You may already know Shaina Kandel, a long-time member of the Women Catalysts community, from the Lightning Talk she did last year about how we can use plant-based products for period relief. This week she’s doing a workshop called “Elevate Your Health: Healing with Cannabis and CBD,” where she will share her passion for making ancient medicine more accessible. What are you making happen right now? Right now I'm building a company called Moon + Leaf. Moon + Leaf exists to create a culture in which women love, honor, and listen to our bodies. We create CBD products for period relief to turn ou ..read more

I’m excited to feature a long-time member of Women Catalysts and our East Bay local leader Alicia Jabber for our #wcw this week. Alicia has been a driving force in building our community beyond San Francisco. We are jazzed for East Bay Lightning Talks in celebration of International Women’s Day. Alicia is helping women make it happen through her organization Inside Out and supporting Women Catalysts community to meet IRL. Thanks Alicia! Meet Alicia What I'm working on... I am working on learning systems that will support scaling the impact Inside Out can make in women's lives. That comes in t ..read more

Jen Dryg A few years ago, Jen Dryg and Mia Brice left their successful careers at a large beauty retail company, joined forces, and started their own business that combines coaching, leadership training, and health and wellness. In this week’s profile, Jen shares how they made that happen – and what she’s learned along the way. How did your business with Mia start? And how are you different from other coaches? Our business grew out of a year-long conversation about our shared personal interest in creating a purpose-driven and intentional life. We actually met over a decade ago and worked for ..read more

Colleen Thomas We love the calm and positive energy Colleen brings to Bay Area Women Catalysts events, so when we heard she was making a podcast called Shame Piñata, we had to know more. You are a ritual artist. What does that mean, and what kinds of work and art you do? I see life through a ritual lens - I’m constantly inspired to create ritual, art, and performance art to connect us to one another and to facilitate healing. In my work, I help people notice when they have made it through something particularly difficult and give them permission to honor how the experience has changed them. I ..read more

We’ve been featuring various members of the Women Catalysts community on the blog and for #wcw for a few years, but we’ve never interviewed the actual founders of this-here organization. Until now. This week we’re formally introducing you to Women Catalysts co-founder Kim Hunter. Margaret (Women Catalysts community manager) got Kim to agree to sit down for a text-based interview. Kim: Alrighty, got a cup of coffee, let’s do this! Margaret: Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Kim: You got it! Margaret: OK, where are you right now? Kim: I’m sitting on a por ..read more

“Feel free to use this photo. It's a good one of both of us.” — @OfficerEdith If you’re an animal lover on Twitter, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with @OfficerEdith. The San Francisco Animal Care and Control Officer’s feed is full of cute photos and videos with hilarious captions. Her real name is Ellie Sadler, and she was nice enough to answer some of our questions. What brought you to San Francisco and to SFACC? (And how long have you been doing this work?) I finished my degree in the UK and could not find a job, so being young and idiotic, I packed a bag and decided to move ..read more

Patience Yi Patience Yi is a mother, a former technology executive, an activist, an advocate for the arts, a sexual assault survivor, a leadership coach, and so much more. Her latest business, called The Fight or Flight Club, offers coaching and group training to help people understand and manage their fight or flight reactions, so that they can lead more fulfilled, compassionate, and connected lives. We had a lot of questions she was (ahem) patient enough to answer! What made you want to start The Fight or Flight Club, and how is it different from regular coaching? Ascending to executive lev ..read more

W “You can change your life through the act of a simple daily ritual.” Our #wcw this week is Windy Chien, an artist best known for her project “The Year of Knots,” where she learned a new knot every day for a year. When she was done with each knot, she nailed it to the wall. At the end of the year, that wall was a giant work of art; Windy had found her artistic voice. Now she’s a full-time artist who creates mesmerizing knot-based sculptures and installations. And she has a book, also called The Year of Knots, coming out next week! The book describes her personal path to discovery and contain ..read more

Emily Shaw If you’ve been to any Women Catalysts events in San Francisco this year, you may recognize this smiling face. If you haven’t, then we are thrilled to introduce you to Emily Shaw, a Bay Area podcast strategist and producer whose enthusiasm for the medium is contagious. She’s done work for a variety of big-name clients in addition to her personal projects, and she’s just getting warmed up. Emily’s leading a workshop for members next week about how to turn your creative passion into a career (you can register in the portal). We didn’t want to hog the entire Q&A time at the end of ..read more

Christina Tasooji Christina Tasooji is a wellness guide specializing in helping professional women overcome burnout. She shared part of her powerful story at a recent Lightning Talks event, so we had to follow up with her to learn more. Meet Christina! On your website, it sounds like burnout made you sick, and you healed yourself through a radical approach to self-care. Can you tell us more about that? A few years ago, I thought I had everything a 20-something woman could want. I had a high paying tech job that took me all over the world. I thought I was in the best shape of my life. I mean ..read more