Stacy-Marie Ishmael

Stacy-Marie Ishmael is a journalist and editor from Trinidad and Tobago. She is currently the Editorial Director at the "Texas Tribune" and has worked for the "Financial Times", BuzzFeed, and Apple.
Career.
She was born and raised in San Fernando, Trinidad, where she went to Naparima Girls' High School, graduating in 2002 and then moving to Europe. She attended University of Franche-Comté and the London School of Economics, going on to become in 2006 a graduate trainee at the "Financial Times" ("FT"). There, Ishmael started Alphaville, one of the "FT"s first blogs. "Business Insider" described her work as "ridiculously knowledgeable" as well as "great on camera" in appearances for CNBC. Ishmael has also drawn praise for "astute" commentary on hiring and organizational diversity.
After five years at the "FT", Ishmael departed for technology company Percolate, but returned in 2013 to the "FT", where she became vice-president for communities, working with the FT Live series that produces 200 events a year.
Ishmael moved to BuzzFeed in 2014 as managing editor of mobile news as the company developed a news app, which launched in June 2015. She has also been a regular guest on BuzzFeed's popular podcast "Another Round", hosting a segment called "Stacy's Career Corner". "The Frisky" praised Ishmael's advice for negotiations as "absolutely required listening for anyone who’s ever been afraid of walking into a room and asking for what they want" and said her recurring segment "is competent, clear-headed and extremely useful. It’s the kind of advice you wish you had when faced with a work challenge; it’s the advice you want when navigating the trenches of a workplace peppered with microaggressions and untoward overtures...It’s the kind of advice I wish I’d had when I was a young person figuring out how to navigate a world that they don’t prepare you for in college."
In 2016–17 Ishmael was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford.


Sally Hunt

Sally Colette Hunt is a British trade union leader, the General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers until its merger into the new University and College Union (UCU), of which Hunt was the General Secretary until 2019.
Biography.
Born in 1964 in Germany, where her father was teaching in a British forces school, Hunt was educated at a comprehensive school in Chippenham, Wiltshire. She studied international relations at the University of Sussex from 1983 until 1987, serving as vice-president of the students' union.
After leaving university, she worked as a nightclub bouncer, a bookshop assistant, and for two building society staff associations before joining the Association of University Teachers.
Hunt was the last General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers (AUT), having held that post since 2002. On 1 June 2006, the AUT merged with the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) to form the UCU.
As head of the AUT, she and Paul Mackney (Head of NATFHE), led industrial action, over three years until 2006, in support of a pay rise for higher education staff exceeding 20%. The actions disrupted university exams and provision of marks across the UK. In the end, members voted heavily in favour of accepting a rise of 13.1% phased over the three years, with the final year's figure subject to further increase in line with inflation. The final year's figure was to be "2.5% or RPI, whichever is greater". In the end, the RPI was at its peak and was 5%, resulting in that being the level of the final year's pay rise.
Hunt also oversaw what appear to have been the biggest strikes in UK higher education history, the 2018 UK higher education strike.
Hunt was elected as the first General Secretary of UCU on 9 March 2007, narrowly beating main challenger Roger Kline (ex-NATFHE, and UCU Head of Equalities) by some 1346 votes after the second preference votes of third candidate Peter Jones were allocated after Jones was eliminated in an inconclusive first round. The election turnout was 13.9% out of an electorate of just over 116,000 UCU Members. She was re-elected on 2 March 2012, defeating her only opponent, Mark Campbell (ex-NATFHE, the chair of the UCU Co-ordinating Committee at London Metropolitan University and a member of the National Executive Council of UCU since 2008) by a 73% to 27% margin (or 6835 votes); Campbell was supported by the UCU Left. The turnout was 12.5% out of an electorate of 117,918. Hunt is the UCU representative to the TUC and a member of the TUC General Council. Her first union job was as a senior research officer with the union later known as ACCORD. Hunt was once more re-elected on 2 March 2017: 13.7% of members turned out, casting 13,724 votes, with 8,138 for Hunt and 5,586 for her contender Jo McNeill.
She is married, has a daughter, and lives in Brighton.
On 25 February 2019, UCU announced that Hunt had resigned from the post of General Secretary on health grounds after having been awarded a £400,000 'post employment payment' pay-off.


Naomi Munakata

 was a Japanese-born Brazilian choral conductor and academic teacher based in the city of São Paulo. She was conductor of OSESP, the choir of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, from 1995 to 2013, and then principal conductor of Coral Paulistano Mário de Andrade at the Municipal Theatre. She was among the choral conductors in South America who "have contributed to the strengthening and stimulation of choral music", according to "The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music".
Life.
Munakata was born in Hiroshima, and the family moved to São Paulo, Brazil, when she was age two. She received piano lessons from age four and began singing in a choir that her father conducted at age seven. She also learned to play violin and harp. She studied at the Instituto Musical de São Paulo, graduating in composition and conducting in 1978. She studied conducting, musical analysis and counterpoint with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. She also studied with Eleazar de Carvalho, Hugh Ross, Sérgio Magnani and John Neschling. She further studied with Eric Ericson in Sweden on a scholarship from Vitae Foundation, and was awarded a scholarship for studies of conducting at the University of Tokyo from the Japanese government in 1986. She received the award for best choral conductor from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics.
Munakata was teacher and director of the Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo, and conductor and artistic director of the Coral Jovem do Estado, the state youth choir. She ran a regular radio program, "Vozes" (Voices) on Rádio Cultura FM in São Paulo, informing about choral music.
She was conductor of OSESP, the choir of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, from 1995 to 2013, when she became the choir's Honorary Conductor. From 2014, she was artistic director of the , the chorus of the Theatro Municipal. She taught at the faculties Faculdade Santa Marcelina and Faculdade de Artes Alcântara Machado (FAAM).
In the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, Munakata was hospitalized on 16 March 2020 at the Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz with symptoms of the infection, and died on 26 March 2020 at the age 64.
Awards.
She received the award for best choral conductor from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics.


Israella Kafui Mansu

Israella Kafui Mansu is a reputed young female entrepreneur in Ghana, Founder and CEO of Mansuki Ghana Ltd.
Early life.
Israella Kafui Mansu was born on 26 October 1985 in Sogakope in Ghana and moved to Liberia with the family whiles young. Unfortunately it was during that period that the war broke in Liberia so the family moved back to Ghana.
At age 6 she enrolled in Sogasco Primary in Sogakope, moved to Dabala Primary and JHS and later St. Francis Demonstration JHS in Hohoe, where she took her BECE all due to the transfers her mother had to go through as a school matron. After successfully passing her exams, she gained admission into Anfoega senior high school in the Kpando District to study Home Economics and completed her tertiary education at the University of Ghana, Legon with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Consumer Science and Psychology.
Educational Achievements.
Whiles in school, Israella continues to distinguish herself among peers. Whiles Dabala JHS, the school selected her to represent them in the annual STME (Science Technology and Mathematics Education) program run by the government to empower young people especially girls and also represented her school in district examinations and competitions. In Anfoega SHS she also partook in an open literature competition meant for the whole school where she wrote a creative story and successfully placed third even when majority that took part were boys and seniors.
Entrepreneurship.
Since 2009 Israella has built a reputed brand with her company on both the local and international market. As an entrepreneur, she researches into natural cosmetic products, design and commercialize them.
After completing her National service duties in 2009, Israella thrived to get a job but to no avail. This circumstance motivated her and with as little capital of GHS300 which she gathered from savings during her National Service exercise she started her first company using her kitchen as a laboratory where she formulated and prepared the first few cosmetic products In an exclusive interview she had with Akpah Prince she said “In starting the company, I had two main visions in mind to make money to survive and create jobs to employ people because the rate of unemployment in the country now is just so high and pathetic, so these factors motivated me to start this very company”.
Recognition.
In 2012, Israella participated in Enablis Ghana's Business Launch Pad competition and Ghana Startup Cup where she placed second and first runner-up respectively.
In 2013 she was awarded at a ceremony in South Africa by the deputy minister of Trade and the European Women Inventors and Innovation Association in Sweden.
In 2014 participated in the launch of the YES initiative by the Ghana government where she sat on right hand side of the president. She has featured on television shows in Ghana as well as documentaries on Young Entrepreneurs in Ghana and Africa. She has also participated the US Embassy Ghana programs and has shared her story on many speaking platforms.
She is also currently in the final six participants on the Ghana's Next Young Entrepreneurs Reality Show in Ghana.
Exports.
Leading in the production of Made in Ghana goods, Israella occasionally exports her cosmetic products into other African countries, Asia, the US and the European markets. Her products go as far as pushing Ghana out there by raising the flag of Ghana very high.
Conclusion.
Israella Kafui Mansu is passionate about solving developmental challenges, creating sustainable employment and coaching young entrepreneurs.


Flora Burn

Flora Burn was a pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy. She began her pirate career in 1741 and operated mainly on the East Coast of North America.


