Being a mother entails many things, not the least of which is the responsibility of instilling a sense of caring and purpose into the next generation. Recently, a mother of three decided that time was of the essence, and elected to choose the Seva Challenge as a way to communicate her beliefs to her daughters.
Tina Tran has a passion for yoga, and through that passion came some self-revelation. "Since I was a teenager, I had a strong desire to travel to Africa to do humanitarian work. I considered going back to school to study nursing to begin my career on this path." Once Tina became more and more immersed into the yoga lifestyle, she realized that her dream was growing stronger. As she studied with various yoga master teachers, Tina could feel the pull towards something greater than herself.
Master yogi Seane Corn became the catalyst for Tina's burgeoning consciousness. Tina took classes with her, and soon became attracted to Ms. Corn's latest project, called Off the Mat, Into the World which called on all those who practice yoga to participate in changing the world for the better. This message instantly called to Tina, who experienced an epiphany. "I am just an ordinary person, but I would like(my girls)to understand my motivations for contributing to underprivileged communities." Through the aims of the Seva Challenge, i.e. to "inspire activism and leadership in its participants while collaborating resources to help communities in crisis", Tina decided that this was the forum to express her commitment to meaningful social activism.
"This was a valuable opportunity and my motivation was strong, so I signed up to participate," Tina recalls. She soon got sponsors from all over San Jose and the environs: Bijan Bakery, Yogurtland, Willow Glen Yoga, and Earth Baby, to name a few of the many companies which are supporting her dream. To travel to war-ravaged Uganda in order to build an eco birthing center as well as a primary school would be a dream come true for her, and thus she has scheduled a series of events to raise money to this end.
Her goal is to raise the $20,000 necessary to personally go to Uganda with her yoga mentor Seane Corn. "I am now close to the end of the Seva Challenge and I have raised more than $10,000. There were many setbacks and lessons learned, but in general, great things have come out of this endeavor." Tina goes on to express equanimity no matter how much she ultimately raises: "I have found comfort in the knowledge that the money I have raised will contribute towards truly meaningful projects that are monumental in improving the quality of life for the people of Uganda, who have suffered for generations."
Tina's latest fundraising effort will come tomorrow, 17 October 2009, at Willow Glen Yoga. Two of the Willow Glen instructors, Debora Cohen and Lorien Neargarder, are offering vinyasa sequences from 1:00P-3.15P, for a suggested donation of $25. All proceeds will go towards Tina's Seva Challenge, and the balanced blend of movement, stillness and relaxation will hopefully put everyone in a good frame of mind to give generously. It will also launch the next fundraiser in Tina's sequence and is a wonderful opportunity for couples, families, friends and relatives to get out and do an activity that is not only sound for the body but excellent for the heart. soul and purse strings as well.
Tina Tran can be reached via her website. The Seva Challenge she is participating in will end December 15, 2009, and this free-spirit is cheerfully going forward. "I would like them(her daughters) to see the similarities between themselves and the kids from Africa despite their cultural differences. I would like them to be guided by my example.. I know that for me, a strong sense of fulfillment comes from helping others and contributing to the bigger picture. I intend to continue down that path and see where it takes me."
Showing posts with label twitterview tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitterview tuesday. Show all posts
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
P is for pedal-and pie!
Please welcome this week's very special guest, Ms. Natalie Galatzer!
As CEO/owner of Bike Basket Pies, she pedals her wares-literally!-in the San Francisco neighborhoods of Mission, SOMA, South Beach, and FiDi. Additionally, she will, for extra consideration, even pedal through the less hilly parts of Potrero and Mission in the evenings. Of course, she bakes all the pies, both savoury and sweet, herself, and is happy to make vegan versions of the treats as well.
The pies are the size of a cupcake, and are $5 apiece, a real bargain when you consider the craft that goes into each one. Not only that, but imagine: Natalie offers full-sized pies for $30($25 for the pie; $5 for the pie tin deposit). Dinner is served, and if you add in some sweet pies, dessert as well: fresh, homemade and brought to your door at the appointed time!
######### ############## #################
This Twitterview Tuesday interview is being interrupted so that a special bulletin may be brought to your attention:
If you love macaroni and cheese, if your children love macaroni and cheese, if your husband/wife/s.o./etc.etc loves macaroni and cheese, if you are looking for a deluxe recipe for macaroni and cheese........look.no.further.
Ms. Natalie Galatzer, she of the many hidden facets and owner of Bike Basket Pies, has a recipe for macaroni and cheese that blasts those blue boxes right out of your cupboard!
Not just a personal observation, but a fact: Ms. Galatzer's recipe for macaroni and cheese pie took both First Place and the People's Choice Awards at this year's San Francisco Food Wars' Mac Battle Royale with Cheese!
