.

In addition to her role on the board of the GFW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Montes is an also on boards for Parkview Health, Whitington Homes & Family Services, and the Salvation Army. She has an Associates Degree in criminal justice, and is currently finishing up a BA in organizational leadership. 

Montes also happens to be a Dreamer. Her parents brought her to America just after 9/11 from Peru. She shares her memories of arriving in America, moving to Fort Wayne, and the gratitude she has for the opportunities she has found here compared to the place she was born. She also shares the unique set of hardships and challenges that unauthorized immigrants face, and the relief that DACA gave her and her family. She shares some of her academic and professional journey, and some of the ways she has worked to help other immigrants through their own struggles.

Montes shares a bit of background and history about the GFW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and some of the ways people can get involved in their efforts to connect Hispanic and Latino business owners to each other and to the rest of the Fort Wayne business community. For information on the GFW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, visit their website at www.fwhispanicchamber.org. They are also on Facebook.

This episode's song, Mano a Mano, is by KelsiCote. Singer-songwriters, Kelsi Lee & Cote Godoy bridge distinct cultural roots forming a fresh sound uniquely their own. Their musical explorations daringly fuse styles and rhythms of North and South America with lyrical interplay in modern Greek, American English and Chilean Spanish. High energy live performances invite listeners on a dynamic and unforgettable adventure of music and story-telling. For the upturned ear, and searching heart, reflections on Life - alive with purpose. KelsiCote Amig@s full band format includes phenomenal international musicians from both North and South America. Kelsi and Cote also produce an early childhood educational enrichment program that promotes inclusion through music, cultural immersion, and bilingual learning. You can find their music at www.kelsicote.com, or on Spotify, Facebook, and CDBaby, and you can find their educational program at www.musicalconexion.com. 

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne and Silverbirch Entertainment. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn. Our episodes are recorded at Silverbirch Studio, with an extra thank you to sound engineer Steve Tyler and assistant engineer, Harrison Tyler. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Crystal Vann Wallstrom, Managing Director of Innovation of Electric Works, joins host Stephanie Gottesman for a conversation about innovation districts, the history of the General Electrics campus, and her ambitious vision for Electric Works.

Most of us living here in Fort Wayne have heard of the ambitious Electric Works project, which seeks to revitalize the abandoned campus. The project's website describes their vision as, "a well-conceptualized, mixed-use district of innovation, culture and community that is seamlessly integrated with other downtown development projects currently underway." Some people see Electric Works as a real estate deal, some see it as a beacon of innovation and forward thinking, some see it as a looming spectre of gentrification. One thing's for sure, though – it has the potential to dramatically transform our city in numerous ways. Crystal Vann Wallstrom is a fellow Fort Wayne transplant and the Managing Director of Innovation for Electric Works. In this episode, Vann Wallstrom shares with us some of the wisdom and inspiration she took away from her previous life in San Francisco, why she passionately believes that bringing an innovation center to Fort Wayne will drive economic development and build culture in new ways, and some of the ways that being part of this project have affected her personally.

She shares quite a bit about the history of the General Electrics campus, what role it played in Fort Wayne's history, and how revitalizing it will provide jobs, affordable housing, and a hub for innovation. In the course of the conversation, Vann Wallstrom and Gottesman discuss a talk by world-leading economic geographer Michael Storper, recorded by the London School of Economics and Political Science. It goes deep into the reasons that an open innovation district like Electric Works creates more innovative culture than closed models of innovation centers, and how that led to the rise of San Francisco over Los Angeles in the last half century.

She then describes the vision for the Electric Works, and describes both what will be part of the West Campus Phase 1, and also how she sees it building culture. For a look at the Electric Works vision and the inside of the existing buildings, check out this page on their website.

For more information on Electric Works, visit www.fortwayneelectricworks.com. They are also on Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram.

After the interview, we were happy to share an announcement for Jodi Leamon, the Sustainability Coordinator for the Allen County Department of Environmental Management. She was the guest from our tenth episode last season. She and Lesley Sears have started a podcast called  "A Material Girl Goes Green." Lesley is the founder of the first truly sustainable candle company, Farm Finds Candles, based here in Fort Wayne. The podcast follows Lesley's journey as she steps into an eco friendly and low waste lifestyle. Jodi is co-hosting the show as Lesley's sustainability expert, answering all the eco-related questions that come up along the way. The show discusses daily eco challenges, reviews environmentally friendly products, and looks at all the ways you can begin your own eco friendly journey. It launched earlier this month, and we've been loving it! You can find A Material Girl Goes Green on most podcasting apps. Check it out!

This week, we're featuring a song by APQ, Alicia Pyle's quartet, which has a weekly jazz series at the Clyde Club Room on Wednesdays from 8-10. The quartet, and Alicia's small business PyleStyle Events, has a dedication to keeping it local and fostering local talent. Each week, they feature a different "local" musician, and encourage people to book from our growing pool of local talent. The song is called "Serendipity." You can aslo find them on all social media platforms. 

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne and Silverbirch Entertainment. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg. Our episodes are recorded at Silverbirch Studio, with an extra thank you to sound engineer Steve Tyler and assistant engineer, Harrison Tyler. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Denita Washington, Adams Township Trustee and Executive Director of Fort Wayne Girlz Rock, joins host Stephanie Gottesman for a conversation about her work empowering young women to find their purpose.