Apo Hsu

Apo Hsu or Hsu Ching-hsin () is a conductor born in Taiwan and resident of both Taiwan and the United States. Hsu served as music director of the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony Orchestra and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Springfield, Missouri. Her past appointments include serving as artistic director of The Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco, California, and conductor of the Oregon Mozart Players in Eugene, Oregon. She has been a mentor for many young conductors on both sides of the world through her work at NTNU and at The Conductor's Institute at Bard College in New York. Her performances have been featured in national broadcasts in the United States (on National Public Radio), Taiwan (on International Community Radio Taipei), and Korea (on Korean Broadcasting System).
Concerts.
Apo Hsu's international career encompasses a wide array of guest appearances, residencies, and tour performances. In the United States she has appeared as a guest conductor with the San Francisco Symphony, the Barra Mansa Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington DC), the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, the Interlochen Center for the Arts and many others. Hsu toured Brazil with the Women's Philharmonic in an "Avon Women in Concert" initiative highlighting the works of Brazilian poet Vinícius de Moraes. She has conducted in Irkutsk, Russia, as a featured conductor. She has appeared on Asia-Pacific stages as guest conductor with Korea's Sung Nam Philharmonic Orchestra, Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, and KBS Symphony Orchestra (Korean Broadcasting System), and in tour performances with the NTNU Symphony in the Australian cities of Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra. She appears regularly on concert stages in her native Taiwan, including recent guest appearances with the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and special appearances with the Festival Orchestra for the 2003 Summer Presidential Concert (Zhongli) and the Presidential Holiday Concerts (Tainan).
Programs and Recordings.
Apo Hsu has earned acclaim for her flair with both Asian and European musical idioms. She and The Women's Philharmonic received four consecutive Awards for Adventurous Programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League. With this group Ms Hsu recorded symphonic music by African-American composer Florence Price for the Koch International Classics label in 2001. Performances with the KBS Symphony Orchestra of Korea were featured on NPR's "Performance Today" in August 2007. A recording of the repertoire of her acclaimed 2007 "Formosa Dreaming" American tour program with NTNU performing artists, featuring the music of Tyzen Hsiao and Fan-Long Ko, was released in 2008. She is also closely associated with the music of Taiwanese composers Wen-Pin Hope Lee and Chao Ching-Wen.
Teaching.
As head of the conducting studio at NTNU Apo Hsu plays a leading role in the training of Taiwan's next generation of conductors. In North America she appears regularly as a faculty member at The Conductor's Institute at Bard College. She has served on the faculty for the American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Workshops, National Youth Orchestra Festival 2000, the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute 2002 and 2004, and the 2007 All State Orchestra in New Mexico. She has served as a Music Review Panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts for Meet the Composer in New York City.
Education.
Apo Hsu received her BA in piano from the National Taiwan Normal University. Her graduate studies in the US began at the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut where she studied double bass performance with Gary Karr. She earned an MM in double bass performance as well as an Artist Diploma in Conducting with conductor Charles Bruck. She attended the Pierre Monteux Domaine School in Maine for Advanced Conductors, The Conductor's Institute in South Carolina with Harold Farberman, and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado with Murry Sidlin.


Nicolasa Escamilla

Nicolasa Escamilla known as La Pajuelera (fl.1747 – fl. 1776) was a Spanish bullfighter.
She was one of the most famous bullfighters of her sex. She was the subject of an illustration by Francisco Goya and a poem by Fernando Soteras.


Katarina Carroll

Katarina Ruzh Carroll (born 17 November 1963) is an Australian police officer and the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service since July 2019. She is the first female commissioner of QPS. She was formerly the Commissioner of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services from August 2015 until July 2019.
Early life and education.
Carroll was born on 17 November 1963 in Innisfail, Queensland, to Bosnian Croat parents, Ivan and Antonia Bošnjak from Ljubuški and Trebižat, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and raised on a tobacco farm in Innot Hot Springs. She was educated at Mount Garnet State School, and then boarded at Mount St Bernard College, Herberton before completing an associate diploma in community welfare at James Cook University in Townsville. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in criminology and criminal justice from Griffith University, which awarded her its Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2018.
Career.
Carroll joined the Queensland Police Service in 1983, working in general duties, then as a detective in the drug squad, crime operations and ethical standards. She was awarded the Australian Police Medal in the 2008 Australia Day Honours. In 2014, Carroll served as Operations Commander for the G20 summit in Brisbane.
Carroll joined the new Queensland Fire and Emergency Services in December 2014 as acting commissioner, and was officially appointed to the role on 1 August 2015.
On 23 April 2019, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that Carroll would succeed Ian Stewart as Commissioner of Queensland Police upon Stewart's retirement in July 2019. Carroll was appointed Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service on 8 July.
In October 2019 Carroll was named one of "The Australian Financial Review's" 100 Women of Influence in the Public Policy category.
Honours and awards.
Carroll wears the following Australian and Queensland awards and unit citations on the uniform:


Liliana Gil Valletta

Liliana "Lili" Gil Valletta is the co-founder and CEO of the cultural intelligence market research tech-firm CulturIntel and the cultural marketing agency CIEN+. She is also a regular television commentator seen on Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, and CNN en Español.
Education and career.
Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Liliana Gil immigrated to the United States as a teenager. She attended Southwestern Adventist University, earning a Bachelor’s in Business, as well as an MBA from the University of Colorado. As a Young Global Leader selected by the World Economic Forum, she also completed the WEF exclusive Global Leadership and Public Policy Executive Program at The Harvard Kennedy School. Valletta spent most of her career at Johnson & Johnson where she held positions including the global marketing services director, co-founded the company's Hispanic employee business resource group The Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Achievement (HOLA), and launched “Proyecto MAS2”, a pioneering initiative to quantify the business case for doing multicultural marketing and bring increased visibility to the Hispanic segment of the company's customer base, particularly within the pharmaceutical sector.
In 2010, with business partner Enrique Arbelaez, Valletta co-founded XL Alliance and rebranded to CIEN+ in 2016. The company is a cultural intelligence firm offering data-analytics, business strategy, and cross-cultural marketing primarily serving Fortune 500 Clients like Google, Johnson & Johnson, Prudential, Nestlé, Merck, UnitedHealth Group, among others. The firm is 100 percent minority owned and woman owned. The company currently has offices in New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Denver, and Colombia.
Media appearances and public speaking.
Valletta has appeared in the media, including on FOX News, MSNBC and CNN. She has appeared in Spanish-speaking media for networks including Univision, Telemundo47, Television Dominicana, Telemicro Internacional, Caracol Television and NTN24 Noticias. She is also an independent contributor for the "Huffington Post" and "Fox News Latino".
Valletta is the creator of the YouTube channel "Moments to CultuRise" with marketing insights, data, news and commentary about cultural intelligence and cultural trends in business. Valletta has also spoken before organizations and universities. Valletta has frequently mentioned the idea of the "Brown Elephant" in the room, which represents a fast approaching majority-minority market that is often being ignored in business, despite the fact that it's growing in size and income.
In 2019, Gil Valletta formed part of the selection committee of the Miss Universe 2018 in the Impact, Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi Province, Thailand, transmitted on FOX.
Awards.
In 2018 Valletta received the highest recognition by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as 2018 Hispanic Business Person of the Year, Women Power 100 as one of the most powerful women of New York, and in 2018 received the New York Women of Excellence Award by the New York Women's Chamber of Commerce. In 2017 PRWeek named her Top 50 Most Influential in Healthcare for her work in data analytics and patient insights enabled by artificial intelligence. In 2008, Valletta was named in "PODER" Magazine's Top 20 Under 40. In 2009, she was named Business Woman of the Year Award by Latin Pride Awards, an Outstanding Business Woman by the National Association of Professional Women, and received the Latina Leadership Award from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). In 2011, she won a Latino Trendsetter Award. In 2013, she was named one of New York's 25 Top Rising Latinos by "Latino Leaders Magazine".
Affiliations.
In 2019, Valletta was voted as an independent director joining the board of directors for Zumiez (NASDQ: ZUMZ). In 2011, Valletta was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. She is a board member of the Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard’s Kennedy School. She is a member of The Global Diversity and Inclusion Foundation, and a member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. In 2010 she served as co-chair of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital's Gala por la Vida NY.
Personal life.
Valletta resides in New York City and is married to former NFL player and co-founder of Mission Chris Valletta, who was also in season four of "The Apprentice".


Amy Butler (minister)

Rev. Dr. Amy Butler is an ordained Christian minister and from 2014 to 2019 served as the senior minister at The Riverside Church, a United Church of Christ/American Baptist church in New York City, the first woman to hold that position in the church's history.
Education and career.
Butler attended Baylor University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1991 and a Master of Arts in 1995. She also holds a Bachelor of Theology from the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.
Following her graduation from Wesley Theological Seminary, Butler served as a missionary in New Orleans, Louisiana through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. She then served on the staff of Lindy's Place, a transitional home providing care for some of New Orleans' most underprivileged members. Butler then became Associate Pastor of Membership and Mission at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church, also in New Orleans.
In 2003, Butler became Senior Minister of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC, the founding church of the Northern Baptist Convention, now American Baptist Churches USA. As Calvary's first female Senior Minister, Butler helped Calvary more than triple in membership. Her work at Calvary was featured in Paul Nixon's book "We Refused to Lead a Dying Church!: Churches That Came Back Against All Odds". She held this position until 2014, at which time she accepted the Senior Minister position at The Riverside Church.
The Riverside Church.
Butler was elected to the senior minister position at Riverside on June 8, 2014. In July 2019, after Butler completed an initial five-year term at the church, it was announced that the church's governing body would not be extending Butler's term for an additional five years. The official announcement described the decision as mutual. Later reports, however, cited retaliation against Butler for a harassment claim she had filed against a Church Council member who was accused of sexually harassing her and other female staff members, a visit to an education-based, sex toy store by Butler, two church employees, and a congregant during an out-of-town conference trip, and her request during the contract renewal negotiations to be compensated the same as her male predecessor as well as have protections put in place to guard staff against church leaders who engaged in practices of harassment and bullying as potentially contributing factors in the governing body's decision. A former church council member also revealed that although the Church Council had conducted a full and comprehensive investigation into the lay leader accused of sexually harassing female staff members, the governing body voted to terminate their relationship with Butler after an investigation that seemed rushed and poorly documented by comparison into complaints leveled against her by unnamed staff members.
Personal life.
Butler was raised in Hawaii and is the mother of three children. She is divorced.