Without any further delay, may Twitterview Tuesday hasten to present the succulent recipe for mouthwatering macaroni and cheese pie:
http:/www.chow.com/recipes/27675
You will now be returned to the regularly scheduled Twitterview Tuesday interview:
######### ######## ##########
But who is this siren of the bicycle, who entrances all and sundry with her marvelous creations?
The answer may seem a bit incongruous at first, but ultimately proves to be satisfying: after graduating from the Big 10 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in molecular and cellular biology, she worked for AmeriCorps, putting her skills to work as a watershed steward. Not only did she lead teams in helping to clean up and monitor Illinois streams, she applied her expertise to the Californian environment by educating consumers as to how seasonal fisheries work, while also connecting consumers to fishermen selling product off of their boats.
Natalie, a woman on a mission, was also involved in SPAWN(salmon protection and watershed network)in the Lagunitas Watershed Project of Western Marin County. Through this project, Natalie was able to educate not only her fellow members of the community as to the importance of clean water and sustainable hatcheries, bur also reach out to school children in grades K-3 as well.
Ms. Galatzer also managed an online advertising campaign for SalmonAid, a two-day festival in Oakland, California to raise awareness and funds to help protect the fish and rivers in the area. As a result of her "see it through to the end" attitude, Natalie found a way to make it work successfully as she was both the assistant event manager and the production assistant during the event!
Passion infuses all that Natalie puts her hands to. As a hands-on fempreneur, she uses opportunity and talent to create a niche. "In college, I actually used to cook for a friend's household," Natalie reveals. "I have long been passionate about the role food plays in our daily lives." In this, Natalie has been successful in integrating both her experience and the calling of her heart, as she uses the freshest ingredients from area sources.
In the quest to pursue this passion of the interplay between food sources and culinary creations, Natalie wanted to fuse both her experiences and the calling of her heart. When she realized that she got "enrapt in pie prepping", the germ of an idea was planted. The creation of Bike Basket Pies came about precisely because she wanted to utilize her talents "in doing what she enjoyed doing to try to generate some extra income".
In five years' time, she plans to "bake using recipes developed over time, and in five years, I expect to know almost to the week when so-and-so's peach/apple/cherry/fig tree will be ripe." Every day is good; her motivation to get out of bed is the feeling that there is "so much to do, so much to bake, so much amazing food to cook and eat!"
As a busy woman on the move, Natalie knows that her strong foundation has given her the strength necessary to achieve. "My family has always encouraged me to follow what I love and that's what I've always aspired to do." Whether it is volunteering for AmeriCorp, baking pies, being interviewed for Daily Candy San Francisco or San Jose's own
Twitterview Tuesday, Natalie has a zest for life which adds great flavor to all that she does!
Please support Natalie's business!
Her pies make for great parties, bridal showers, baby showers, meetings, and birthdays! You can even send a piegram!
To contact Natalie, please visit her website: www.bikebasketpies.com and send her an email with:
your address
time of expected delivery
instructions on directions and delivery route
your telephone number, including cell phone
Life is better with pie, so please send Natalie your business and tell her San Jose's Twitterview Tuesday sent you!
As CEO/owner of Bike Basket Pies, she pedals her wares-literally!-in the San Francisco neighborhoods of Mission, SOMA, South Beach, and FiDi. Additionally, she will, for extra consideration, even pedal through the less hilly parts of Potrero and Mission in the evenings. Of course, she bakes all the pies, both savoury and sweet, herself, and is happy to make vegan versions of the treats as well.
The pies are the size of a cupcake, and are $5 apiece, a real bargain when you consider the craft that goes into each one. Not only that, but imagine: Natalie offers full-sized pies for $30($25 for the pie; $5 for the pie tin deposit). Dinner is served, and if you add in some sweet pies, dessert as well: fresh, homemade and brought to your door at the appointed time!
######### ############## #################
This Twitterview Tuesday interview is being interrupted so that a special bulletin may be brought to your attention:
If you love macaroni and cheese, if your children love macaroni and cheese, if your husband/wife/s.o./etc.etc loves macaroni and cheese, if you are looking for a deluxe recipe for macaroni and cheese........look.no.further.
Ms. Natalie Galatzer, she of the many hidden facets and owner of Bike Basket Pies, has a recipe for macaroni and cheese that blasts those blue boxes right out of your cupboard!
Not just a personal observation, but a fact: Ms. Galatzer's recipe for macaroni and cheese pie took both First Place and the People's Choice Awards at this year's San Francisco Food Wars' Mac Battle Royale with Cheese!