For young women, and especially those from hard backgrounds, it can be hard to find a sense of purpose and empowerment. Too many girls slip through the cracks and struggle to find their way. Studies show, though, that one caring adult can make all the difference. Denita Washington is one woman who has shown up as a caring adult in the lives of more than 2000 young women here in Fort Wayne.

Denita Washington hosted several of the girls in her program for an interview session with Stephanie Gottesman. From left to right: Deja Eley (17), Trinity Pilot (15), and Jaya Swopshire (15).

In this episode of Women Are: Fort Wayne, Washington talks deeply about the history of her organization, the personal experiences that led her to creating safe spaces for young women, and the inspiring programs she's developed over the years. Her stories are thoughtful, moving, and relatable. She shares her own history of suffering through bullying, and some of the powerful stories of girls who have overcome extreme adversity to find their place in the world. She offers advice to mothers (and mentors) about how to find the healing they need themselves to offer safe spaces for their children, and sends messages of hope and empathy to young people and their families.

Several of the girls also joined host Stephanie Gottesman for an interview session, giving them an opportunity to share their own perspective on the program and gain experience interviewing.

Toward the end of the episode, Washington shares information on a fundraiser the group is having on March 5, 2020. For more information on Fort Wayne Girlz Rock, visit fortwaynegirlzrock.com. They are also on Facebook (Fort Wayne Girls Rock) and Instagram (@fwgirlzrock).

After the interview, we were happy to share an announcement for Nicki Meier, our second guest from Season 1. She is now selling her pottery around town at events, and also on her Etsy shop, NiTeMe. Check it out!

Today's song, I'm Free by Pamela featuring Cherelle, is a powerful collaboration between two Fort Wayne women. Pamela got inspired to write this song at a point in her life when she was surrounded by people who gave off negative vibes and it was destroying her inner peace. She says, "It was time to set myself free from the burdens and negativity surrounding me and focus on the importance of self preservation." Cherelle says that her heart drove her to write her verse. "I was wanting to help and heal everyone in need but at the end of day there was no one I could reach out to and I was only left drained. It was a lot of weight on my shoulders trying to carry everyone's burden while I came out with nothing and so I made the decision to look out for myself first and free myself." You can find them on Tidal, Spotify, and Itunes. You can also find Pamela on Facebook, and Charelle Nightbreed on Facebook and Instagram. 

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne and Silverbirch Entertainment. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg. Our episodes are recorded at Silverbirch Studio, with an extra thank you to sound engineer Steve Tyler and assistant engineer, Harrison Tyler. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!

Megan Butler, the Program and Events Manager for Riverfront Fort Wayne, joins host Stephanie Gottesman to discuss the development of Promenade Park and the Hello, New Park event last August.

It was hard to leave the house last summer without seeing signs for the Hello, New Park event. The three-day celebration welcomed Allen County residents to Promenade Park, and the new riverfront attraction has quickly become a favorite gathering place. Megan Butler played a central role in introducing the community to their new park – she likes to say that the event was her baby. And rightfully so. Butler spent more than a year planning the event, and two years before that researching ideas for a weekend that was not just groundbreaking for our region, but completely unique and inspired by events from across the globe.

In the first episode of Season 2 of Women Are: Fort Wayne, Butler talks a bit about how our culture has seen a decrease in social capital, a concept discussed in the book Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam. shares how she chose to study politics because she wanted to make the most positive impact possible on her community. She has faced many challenges on her path to success, including a hard childhood and a devastating divorce that left her struggling to feed herself and her two boys. Her best advice to women struggling through their own divorces is to find something that is completely their own. For Butler, she focused on learning skills that nobody could ever take away from her – skills she's now used to make a huge impact on the city she lives, works, and plays in.

Butler shares a deep look into what it took to create the Hello, New Park event, some of the incredible inspirations she drew from, and some of the challenges she faced. She shares stories of how the community came together to pull off an ambitious weekend with three days of programming. Approximately 35,000 people attended, and the community response was staggeringly positive. She described the weekend as the community's first date with their new park, and wanted to touch people's hearts and set the precedent for the next 10-20 years of the riverfront.

Toward the end of the episode, Butler shares some of what's coming up for Phases 2 and 3 of the Riverfront Development project, and what her role is now that the park is open. She also shared some of the programs that are coming up at Promenade Park now that its open.

For more information about events along the Riverfront, visit http://riverfrontfw.org/. They are also on Facebook (Riverfront Fort Wayne) and Instagram (@riverfrontfortwayne).

After the interview, we were excited to share an announcement for Alexandra Hall, our first guest from Season 1. A children's book she illustrated – The Zookeeper by Jessie Strock – is now available for purchase on Amazon. Check it out!

Our featured song this episode is Moon Dance by Elle/The Remnant. This all-female group has been making music together for more than 8 years. They started out as 3 friends and grew to 6 women as their songwriting capabilities evolved. All of their songs are original lyrics and music, and they have a deep love for unique storytelling. They believe that music should nourish, inspire and share stories worth telling. You can find them on Spotify, and can find upcoming shows on their Facebook.

Women Are: Fort Wayne is a production of Monstrous Regiment Media and distributed by WBOI in Fort Wayne. Our show is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne and Silverbirch Entertainment. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg, and edited by Adam Blackburn. Our episodes are recorded at Silverbirch Studio, with an extra thank you to sound engineer Steve Tyler and assistant engineer, Harrison Tyler. 

We appreciate you subscribing, rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also visit us at womenare.us, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can check out other content from WBOI on Facebook. Until next time...thanks for listening!