Sexual differences in Jainism

And 2). Shwetamber {wearing white clothes}. Both of the groups are mainly similar in their ideology but differ in some of the aspects.
Digamber are the ones who give up all the things {their family, clothes, job, money, everything } for achieving internal peace.
While Shwetambar are those who wear a white robe. These groups were formed a long time ago due to some conditions. Shwetambar group became from that common group due to those conditions.
Naturally both the sexes are different from each other in various aspects. In Jain dharam there are different roles for different genders.
Females are bound to some extent due to their body physiology and anatomy.
Those who want to control their mind and want internal peace should also control their sexual feelings.
Many people consider that the difference in opportunities for females are less than males. But if we properly read the Jain text we will properly know about the Jain logic and reasons.
It's all about karma. You get everything according to karma.
You do good you will get good if not now then after some time. There is a body karma which decides that you will become male or female.
Debates on women.
One of the most fundamental distinctions between Śvetāmbara and Digambara Jains is their respective views on women as mendicants, or nuns, that originated over their debates regarding nudity. The general consensus between the two sects is that the Jinas, and especially the last Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra, practiced naked asceticism. Digambara Jains claims that it is necessary for all mendicants to conduct their renunciation without clothing. For them, this represents the idealized practice of "aparigraha," in which a mendicant renounces all property and possessions, including clothing. Śvetāmbara Jains, however, claim that nudity as the exemplary mode of asceticism is impossible in this period of the cosmic age, and as such, it is "deemed inappropriate." For the Śvetāmbaras, the white robes commonly associated with them are interpreted as mere tools that enhance religious life.
The debate on nudity would translate into a concern about the renunciant and soteriological potential of women. For Digambaras, women cannot become ascetics as they could not be naked, which was seen as "an essential component of the path to liberation." Women were also seen as essentially immoral - and therefore unsuited to become a mendicant - because their bodies "generate and destroy life-forms within their sexual organs... thus repeatedly infringing nonviolence." Women, then, were exempt from spiritual liberation because their bodies consistently broke the cardinal rule of "ahiṃsā." The Śvetāmbaras accepted the premise that naked nuns would be inappropriate; however, because they viewed clothing as auxiliary to religious pursuits, the issue of female mendicants was resolved as they would be clothed. Additionally, Śvetāmbara Jains argued that women were not exempt from spiritual liberation, given that there is nothing within Jain scriptures that precludes such.
The debates haunt the discussion of gender, and particularly women, in Jainism, as the mendicant tradition is seen as one of the most significant features of Jain religious practice. Yet, it is important to note that simply because the "liberal" Śvetāmbaras do not preclude spiritual liberation for women, women are still viewed in various ways - both positively and negatively - as shown by the Jain literary tradition.
Perception of women in Jainism.
As Manisha Sethi observes, "[T]here is no single archetype but a heterogeneity of ideals that appear sometimes to buttress women's claim to independent spiritual life, and at other times, to erode this pursuit." Her point brings to bear the fact that the broader Jain literary tradition has stories that both inspire and demonize Jain nuns and laywomen. For example, there are goddess beings such as the "yakṣī" Padmāvatī, who can intercede on behalf of "the non-salvational needs of their Jaina devotees, needs which cannot be met by the aloof, unresponsive, and totally-transcendent Tīrthaṅkaras." There are also stories about early Jain women whose chastity and righteousness eventually lead to their liberation, such as Rājīmatī, wife of the 22nd Tīrthaṅkara Neminātha.
Yet at the same time, women - be they laywomen or nuns - are viewed as sexual agents with potentially nefarious goals. Indeed, while Jain monks are meant to control their sexual desires via their ascetic practices, the "Sūtṛakrtāṅga-sūtra "details how "a woman will tempt [a monk] to a comfortable couch or bed" by seductive means. Women are seen as cat-like predators who prevent Jain monks from achieving their lofty spiritual goals. Unlike their lay counterparts, references to Jain nuns within the texts about monastic conduct are notably absent. This lack of representation, argues Sethi, is an act of erasure: denying women equal opportunity in renunciate activities and leaves the Jain spiritual worldview solely within the domain of male practitioners. However, nuns are not exempt from being characterized as dangerous sexual agents, as a Jain nun needs to both protect her own chastity from "potential molesters and rapists "as well as her own self"."
While representations of women as goddesses or chaste liberators within the literary tradition offers an alternative, and positive, vision of women within Jainism.
Mallī/Mallinātha.
Among the numerous figures within Jain texts, an important discussion is to be had regarding the 19th Tīrthaṅkara Mallinātha, who represents a unique case study in the debates and figurations of Jain women. For Śvetāmbara Jains, Mallinātha represents the capacity of women to achieve spiritual liberation, given that Mallinātha is depicted as a woman known as Mallī Devi. Mallī was a king in her previous life known as Mahā-bala, who, along with his six friends, decided to become a mendicant after hearing an ascetic preach. They all agreed to fast together, but Mahā-bala secretly desired to outperform his friends in their fasts. After they completed the life-ending fast known as "sallekhanā," Mahā-bala's friends were reborn as gods and then kings; however, Mahā-bala was reborn as a woman because of his deceitful passion, which is considered to be a characteristic of women. Thus, despite the fact that Mallī rises to the occasion of Tīrthaṅkara, her gender is still a karmic defect or failure unlike the case of male Tīrthaṅkaras. Digambara Jains review the view that Mallinātha was a woman, as this would mean that he would have developed breasts and menstruated; both of these signs are deemed as paradoxical and too worldly for an enlightened Jina, who is meant to have shed all his karmas. The exact gender of Mallinātha is more complicated than this, as all but one Śvetāmbara image - "The 'Meditating Female,'" which is a 10th – 11th century image from Uttar Pradesh, actually represents Mallī as an "asexual being with the absence of the diacritical marks of her sex." In terms of Mallinātha's presence in the lives of Jain nuns and laywomen, Sethi observes that very few view Mallinātha as a role model for women, and in the Śvetāmbaras' case, "her presence in the Tīrthaṅkara pantheon [was] 'an exception and a wonderment'... likely to be never repeated again."
Roles of women in Jainism.
According to the "Kalpa-sūtra," after the death of the Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra, the community that he organized "contained a body of female ascetics two and half times as large as the number of male ascetics." Further, the respected Candanbālā, a Jain female renouncer during the time of Mahāvīra, is said to have led a sangha of 36,000 female ascetics. These annotations highlight the fact that, while there was lively discussion and debate regarding female mendicants, women have been a part of the Jain monastic tradition for a long time. This has continued even unto modern times, where Sethi observes that the number of female ascetics within Jainism is far greater than that of male ascetics. Arguably, given that Jainism offers the possibility of liberation to women, women are seen as "legitimate aspirants and agents of salvation," where in other traditions - such as Hinduism - they may not. Despite the propensity of female ascetics in Jainism, this does not ignore the fact that they may still find themselves within a hierarchical system wherein male ascetics are viewed more positively. This is to say, the Jain monastic hierarchy "is structured through the gendered ideology of domesticity, with the patriarchal authority, consolidated in the figure of the ācārya/gacchādhipati, presiding over" the various mendicant orders. Thus, the highest rank of female monastics fails to have the same prestige or recognition as the highest rank of male monastics, the ācārya. Female ācāryas are a theoretical possibility, and two mendicant groups in the 1970s are known to be the exceptional cases where women have been given this status rank.
Gender and the third sex.
One of the consequences of debating whether or not women could be mendicants was an inquiry made by the Jains regarding who was a part of their larger community. To wit, the Jains accepted the pan-Indian idea of a third sex, who existed on the fringes of larger Indian society; however, given that the Jains were investigating whether or not women could become mendicants or attain spiritual liberation, they were simultaneously concerned about what it meant to be a man, woman, or neither/both.
The Jains rejected the Brahmanical view of gender as indicated by "the presence or absence of certain primary and secondary characteristics" and instead, "revalorized" the term "veda", which referred to both biological sex and sexual feelings. What became important to the Jains was less the features or markers of gender, but rather, sexual behavior itself as seen by one's role in intercourse. This sexual behavior can be focused toward men, women, or both, and it is exactly this bisexual quality of the third sex that was accepted by Śvetāmbara and Digambara Jains. However, the bisexuality of a third-sex sexuality became accepted not as a third-sex identity itself, but rather, a sexuality, that can be possessed by male, female, or third-sex gendered people. Thus, by the 5th century, the Jains distinguished what they viewed as biological sex and psychological gender and sexuality, which allowed the possibility of "a biological male ("dravyapuruṣa") [that] need not necessarily be a male psychologically ("bhāvapuruṣa"), that is, endowed with male sexuality, but he may in fact experience female or third-sex sexuality, and the same will be true, mutatis mutandis, for the two other sexes as well."
The third-sex, known as "napuṃsaka"s, were an important consideration because there was a social stigma attached to them. As Zwilling and Sweet explain, the fear was that the broader populace would assume things wrongly of Jain mendicants if the "napuṃsaka"s were ordained as monks or even if mendicants accepted alms from them. Thus, another reason why it was important to determine who was a part of the third-sex was to enforce monastic conduct and public opinion. However, over time, this ban grew lax, especially if third-sex people were especially well-connected to local people or they were seen as being especially able to control their sexuality.