Without any further delay, may Twitterview Tuesday hasten to present the succulent recipe for mouthwatering macaroni and cheese pie:
http:/www.chow.com/recipes/27675
You will now be returned to the regularly scheduled Twitterview Tuesday interview:
######### ######## ##########
But who is this siren of the bicycle, who entrances all and sundry with her marvelous creations?
The answer may seem a bit incongruous at first, but ultimately proves to be satisfying: after graduating from the Big 10 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in molecular and cellular biology, she worked for AmeriCorps, putting her skills to work as a watershed steward. Not only did she lead teams in helping to clean up and monitor Illinois streams, she applied her expertise to the Californian environment by educating consumers as to how seasonal fisheries work, while also connecting consumers to fishermen selling product off of their boats.
Natalie, a woman on a mission, was also involved in SPAWN(salmon protection and watershed network)in the Lagunitas Watershed Project of Western Marin County. Through this project, Natalie was able to educate not only her fellow members of the community as to the importance of clean water and sustainable hatcheries, bur also reach out to school children in grades K-3 as well.
Ms. Galatzer also managed an online advertising campaign for SalmonAid, a two-day festival in Oakland, California to raise awareness and funds to help protect the fish and rivers in the area. As a result of her "see it through to the end" attitude, Natalie found a way to make it work successfully as she was both the assistant event manager and the production assistant during the event!
Passion infuses all that Natalie puts her hands to. As a hands-on fempreneur, she uses opportunity and talent to create a niche. "In college, I actually used to cook for a friend's household," Natalie reveals. "I have long been passionate about the role food plays in our daily lives." In this, Natalie has been successful in integrating both her experience and the calling of her heart, as she uses the freshest ingredients from area sources.
In the quest to pursue this passion of the interplay between food sources and culinary creations, Natalie wanted to fuse both her experiences and the calling of her heart. When she realized that she got "enrapt in pie prepping", the germ of an idea was planted. The creation of Bike Basket Pies came about precisely because she wanted to utilize her talents "in doing what she enjoyed doing to try to generate some extra income".
In five years' time, she plans to "bake using recipes developed over time, and in five years, I expect to know almost to the week when so-and-so's peach/apple/cherry/fig tree will be ripe." Every day is good; her motivation to get out of bed is the feeling that there is "so much to do, so much to bake, so much amazing food to cook and eat!"
As a busy woman on the move, Natalie knows that her strong foundation has given her the strength necessary to achieve. "My family has always encouraged me to follow what I love and that's what I've always aspired to do." Whether it is volunteering for AmeriCorp, baking pies, being interviewed for Daily Candy San Francisco or San Jose's own
Twitterview Tuesday, Natalie has a zest for life which adds great flavor to all that she does!
Please support Natalie's business!
Her pies make for great parties, bridal showers, baby showers, meetings, and birthdays! You can even send a piegram!
To contact Natalie, please visit her website: www.bikebasketpies.com and send her an email with:
your address
time of expected delivery
instructions on directions and delivery route
your telephone number, including cell phone
Life is better with pie, so please send Natalie your business and tell her San Jose's Twitterview Tuesday sent you!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Please welcome this week's VSG: Ms. Robin Elise Weiss!
Ms. Robin Elise Weiss is an extremely busy woman. Not only does she publish a pregnancy/childbirth column for About.com, she is an active birth doula, and a lecturer who travels across the country imparting the wisdom and advice gleaned from ten plus years in the birth business. Additionally, she is a published author. This is impressive enough, and would make for a sufficient resume for any one person.
However, Ms. Robin is not only an extremely busy woman, zipping here and there to talk about pregnancy and the accompanying changes that occur...Ms. Robin is the proud mother of eight! Even better is her perspective on her family:
"Being a mother and a doula helps me to stay in touch with the realities facing pregnant women and mothers today."
Ms. Weiss was in the military, and while serving, she "stumbled upon" the notion of women-centered care. This intrigued her to the extent that when she attended the University of Kentucky, she majored in Liberal Arts with a focus on Reproductive Health Education. Ms. Weiss was caught up in the various aspects of pregnancy and childbirth, and thus her feet were on the path to success.
Beginning in 1989, Ms. Robin began to develop her calling in earnest. Prior to this, she became certified as a doula with DONA International and she was able to become certified as a childbirth educator via Lamaze International. In addition, she became certified as a postpartum doula as well with ICEA. Thus, Ms. Robin was on her way to becoming a force in the birthing community, with hundreds of births to her credit.
Soon, Robin began to lecture, using the skills she acquired with her Communications minor. Her lectures to midwives, doulas, obstetricians and others concerned with birth were(and are!) quite popular. Others remark that Robin has a touch for disseminating information in a relaxed way that is non-threatening and easy to comprehend.