Lois Kelso Hunt

Lois Marie Kelso Hunt (July 16, 1926 – May 20, 2018) was an American actress, theater director, and arts advocate. A native of Oak Park, Illinois, she studied at the University of Michigan and Columbia University before pursuing a career as an English and drama teacher. Hunt relocated to Alexandria, Virginia in 1965, where she acted in local theater productions, and served as a director and producer of a touring production of Malcolm Boyd's "They Aren't Real to Me" (1966–1968).
Hunt made her feature film debut portraying a domineering house mother in "The House on Sorority Row" (1982), which went on to become a cult film. She later appeared onscreen as a guest star on the series "" in 1995, and later in a minor part in the comedy film "Head of State" (2003). Hunt spent much of her later life dedicated to various humanitarian and philanthropic causes in Alexandria. She died at Inova Alexandria Hospital of pneumonia in 2018, aged 91.
Biography.
Hunt was born Lois Marie Kelso in Oak Park, Illinois on July 16, 1926 to Hugh Donnally Kelso and Lou Lillian Hammerlund. She attended the University of Michigan, where she worked as a member of the student newspaper. She subsequently earned a graduate degree from Columbia University, and began her career as a schoolteacher, teaching English and drama at Passaic Valley High School and St. Mary’s Hall, both in New Jersey. In February 1954, she married Leon Gibson Hunt in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.
In 1965, Hunt relocated to Alexandria, Virginia, and worked as a stage actress, appearing in productions for the Washington, D.C. Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, Castle Performing Arts Center, and the Jewish Community Center. From 1966 to 1968, Hunt toured as a director and producer of a stage production of "They Aren't Real to Me", a one-act play by Episcopalian priest and gay rights activist Malcolm Boyd.
In 1982, Hunt made her feature film debut in the slasher film "The House on Sorority Row", portraying a domineering housemother murdered by her sorority. Her performance was dubbed in post-production as her voice was not deemed menacing enough for the role. No less, the picture went on to become a cult film. On December 31, 1985, Hunt divorced her husband, Leon, following a one-year separation. She would later appear onscreen again in an episode of "" in 1995 ("Fire: Part II"), and had a minor role in the comedy "Head of State" (2003).
Hunt spent her later years dedicated to philanthropic and humanitarian causes in Alexandria, serving on the Alexandria Beautification Commission, and was also the chair of the Bicentennial Trees of Alexandria. She was also president of the Taylor Run Civic Association, and volunteered time to Meals on Wheels and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. Hunt was a member of various political and humanitarian organizations, including the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, Amnesty International, and the Alexandria Democratic Committee.
Death.
Hunt died of pneumonia at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, aged 91. She was predeceased by her eldest son, Nathaniel, who died in a swimming accident in 2011, as well as her former husband, Leon Hunt. She was survived by three other children.


Julie Kushner

Julie Kushner (born c. 1952) is an American politician and retired trade unionist. She worked for United Auto Workers, and was elected to the Connecticut Senate in 2018.
Early life and family.
Julie Kushner's parents were Sheldon and Marcia Kushner. The Kushners lived in Iowa during the 1950s, when Julie Kushner was born. She had a sister, Cathy, and brothers, Michael and Benjamin. Kushner was raised in a Jewish family in Hamburg, Iowa, where her father was a grocer. In the 1960s, her family returned to her father's hometown, Lincoln, Nebraska. Following primary school in the Hamburg Community School District, Kushner attended Lincoln's Irving Junior High School, and graduated from Lincoln Southeast High School. She attended five colleges, graduating from the University of Wisconsin. Kushner moved to New York City with her first husband in 1977. Before the relationship ended, the couple had two children. Kushner later remarried to Larry Morgan, with whom she had another child. Kushner and her family moved to Danbury, Connecticut, in 1993.
United Auto Workers.
Kushner was a secretary for three years, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin. She subsequently joined the United Auto Workers (UAW), a labor union. During her tenure as vice president of UAW's district 65, Kushner advocated for clerical and technical workers at Columbia University. The effort for the UAW to represent Columbia's clerical workers took five years, including a contentious representation election held in May 1983. Certification for UAW's district 65 to represent Columbia's clerical and technical employees was granted in February 1985. During a two-day strike in mid-November 1991 organized by Columbia's clerical workers, Kushner stated, "Our people are fed up with the refusal of Columbia to acknowledge that our members are underpaid and unfairly treated. So we're raising the stakes both for Columbia and its allies." In 2000, as a subregional director for UAW, Kushner worked to form a union of postgraduate researchers at New York University. By 2002, efforts to establish a union for adjunct instructors at NYU were underway. The UAW won a representation vote held in July of that year. During Kushner's tenure as a subregional director, the UAW represented adjunct faculty at New School University, as well. Following NYU president John Sexton's 2005 decision to pull recognition of the graduate student union at the school, Kushner participated in a August 2006 protest against the decision, which was reversed in 2013. Prior to her June 2018 retirement from the UAW, Kushner aided the UAW's efforts to organize a graduate student union at Columbia University.
Political career.
Prior to campaigning for political office, Kushner was co-chair of the Connecticut Working Families Party for eight years. During her 2018 campaign for the Connecticut State Senate's 24th district seat, Kushner was endorsed by the Connecticut branch of the League of Conservation Voters, labor unions, and "The News-Times". Her campaign was backed by the Connecticut Working Families Party and the Democratic Party. Kushner defeated incumbent Michael A. McLachlan in the general election. Following her upset victory, Kushner was sworn in on 9 January 2019. Kushner announced that she would run for reelection in January 2020, and defeated Susan Chapman in the general election.


Carro Morrell Clark

Carro Morrell Clark (September 6, 1867 – February 16, 1950) was the founder and manager of the C. M. Clark Publishing Company, located in Boston, who, from 1900 through the end of 1906, was reported by some to be the only woman to publish books in the United States and some claimed in the world.
The C. M. Clark Publishing Company operated from September 1900 to April 1912 and had its headquarters at 211 Tremont Street, Boston. Clark was born and raised on a farm in Unity, Maine.
The company's first release, "Quincy Adams Sawyer and Mason's Corner Folks- A Story of New England Home Life" by Charles Felton Pidgin, was aggressively marketed by Clark, and sold 500,000 copies. It was made into a play, a musical, and in 1922, a movie of the same title starring Lon Chaney and Blanche Sweet. Another book, "Miss Petticoats", also went into theatrical production and was performed by, among others, Kathryn Osterman and the future film director, D.W. Griffith. In 1916, it was adapted as a silent film starring future Academy Award-winner Alice Brady.
In 1897, Carro married Charles F. Atkinson of Boston; they divorced in 1913. In 1914, she married the theater architect, Leon H. Lempert, Jr., of Rochester, New York.


Nadine Labaki

Nadine Labaki ( "Nādīn Labikī"; born February 18, 1974) is a Lebanese actress, director and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her film-making career began in 2007 after the release of her debut film, "Caramel", which premiered at the Cannes 2007 Film Festival. She is known for demonstrating everyday aspects of Lebanese life and covering a range of political issues such as war, poverty, and feminism. She is the first female Arab director to be nominated for an Oscar in the category for Best Foreign Language Film.
Early life.
Labaki was born in Baabdat, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, in a Maronite family to Antoine and Antoinette Labaki. Her father is an engineer while her mother is a homemaker. She spent the first seventeen years of her life living in a war-torn environment, until 1991 when the civil war in Lebanon had ended. Early in life she learned the art of story telling from her uncle, who was the family "hakawati" (story teller). Her grandfather also owned a small theatre in Lebanon where she found her love for film. She began her career with Studio El Fan, a Lebanese talent show, in 1990. The show aired during the 1970s, which continued through to the early 2000s. At the talent show, Labaki won a prize for directing various music video productions.
Labaki obtained a degree in audiovisual studies at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. In 1997, she directed her graduation film, "11 Rue Pasteur", which won the Best Short Film Award at the Biennale of Arab Cinema at the Arab World Institute in Paris. Labaki is unique among her fellow Lebanese and Arab Film Makers in that she was not educated or trained abroad.
In 1998, she attended a workshop in acting at the Cours Florent in Paris. With her sister Caroline Labaki as executive producer, she went on to direct advertisements and music videos for renowned Middle Eastern singers, for which she won several awards. Striving to project the contemporary Lebanese woman, she "created examples of Lebanese women who were very at ease in their bodies."
Career.
Director.
In 2003, Labaki's name began to become more popular within the Arab media. 2003 was also the year when she began directing music videos for singer Nancy Ajram. The song, "Akhasmak ah" (Yes, I'll fight you), sparked controversy due to its scenes of sexually suggestive dancing. Ajram's female character, who serves as a waitress to male customers, was seen as inappropriate and too evocative Labaki defended her script, stating that Ajram was actually portraying an "assertive and powerful female figure". Labaki and Ajram worked to redefine the image of the current Arab woman as feminine, alluring and in control. Ajram continued to collaborate with Labaki on her music videos, "Ya Salam," "Lawn Ouyounak" and "Inta Eih." The three videos were awarded with best music video honors.
In 2005, Labaki took part in the Cannes Film Festival Residence for six months, during that time, she wrote "Caramel", her first feature film. In 2006, she directed and played one of the leading roles in "Caramel", which showcases a Beirut that most people are not familiar with. Rather than tackle political issues that have plagued Lebanon, she presents a comedy that deals with five Lebanese women in Beirut who gather at a beauty salon and deal with issues related to love, sexuality, tradition, disappointment, and everyday ups and downs. The film premiered at the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, which was a commercial success in the summer of that same year. It sold worldwide and collected important prizes at many festivals around the world, garnering Labaki much acclaim both as a director and actress. It also put her on Variety's 10 Directors to Watch list at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2008 the French Ministry of Culture and Communication gave her the Insignia of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.
In 2010, Labaki directed and starred in her second feature film, "Where Do We Go Now?" The film humorously tackles a delicate subject about a war ravaged Middle Eastern village in which Muslim and Christian women try to keep their men from starting a religious war. The idea for this film first came about when Labaki was pregnant with her son in 2008. At that time, Lebanon was at the brink of its most violent turmoil in decades. Interreligious conflict led to outbursts in the streets of Beirut. Labaki speaks of friends becoming enemies due to religious differences. Preparing for motherhood, she began to ponder what extreme lengths mothers would go to prevent their sons from obtaining arms and taking to the streets to fight. This one idea sparked the narrative of this film, in which an entire town of women begin a mission to prevent the men from brutally killing each other. The story takes place in Lebanon, although never explicitly stated. Labaki's reasoning for this was that "the film is universal... this conflict does not only happen in Lebanon. I see it everywhere . . . We are scared of each other as human beings." Similarly to "Caramel", her second feature casts non-professional actors. In effort to heighten the reality, Labaki states that "normal people deserve to be on the big screen."
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the "Un Certain Regard" category in 2011. The film won the Cadillac people's choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also collected many other awards in festivals around the world, like Cannes Film Festival, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival, Doha Tribeca Film Festival. The film was also nominated for best foreign film at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles. During its opening weekend, the film hit the largest ever admissions total for an Arabic-speaking film in Lebanon, amounting 21,475 admissions for a total of $153,358.
In late 2013, Nadine Labaki started work on her third feature film called "Capernaum" which was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of a 12-year-old boy living in the slums of Beirut. He strives to sue his parents for bringing him into a world of suffering and negligence of children. Labaki wrote the screenplay along with Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Kesrouani, Georges Khabbaz and her husband, Khaled Mouzanar. Mouzanar further produced the film and composed the music. The title "Capernaum", means 'chaos'.
For three years prior to writing, Labaki extensively researched the city's children to gather accounts of their experiences, stories and pasts. She used mostly non-professional actors for this film, including lead child actor Zain Al Rafeea, who was found in one of the slums playing with friends, a Syrian refugee himself. Although a rather anti-classical style of filmmaking, Labaki deems her system as "very organic." She strived to provide these "forgotten children" with a voice and use her cinematic tools to ignite a lasting change.
Labaki's style of cinematography uses cinematic conventions, such as illuminations, atmosphere lighting, and silence to help convey the meaning in her films. Despite the often dangerous political situations Labaki continues to write and direct films that do not focus on conflict.
"Capernaum" won the Jury Prize at Cannes, and Labaki won Best Directing at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
She was selected to be on the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Following the success "Capernaum", Creative Artists Agency (CAA) signed Labaki in all areas, but she continues to be represented in France by Art Media Agency.
Her movie "Capernaum" was nominated in the foreign-language Oscars category, which was a first for a female director in 2019. She is the first female Arab director to ever be nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
In collaboration with the UNHCR and UNICEF, Zain Al Rafeea and his family have been resettled in Norway. He and his siblings are attending school for the first time in their lives with a hope of regaining their childhoods. This, says Labaki, is the greatest reward.
Actress.
Nadine Labaki started acting in short films during the early 2000s. She starred in Zeina Durra's "The Seventh Dog." The work won the audience award at the Circuito Off Venice International Short Film Festival in 2006.
In 2006, Labaki starred in "Bosta," a Lebanese musical comedy. The film was a box office success, outgrossing "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
In the same year, Labaki acted in her first feature film, "Caramel".
Labaki starred in "Stray Bullet," directed by Georges Hachem in 2010.
She appears in the Moroccan production "Rock The Casbah," directed by Laila Marrakchi, alongside actors Hiam Abbas and Lubna Azabal.
She has also performed in her films "Where Do We Go Now"? and "Capernaum".
Labaki often casts herself in her movies. She feels, "When I act with the people I cast, they feel more comfortable. I like to improvise a lot, and when I am in the film, it's like directing the scene from the inside."
Themes and directing style.
Themes.
Growing up during the Lebanese Civil War, Labaki's films are informed by her experiences of political unrest in her home country, often exploring themes of violence and trauma.
Labaki's films challenge apathy towards important issues, such as the refugee crisis and poverty. Though themes of war and tragedy are prevalent in Labaki's works, so is humour. Her films cover the Lebanese Civil War and the lasting impacts it had on the country. Her experiences impacted Labaki personally as well as how it shaped her filmmaking. Labaki has stated that she feels that as a director she has to do something good for her country. She then decided that talking about problems such as poverty and the refugee crisis is important. FF2 Media covered a Q&A with Labaki in 2018 about her movie "Capernaum", which received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year (as well as 34 other wins and 46 other nominations). She stated that while trying to brainstorm concepts for the script, her team came up with ideas that she wanted to include, such as "child labor, migrant labor rights, children's rights, the absurdity of having to have the papers to prove that you exist, the absurdity of borders, and early marriage". She believes that “Cinema can be a way to [create] change.” She has stated that she believes that politics and art are intertwined and that her films are her own “way of revolt”. According to Labaki, "sometimes, a line in a film, or a scene can make you think about yourself, about your decisions. By touching your hearts films can offer hope more than politics". Labaki's films have no solutions for the issues Lebanon faces, but she hopes that her films will "simply shake audiences out of their chronic lethargy". She has stated that for her, filmmaking and activism are one and the same, believing that cinema can effect social change.
Another common theme in her work is feminism and the female narrative. She does this by focusing on the everyday lives of women in the middle East in her films.
Through her films, Nadine Labaki connects themes from the Arab world and the Western world. Her transnational feminism highlights ordinary women affected by complex realities deeply rooted in decades of political turmoil.
Style.
Labaki's films are often cast with non-professional actors. She often finds men, women, and children who live in the real neighborhoods shown on screen where they re-enact scenes from their own experiences, often in some of Beirut's grittiest slums. Labaki does this to make the film as realistic as possible. Labaki is also known for spending long periods of time to research and pick the cast for her films. She immerses herself in the lives of her subjects and spent four years researching her subject and the mistreated children in Beirut. For her film "Capernaum", she gave her actors minimal direction and used hand-held cameras to capture life in the streets of Lebanon. For her film Caramel, she spent almost a year searching for women who resembled her characters. She purposely did not want professional actors, she explained, and the spontaneity of each authenticates the plot of women supporting each other as they cope with their problems. The filmmaker amassed months of raw footage, which she later edited down to just over two hours.
Labaki states that she was inspired by the photo of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee whose lifeless body sparked outrage around the world. Stating, "I remember thinking if this child could talk, what would he say, and how would he address the adults that killed him?" she says. "I wanted to become their voice, their vehicle for them to express themselves."
In a 2012 interview with Jan Lisa Huttner from FF2 Media, Labaki said: "I have a problem with injustice. I have a problem with seeing the wrong things around me and just not saying anything about them". She likes to address relevant issues and portray them through her art, be it acting, directing, or even dance. Her movie "Where Do We Go Now?" heavily incorporates dance, and in the same interview with FF2 Media, she mentioned that she has a background of being a dancer.
Personal life.
Labaki is multilingual, fluent in Arabic, French, English and Italian. In 2007, she married musician and composer Khaled Mouzanar. In 2009, Nadine Labaki gave birth to her first boy, Walid. Seven years later (2016), Labaki gave birth to a daughter, Mayroun.
In 2016, Labaki received an honorary degree from the American University of Beirut and was the speaker at the 150th Commencement Ceremony.
Politics.
Nadine Labaki was a candidate on the list of the new political movement Beirut Madinati for the capital's May 2016 local election. Beirut Madinati focuses on social justice and the good of the public utilizing a diverse group of citizens as representatives.
Despite achieving about 40% of the popular vote, the movement lost against its opponent, the 'Beirutis' list' supported by Saad Hariri, in all 6 out of 12 wards, but did not gain a single seat under the election's one-district First-past-the-post system.
Filmography.
As an actress.
! scope="row 1" | 2020
! scope="row 2" | 2020
! scope="row 3" | 2020
! scope="row 4" | 2019
! scope="row 5" | 2019
! scope="row 6" | 2019
! scope="row 7" | 2019
! scope="row 8" | 2019
! scope="row 9" | 2019
! scope="row 10" | 2019
! scope="row 11" | 2019
! scope="row 12" | 2019
! scope="row 13" | 2019
! scope="row 14" | 2019
! scope="row 15" | 2019
! scope="row 16" | 2019
! scope="row 17" | 2019
! scope="row 18" | 2019
! scope="row 19" | 2019
! scope="row 20" | 2019
! scope="row 21" | 2019
! scope="row 22" | 2019
! scope="row 23" | 2018
! scope="row 24" | 2018
! scope="row 25" | 2018
! scope="row 26" | 2018
! scope="row 27" | 2018
! scope="row 28" | 2018
! scope="row 29" | 2018
! scope="row 30" | 2018
! scope="row 31" | 2018
! scope="row 32" | 2018
! scope="row 33" | 2018
! scope="row 34" | 2018
! scope="row 35" | 2018
! scope="row 36" | 2018
! scope="row 37" | 2018
! scope="row 38" | 2018
! scope="row 39" | 2018
! scope="row 40" | 2018
! scope="row 41" | 2018
! scope="row 42" | 2018
! scope="row 43" | 2018
! scope="row 44" | 2018
! scope="row 45" | 2018
! scope="row 45" | 2018
! scope="row 46" | 2017
! scope="row 47" | 2012
! scope="row 48" | 2011
! scope="row 49" | 2011
! scope="row 50" | 2011
! scope="row 51" | 2011
! scope="row 52" | 2011
! scope="row 53" | 2011
! scope="row 54" | 2011
! scope="row 55" | 2011
! scope="row 56" | 2011
! scope="row 54" | 2009
! scope="row 55" | 2008
! scope="row 57" | 2008
! scope="row 58" | 2007
! scope="row 59" | 2007
! scope="row 60" | 2007
! scope="row 61" | 2007
! scope="row 62" | 2007
! scope="row 63" | 2007
! scope="row 64" | 2007
! scope="row 65" | 2007
! scope="row 66" | 2007
! scope="row 67" | 2007
Other work.
In 2014, Labaki was the goodwill ambassador for the bilingual and multimedia campaign produced by The Brave Heart Fund (BHF). Based out of the Children's Heart Center at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, the BHF creates awareness and helps to fund operations and procedures for underprivileged children with Congenital Heart Disease.