From there, Robin kept elevating her style, adding radio appearances and writing articles to her repertoire. In fact, at last count, Robin has written over 3,000 articles which were published on the web! Keeping not only abreast of birth trends, but also ahead of them, she soon branched out into becoming an author of a diverse series of books on pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.
Some of her many titles include:
The Everything New Mother's First Year
The Complete Illustrated Pregnancy Companion
150 Tips and Tricks for New Moms
The Joy of Pregnant Sex
Ms. Robin Elise Weiss is a woman who is actively involved in birth: she is the recipient of numerous awards, from the President's Award from Lamaze International, to the CIMS Forum award. She has many more awards, has made numerous television appearances, and doubtless has many more irons in the fire. To her, though, "seeing families meet their babies and watching women grow through parenting" are what motivates her, not the many awards she receives.
Her birth philosophy is simple: "Every woman has to make her own choices, but she has to know all of her options or she ahs no choices."
The part that most impresses about Robin, beyond the laundry list of accomplishments, are these words that she offered on pregnancy:
"Pregnancy is a special time in our lives. We need to be given the opportunity to ask questions, tell stories, and generally enjoy the experiences of bringing a new life into this world. "
Robin Weiss, whose typical day consists of "wake up, feed the kids, drive, write, read, study, drive, feed kids, read books to kids, homework with kids, bed" is a driven woman. Her desire to change the fact that so many women are so unaware of birth choices, that it is a scandal "how few of their options women know about"; this is the driving force behind Ms. Weiss's constant presence.
So the next time you are at a conference, or are searching for answers on the Internet,or are in need of a doula, contact Robin
first. Armed with "birth ball, lap top and music" she is the Johnny Appleseed of our profession, spreading the seeds of knowledge across the nation!
However, Ms. Robin is not only an extremely busy woman, zipping here and there to talk about pregnancy and the accompanying changes that occur...Ms. Robin is the proud mother of eight! Even better is her perspective on her family:
"Being a mother and a doula helps me to stay in touch with the realities facing pregnant women and mothers today."
Ms. Weiss was in the military, and while serving, she "stumbled upon" the notion of women-centered care. This intrigued her to the extent that when she attended the University of Kentucky, she majored in Liberal Arts with a focus on Reproductive Health Education. Ms. Weiss was caught up in the various aspects of pregnancy and childbirth, and thus her feet were on the path to success.
Beginning in 1989, Ms. Robin began to develop her calling in earnest. Prior to this, she became certified as a doula with DONA International and she was able to become certified as a childbirth educator via Lamaze International. In addition, she became certified as a postpartum doula as well with ICEA. Thus, Ms. Robin was on her way to becoming a force in the birthing community, with hundreds of births to her credit.
Soon, Robin began to lecture, using the skills she acquired with her Communications minor. Her lectures to midwives, doulas, obstetricians and others concerned with birth were(and are!) quite popular. Others remark that Robin has a touch for disseminating information in a relaxed way that is non-threatening and easy to comprehend.
From there, Robin kept elevating her style, adding radio appearances and writing articles to her repertoire. In fact, at last count, Robin has written over 3,000 articles which were published on the web! Keeping not only abreast of birth trends, but also ahead of them, she soon branched out into becoming an author of a diverse series of books on pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.
Some of her many titles include:
The Everything New Mother's First Year
The Complete Illustrated Pregnancy Companion
150 Tips and Tricks for New Moms
The Joy of Pregnant Sex
Ms. Robin Elise Weiss is a woman who is actively involved in birth: she is the recipient of numerous awards, from the President's Award from Lamaze International, to the CIMS Forum award. She has many more awards, has made numerous television appearances, and doubtless has many more irons in the fire. To her, though, "seeing families meet their babies and watching women grow through parenting" are what motivates her, not the many awards she receives.
Her birth philosophy is simple: "Every woman has to make her own choices, but she has to know all of her options or she ahs no choices."
The part that most impresses about Robin, beyond the laundry list of accomplishments, are these words that she offered on pregnancy:
"Pregnancy is a special time in our lives. We need to be given the opportunity to ask questions, tell stories, and generally enjoy the experiences of bringing a new life into this world. "
Robin Weiss, whose typical day consists of "wake up, feed the kids, drive, write, read, study, drive, feed kids, read books to kids, homework with kids, bed" is a driven woman. Her desire to change the fact that so many women are so unaware of birth choices, that it is a scandal "how few of their options women know about"; this is the driving force behind Ms. Weiss's constant presence.
So the next time you are at a conference, or are searching for answers on the Internet,or are in need of a doula, contact Robin
first. Armed with "birth ball, lap top and music" she is the Johnny Appleseed of our profession, spreading the seeds of knowledge across the nation!
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