Florence Malgoire

Florence Malgoire (born 9 March 1960) is a French classical violinist, pedagogue and conductor.
Biography.
Born in Dugny from a musicians family, Malgoire began her career under the leadership of her father Jean-Claude Malgoire within La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy and of her teacher Sigiswald Kuijken with La Petite Bande. Since 1987, she has held solo violin positions in baroque ensembles such as Philippe Herreweghe's La Chapelle Royale, Christophe Rousset's Les Talens Lyriques, and William Christie's Les Arts florissants.
In 2003, she founded "Les Dominos", an ensemble with variable geometry, specialising in 17th and 18th century music, which performed in Naples, Beaune, Geneva, Lille, etc. To deepen her sonata work, Malgoire co-founded "Les Nièces de Rameau", an ensemble oriented towards the chamber music repertoire.
Alongside her solo career, Malgoire is interested in musical direction: after radio in French-speaking Switzerland, for which she was invited to conduct Jean-Philippe Rameau's motets at the Agapé Festival, she conducted Jean-Féry Rebel, Georg Friedrich Haendel and Bach, but also Mozart's "Requiem" and Heinrich Biber.
European specialist of the ancient violin, Malgoire intervenes from Sablé to Tokyo while passing by the Royaumont Foundation, the Juilliard School of New York, and Rio de Janeiro. Since 2000, she has been teaching ancient violin and chamber music at the Conservatoire de Genève and at the Schola Cantorum de Paris.


Leah Cherniak

Leah Cherniak (b. 1956) is a Canadian playwright, actor, and teacher. She is a co-founder of Theatre Columbus (now called Common Boots).
Early life and education.
Cherniak graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in 1979. She later studied at École Jacques Lecoq, where she met Martha Ross.
Career.
Cherniak co-founded Theatre Columbus with Martha Ross in 1984. Originally, the company was called The Gargoils. In 2015, Theatre Columbus changed their name to Common Boots Theatre.
Teaching.
Beginning in 1985, Cherniak taught clown at the National Theatre School. In 2001, Cherniak began teaching dance at Ryerson University and George Brown College.


Janet Healy Weeks

Janet Healy Weeks (born 19 October 1932) is a retired American lawyer and judge. She was the first woman to be admitted to the bar in Guam and the first female judge in Micronesia.
Life.
Weeks was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and studied chemistry at Emmanuel College, Boston, graduating in 1955. She went on to study law at Boston College Law School, graduating in 1958. She was then selected for the Attorney General's Honor Graduate Program, and from 1958 to 1961 she worked at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. In 1971 she took a position in a law firm in Guam, Trapp & Gayle, and four years later, became a partner.
Weeks was a trial judge in the Superior Court of Guam from April 1975 to April 1996, when she was appointed an Associate Justice in the Supreme Court. She held this position until her retirement in April 1999. She also sat as a designated justice in the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, the District Court of Guam and was a justice pro tem in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau.
In 2009, Weeks was awarded the Hustisia Award, in recognition of her contribution to the improvement of the administration of justice and of good government in Guam. Weeks also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Guam.


Elise Cambon

Elise Cambon (February 27, 1917 – December 30, 2007) was a noted organist and choir master, who was on the staff of St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans) for sixty-two years.
Cambon was born in New Orleans, received a Bachelor of Arts from Newcomb College in 1939, a Master of Music in Organ from the University of Michigan in 1947, and a PhD from Tulane University in 1975. As a Fulbright Scholar in 1953, she attended the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt-am-Main, and studied organ under Helmut Walcha, as well as harpsichord and conducting. She also studied at Syracuse University, Oberlin College, the Pius X School of Liturgical Music, and at the Abbey of Solesmes.
Cambon was, from 1961 to 1982, a professor at Loyola University New Orleans's College of Music, and the French government named her a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
She donated the 2004 Holtkamp organ at St. Louis Cathedral, and left a substantial fortune at her death, which was distributed to the Cathedral, various schools with which she had been associated, and her servants. Following her death in New Orleans, a funeral at the Cathedral and burial in Metairie Cemetery, the Elise M Cambon Residuary Charitable Trust was founded in her native city.
Cambon was a dominating figure in Louisiana's music world during her long career.


Samiha Ayoub

Samiha Ayoub () is an Egyptian actress known for her work on stage, in film and on television. In 2015, she received the Nile Award in the Arts, and in the same year, the large hall in the National Theater was named after her, in honour of her outstanding career in cinema and theater, and her contributions to the theatrical arts in Egypt.
Biography.
Samiha Ayoub was born in Shubra, Cairo in 1932. She graduated from the Nun's School then joined the Acting Institute in 1952. Her breakthrough came after her role in Samara and Rabaa ElAdawya (radio series). She has been married three times, to actor Mohsen Sarhan, actor Mahmoud Morsy, and playwright Sa’ed Eddine Wihbe (Saad Eddin Wehbe).
Professional life.
From 1972–1975, Ayoub managed The Modern Theatre, and from 1975–1985, she was the director of Al-Qawmy Theatre.


Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

Elizabeth Conway Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean (born 14 April 1951) is a British politician and trade unionist. A member of the Labour Party, she was Minister of State for the Middle East from 2001 to 2005. She is former General Secretary of the FDA Trade Union and has served as the Chair of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) since 2010.
Early life.
The daughter of Ernest Symons, Chairman of HM Board of Inland Revenue, Symons was educated at Putney High School for Girls and Girton College, Cambridge. She was an administration trainee at the Department of the Environment from 1974 to 1977. She then worked for the Inland Revenue Staff Federation from 1977 to 1989 and was General Secretary of the Association of First Division Civil Servants from 1989 to 1997. She resigned from this post following her appointment as a working peer.
Political life.
Symons was created a Labour life peer as Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, "of Vernham Dean in the County of Hampshire", on 7 October 1996. From May 1997 to June 1999, she took her first government post, serving as a junior Foreign Office Minister. From 1999 until 2001, she was Minister of State for Defence Procurement and, from 2001 until 2003, Minister of State for Trade. From 2001 until 2005, she was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs with responsibility for the Middle East, International Security, Consular and Personal Affairs, and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords.
Symons was or remains a member of the British-American Project (BAP). It has a membership of 600 leaders and opinion formers, drawn equally from both countries, according to "The Guardian", and holds an annual conference at which everything that is said is officially off-the-record. also serves on the Board of Governors of the Ditchley Foundation.
In 2001, she married her long-standing partner, Phil Bassett, a former writer at "The Times". They have a son, James, born in 1985. In October 2002, Bassett was appointed to the Strategic Communications Unit in 10 Downing Street, leaving in September 2003 to become special adviser to Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.
She is a Senior Network Member at the European Leadership Network (ELN).
Corporate career.
Symons was not given a job in the re-shuffle after the general election of 5 May 2005, and became a non-executive director of British Airways.
Symons sits on the Board of Trustees of the John Smith Memorial Trust, an NGO set up in 1995 in memory of the late Labour party leader John Smith.
Conflict of interest allegations.
"The Guardian" alleged in its issue of 9 January 2005 that Symons may have used her office to give "special treatment" to David Mills, husband of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. Mills was seeking her assistance in sidestepping a U.S. trade embargo against Iran in order to sell $200 million worth of British Aerospace jets to that country.
On 9 February 2006, "The Guardian" mentioned her as one several former government ministers who had accepted lucrative positions as company directors and consultants. In the case of Symons, the companies involved were British Airways, law firm DLA Piper, and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O).
In 2009 similar allegations were made when she took a lucrative post with UK investment bank MerchantBridge, which made millions from contracts in post-war Iraq, and also when she became a member of the National Economic Development Board of Libya shortly before the release of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, who was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. Symons resigned from the National Economic Development Board in 2011 in the midst of a popular uprising against the government of Muammar Gaddafi, one day after she had made remarks which appeared to praise Gaddafi's ‘sound ideology’. Symons said the remarks had been made facetiously.


Josephine Casey

Josephine Casey (1 January 1878(?) – 27 January 1950) was a labor organizer and leader, and a women's rights advocate.
Early life.
Casey, the youngest of four children, was born in Memphis, Tennessee in [1978?] and raised in Chicago. Her Catholic parents, Cornelius and Bridget Stephens Casey, were Irish immigrants.
Career.
While working as a Chicago streetcar ticket agent in 1904 she persuaded the women she worked with to form a union. She worked as an organizer for the Boston Women's Trade Union League from 1906 to 1909. She then organized for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and was a strike leader for garment workers in Kalamazoo, Cleveland, and St. Louis between 1911 and 1914. In March 1912, Casey's efforts in Michigan were focused on the concerns of female workers at the Kalamazoo Corset Company including low wages, long hours in unsanitary conditions and sexual harassment from male foreman. Organizers, including Pauline Newman and Gertrude Barnum, and striking employees gained national attention for silent picketing and prayer meetings in response to a court order to stymie disorderly picket lines. An agreement that fell short of significant wage gains, but marked progress for female workers' rights, was reached on June 12.
During World War I Casey opposed women-only labor laws in the South. She was a suffrage activist and worked for the Women's Political Union in New York. In the 1920s she was a champion of the Equal Rights Amendment. Following a series of misfortunes, she was earning $5 per week working as a housekeeper. In 1931 the National Woman's Party (NWP) contacted her and sent her to Atlanta to oppose the efforts by the Southern Council and the Cotton Textile Institute to establish sex-based legislation. Her reports were made into a regular column featured in the NWP's weekly bulletin "Equal Rights".
Death.
As a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston and later the Seventh Church of Christ Scientist in New York, Casey refused to seek medical care for heart related issues because of her religious beliefs. She died at her home in New York City on January 27, 1950.


Ning Cai (writer)

Ning Cai (; born 16 October 1982), is a Singapore Literature Prize nominated author, who was also long listed for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2016. She is best recognised for her illusionist/ escapologist stage character Magic Babe Ning, and recognised by Channel News Asia as South East Asia's first professional female magician. Cai has been credited with popularising magic in Singapore. She has been lauded for her good looks in various media outlets as well as publications, both locally and overseas.
In October 2014, Cai announced her retirement from performing as her famous alter ego Magic Babe Ning with a keen focus on her writing career. Soon after, she published her 2016 Singapore Literature Prize nominated autobiography "Who Is Magic Babe Ning?" She made a brief return to magic as the Mind Magic Mistress in 2017. To date, she has published 3 nonfiction books and 2 fiction books, with her latest bestselling crime fiction novel "Misdirection" being the first of a young adult trilogy.
Education.
Ning Cai was born in Singapore on 16 October 1983 and is the eldest of three sisters. She studied in Methodist Girls School where she completed both her PSLE and GCE O Level examinations. She was also credited with a certificate of distinction for competing in the Australian Mathematics Competition of 1997.
Upon graduation from Methodist Girls School, she progressed her tertiary education at Ngee Ann Polytechnic where she pursued a diploma in Film Sound and Video with the intention to graduate as a television producer and writer. Her alma mater later officially inducted Cai into their inaugural Hall of Fame in 2011 along with fellow graduates of the School of Film Media Studies, DJs Jamie Yeo and Justin Ang, one half of The Muttons.
Her constant hard work and positive track record in the public eye, along with Cai's creative talent and prowess in writing won her accolades and also the prestigious 2018 Arts Scholarship from the National Arts Council where she will be pursuing her postgraduate studies in Creative Writing (Fiction) at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Career in magic.
2006 to 2009.
Cai soon found herself gaining recognition for her magic tricks that she honed over the years ever since she first started watching David Copperfield on TV at the age of 5. In 2006, she joined a local magic competition and was placed 2nd runner up. This unexpected win led her to eventually decide to be a full-time professional performer after graduating from University.
When Cai first burst onto the entertainment scene, she was widely acknowledged as "Singapore’s only professional female magician" by publications including "The Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, The New Paper, My Paper, Mediacorp Channel 8 News" and "Lianhe Wanbao." Cai dislikes being typecast as the typical female in magic who plays submissive roles to males and only performs magic with silks, flowers, umbrellas or rabbits and has incorporated fire-eating, choreography with samurai swords, twirling fire balls, spikes and weapons in her shows. Her influences in magic when she was growing up include David Copperfield and Princess Tenko. Over the years, she has grown from performing simple magic tricks to more elaborate and death defying ones.
Cai collaborated with her former manager, J C Sum, in various illusion shows across Asia. Channel News Asia has highlighted that they represent "the new faces of an age-old art form", and called them "Singapore’s celebrity magic duo". They have been hailed as "Asia’s most famous illusionists" by Straits Times and have been lauded as "the hottest duo in town" by AsiaOne. Together, they have helped to put Singapore on the world map with their daring performances and captivating illusions. By 2008, Cai and Sum were the highest paid magicians in Singapore.
In March 2008, Cai was a featured celebrity as Singapore's only professional female magician on Record Breakers (Kid Central Mediacorp Studios). Together with Sum, they appeared on several local media outlets, showcasing their various illusions. They soon garnered international attention as they were engaged to perform on the long-running TV show "Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde" in Paris, France. The episode, broadcast internationally, aired on 31 December 2011 and was the highest rated TV show of its time slot on French TV. They were also featured in an episode of "Itte-Q!," a Japanese variety show that featured variety stars taking "lessons" from them. In the same year, they also appeared on the Italian TV show "La Grande Magia."
Cai and Sum starred in "Ultimate Magic", Singapore's first permanent illusion show at "The Arena" in the entertainment district of Clarke Quay. As part of the launch of the show, Cai attempted South East Asia's first ever mega escape from The "Impalement Cage" on 5 July 2008.
Over the years, they have performed illusions for a myriad of renowned events. As part of the F1 Singapore Grand Prix Season, on 24 September 2008, Cai and Sum successfully staged South East Asian's Biggest Magic Event at the Singapore River by teleporting 3 people across the iconic Singapore River in 2.5 seconds. 31 on 27 March 2010, Cai and Sum performed some of their illusions alongside other popular celebrities as part the Earth Hour concert
Cai's popularity and fame has provided her with opportunities such as headlining a gala show as a solo act at the South England Magic Convention on 31 January 2009. This mark the first time in history that a Singaporean magician headlined an international magic convention.
Cai and Sum have established noteworthy records through their impressive displays of illusion and magic. On 27 June 2009, they performed "The Impossible Record" which was a performance that consisted of 15 grand illusions in 5 minutes. This served as a closing finale for the 2009 Singapore River Festival and was the first ever magic record to be adjudicated by the Singapore Book of Records. They also performed an illusory act titled "The Mind Heist", an illusion that captured the thoughts of 100 random people within an hour. This act marked the first ever time that it was streamed live on internet.
In front of a live audience of more than 4,000 people, Cai picked her way through handcuffs, locks, shackles as chains to free herself from a steel cage with a bed of 13 stainless steel spikes, timed to crash down on her in 90 seconds. To add to the difficulty and danger of the mega escape, Cai was also completely blindfolded.  The Impalement Cage act served as the opening act for "Ultimate Magic." The show ran for over a year and ended in August 2009.
2010 to 2014.
On 22 January 2010, they performed another magic act dubbed "The Impossible 4D Prediction" in which they successfully predicted in advance the winning lottery number that they will be bidding a week before. Due to the media's coverage of the lottery prediction, the term "Magic Babe Ning" was the most searched on Yahoo! Singapore.
In August 2010, Cai and Sum represented Singapore on an Indonesian TV show titled "Duel Mahakarya Magician". They performed alongside with some of Indonesia's top magicians and other international magicians including Peter Marvel, Marc Spelmann and Omar Pasha. The live TV show reached viewership of over 20 million.
On 12 December 2010, Cai and Sum vanished five audience members while they were elevated 24 ft high up in the air in front of an audience of over 1,000 at the Asian Civilisations Museum. The illusion stunt was called "The Aerial Exit"  and it was the grand finale of the National Heritage Board's 2010 Explore Singapore campaign.
In 2011, Cai and Sum were chosen to host Singapore's first 3D television show. Produced jointly by Sitting in Pictures, Ochre Pictures, 360 Production and Upside Down Concepts, the show was commissioned by Singapore's Media Development Authority and it was meant to showcase Singapore's Arts and Culture as well as Cai and Sum's brand of magic.
In June 2012, Cai became the first woman to successfully attempt an inverted double straitjacket escape from a burning rope 35 ft above ground. Titled "The Extreme Inversion," the stunt was part of the media launch for "Superstars of Magic 2," a production show that featured international performers and included Cai and Sum in their element. This act was taken to another level during the Singapore Night Festival on 30 August 2013 where Cai and Sum escaped in tandem from two straitjackets each while they were suspended upside down from a burning rope, 50 ft in the air. The feat was recognised by Singapore Book of Records as Singapore's first tandem upside down double straitjacket escape from a burning rope.
In August 2012, Cai was featured in Cosmopolitan Singapore as one of the magazine's "Fun, Fearless Females".
Cai was handpicked by Rémy Cointreau to be a celebrity host for their "Cointreau-versial" party in October 2012 at the Gem Bar as she was deemed a "controversial and sophisticated woman with a passion for life".
In December 2012, they were invited back to "Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde" where they were booked to perform once again in the New Year's special.
In August 2013, Cai and Sum were part of the closing highlights for Singapore Night Festival 2013, organised by the National Heritage Board. It marked the first instance where local acts were the closing highlights. Cai attempted a solo escapology act The Water Vault, an act inspired by Harry Houdini's Milk Can Escape. This act saw her escaping from a stainless steel water vault that was chained and locked up.
In October 2014, after 10 years performing as one of Singapore's top female magicians, Cai announced that she would be retiring from her work as stage character Magic Babe Ning. Her retirement came as a major surprise to her fans, who have seen the homegrown artiste rise to an international status, performing for royalty in Oman and gracing television screens in Europe, Asia, and the UK. She cited reasons such as her upcoming wedding that December as well as her desire to focus on writing. She plans to teach yoga, and released her memoir Who Is Magic Babe Ning? in November. She married her Singaporean partner, who works in the arts, in December 2014.
Writing career.
Cai later revealed that it's time for her to do something for her health as her exhaustive work schedule had taken its toll on her. Prior to her announcement, she and her best friend Pamela Ho co-authored the bestselling nonfiction travelogue "Adventures of 2 Girls", a compilation of experiences which 'traces the journey of two best friends who take a 9-month break from their successful careers to tick a big, fat item off their bucket list: to travel the world and write a book'. It was published by Marshall Cavendish in September 2012 and it debuted on "The Straits Times" Bestsellers List at #8 in October 2012.
Following "Adventures of 2 girls", Cai wrote a bestselling autobiography titled "Who is Magic Babe Ning" detailing her early years and 'reveals how the shy teenage girl transformed herself into magic's wild child and became a 2-time FHM cover girl, embraced by international media and respected by professional peers worldwide'. The book was published by Marshall Cavendish in December 2014 with a foreword written by internationally acclaimed author, Neil Gaiman.
Cai called the book a eulogy of sorts to her famous stage character, Magic Babe Ning. It was shortlisted in 2016 for the Singapore Literature Prize in the English nonfiction category. Cai has also collaborated with her longtime friend and mentor, John Teo, president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (Singapore) in creating a dual-cover activity book "Game of Thoughts: Understanding Creativity Through Mind Games", a book that invokes creativity within readers through a series of 'brain teasers, puzzles conundrums, thought experiments and writing exercises'.The foreword of which, was penned by the renowned illusionist Lu Chen 劉謙.
In November 2016, Cai's middle grade novel "Magicienne" was published. It was co-written by Don Bosco, an award-winning Singaporean author for children's books. The fiction book features a young protagonist and has been depicted as a 'younger version of Magic Babe'.
In April 2018, Cai launched the first book of her young adult trilogy. Titled "Misdirection: Book 1 of the Savant Trilogy", the book follows dynamic parkour champion, Maxine Schooling, who wakes up from a three-year coma and discovers that her family has been murdered by a killer who is still out there. Cai's original manuscript was previously longlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2016 and subsequently reworked and published by Epigram Books. Her book had spent six consecutive weeks on The "Straits Times" bestsellers list.
Cai is no stranger as a panelist at the annual Singapore Writers Festival, and has also lent her full support for various literary festivals and events by the National Library Board and the National Arts Council to promote Singlit and reading to the public.
Literary influences.
Cai has cited various literary figures as her influences. They include but not limited to Neil Gaiman, Terry Moore and Elizabeth Watasin. The highly fictitious nature of the works by these authors provided her with a sense of escapism from the realities that dogged her formative years. This eventually translated to many of her ideas as a writer.
Brief return to magic and media.
Before officially debuting her Mind Magic Mistress mind reading comedy show in March 2017 as the international headline act for the South Tyneside International Magic Festival, Cai had been a headlining guest performer for major Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean cruise ships, showcasing her illusions and escapology acts for thousands of guests at their main theatres.
In 2017, Cai decided to return to the limelight and was invited to be a guest on Mediacorp Channel 5's popular "OK Chope!" programme, She also hosted an episode of local food show, Meat and Greed (Season 2), which takes celebrities on various culinary journeys around Singapore. Cai has also appeared as one half of Singapore's famous entertainment couple, Ye Qing, in a Channel NewsAsia original production titled "Love in a Time of Change," a docu-drama that explores history through the lens of personal romances.
The same year, award-winning Singapore director Kelvin Tong reached out to Cai, for her involvement as the official magic consultant for Mediacorp's Channel 8 drama series "Eat Already? 3" (吃饱没? 3). Initially brought on as a consultant with regards to magic for the series, she ended up landing a role as Miss Ooi, an assistant chef to Zheng Ge Ping's evil twin character.
Graduation from University of Edinburgh.
Cai ran a successful creative writing therapy workshop "Your Heart is the Best GPS", which was part of the Keepers Collective's "Playground of Infinite Happiness" festival at the National Design Centre Singapore in August 2018, just before leaving for her MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She graduated with a distinction on the following year in November 2019 and had since resides permanently in Switzerland.
Side projects.
Stemming from a personal experience with cancer, Cai has been involved with many beneficiaries that promote awareness for cancer and is the ambassador for the Power Over Cervical Cancer (POCC) campaign in Singapore. She uses her social influence to reach out to women and inspire them as a committee member of the Women's Register initiative promoted by the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations. A big believer of the cause, Cai has been involved as a panelist promoting gender equality for International Women's Day, as well as, talks at local educational institutions like SIM, SJI, and her alma mater MGS.
Cai was a featured personality for a Singapore Coke Zero advertorial which appeared in an issue of 8 Days that was released on 3 June 2010 as well as appearing as the ambassador for LG Mobile Asia on the same year.
Cai also serves as the creative director of Mighty Magic Lab, a kids edutainment company which focuses on empowering the creativity and confidence of children through magic. The educational shows highlight important messages like fire safety, self-confidence and ill effects of smoking.
In 2015, Cai organised a local book hunt called #SG50books50days, an initiative to generate an interest in reading, particularly local books. Over a course of 50 days, she left 50 books from various authors at 50 different locations to which she left clues via social media. Books published by local authors such as Neil Humphreys were attained by those who managed to solve the clues.
In 2018, Cai became the brand ambassador for SodaStream Singapore. She also became an ambassador for the Singapore Kindness Movement's 'Be Greater' nationwide campaign.


Lubna Olayan

Lubna Suliman Olayan (; born 4 August 1955) is a Saudi business woman. Born to Sulaiman Olayan and Maryam bint Jassim Al Abdulwahab, Olayan was listed as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2005 by "Time" magazine, and continued to be on the Forbes list of most powerful women until 2011 and returned to the list in 2014. In 2004, Olayan was the first woman in Saudi history to deliver an opening keynote address at a major conference in Saudi Arabia; at the Jeddah Economic Forum in January 2004.
Career highlights.
Olayan Group.
Olayan was the Chief Executive Officer of the Olayan Financing Company, and (OFC), the holding entity for the Olayan Group's operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East until May 1 2019, when she was replaced by Jonathan Franklin. She also sits on the board of the group along with her brother Khaled and sisters Hayat and Hutham. It is thought that the private family has accumulated a fortune that tops $10 billion. The group was founded in 1947 by her father, the late entrepreneur Sulaiman S. Olayan, The Olayan Group is a private multinational enterprise engaged in distribution, manufacturing, services and investments. OFC operates or actively participates in more than 40 companies, often in partnership with leading multinationals. OFC is also one of the largest investors in the Saudi and regional stock markets. In April 2019, Olayan announced her retirement as CEO of Olayan Financing Company.
Alawwal Bank.
In February 2005, Olayan was appointed as a non-executive director to the Board of WPP, and in December 2004, was elected to sit on the Board of the Saudi Hollandi Bank (now Alawwal Bank), a publicly listed company in Saudi Arabia. In September 2006 and April 2007, she joined the International Advisory Boards of Rolls-Royce and Citigroup, respectively.
Saudi British Bank.
On 16 June 2019, Olayan was named Chairwoman of the Saudi British Bank (SABB), making her the first Saudi woman to head a bank. She was reappointed in January 2020 to serve a three year term, and assumed to hold to the position after the merger between SABB and Alawwal Bank.
Chelsfield plc.
Olayan also served on the Board of Chelsfield plc, the UK property developer, from 1996 to 2004.
Others.
She is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, which she joined in November and December 2005 respectively. In 2010, she was awarded the Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year. As of 2014, she is listed as the 86th most powerful woman in the world by "Forbes".
Other activities.
In terms of education and philanthropy, Olayan joined the Board of Directors of INSEAD in December 2005, and has been a member of its International Council since March 1997. In April 2007, she was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees for Cornell University. Olayan also joined the Advisory Board of Effat College, a private and non-profit girls college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in April 2006. She is also a board member at Alfanar, the first venture philanthropy organization focusing on the Arab Region founded by Tarek Ben Halim in 2004. Olayan has served on the Board of Trustees of the "Arab Thought Foundation," a think tank based in Beirut focusing on issues facing the Arab world, since January 2002. Olayan was elected to the Board of the Down Syndrome Charitable Association in June 2005, a not-for-profit organization based in Riyadh. She was also appointed to the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). In June 2018, she was elected as a member of the MIT Corporation.
Personal life.
She is married to John Xefos, an international attorney from the United States, and they have three daughters all residing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


Mary Prince (nanny)

Mary Prince (born 1945; also called by her married name Mary Fitzpatrick until the couple officially separated in 1979) is an African American woman wrongly convicted of murder who then became the nanny for Amy Carter, the daughter of US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, and was eventually granted a full pardon.
Early life and family.
She was born "in stark rural poverty" in 1945 in Richland, Georgia, the second of three sisters. She can't remember her father, and her mother and stepfather separated when she was aged about 9. Her older sister Carrie Francis died of a brain abscess when Mary was 12, after which she dropped out of school to look after her younger sister. She briefly married at age 14, and had her first son. A year later she began work as a domestic. She became pregnant with her second son in New York in 1964, before returning to Georgia in 1967, where she eventually became a cashier in a restaurant.
When she lived and worked in the White House, her sons stayed in an apartment in the working-class Washington suburb of Suitland, Maryland and were looked after by her sister during the day, while she took a taxi to take care of them in the evening before returning by taxi to the White House late at night to be up early for Amy. She officially separated from her husband in 1979, and changed her name back from Mary Fitzpatrick to Mary Prince. She is a devout Christian.
Conviction for murder.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of murdering another woman's boyfriend in April 1970 in Lumpkin, Georgia.
She and her cousin Aniemaude had gone into a bar in Lumpkin, and Aniemaude had got into an argument. In 1977 Mary said: “I went outside and heard a shot. Aniemaude and this woman were fighting over Aniemaude’s gun. I didn’t know anything about guns, but I tried to take it away and it went off. We didn’t know it had hit anyone.” Clare Crawford added: "The other woman, however, claimed that Mary seized the gun and deliberately fired it, killing the woman’s boyfriend."
Prince was defended by a white court-appointed lawyer whom she first met on the day of the trial. In 1977, she said "I was under the impression I was pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, but it turned out to be murder." Jimmy Carter (in 2005) and Kate Andersen Brower (in 2015) both wrote that her lawyer advised her to plead guilty and promised a light sentence. Clare Crawford wrote in 1977 that "Her attorney says that he read the indictment to Mary before she made her plea". Prince said in 1977 that she saw her lawyer twice for 10 or 15 minutes and that she spent a total of less than an hour in court before receiving her life sentence.
Jimmy Carter says Prince was lucky the dead man was not white, as she would then have "likely" suffered the fate of Lena Baker, a black woman pardoned in 2005, 60 years after being executed by electric chair. Rosalynn Carter says that she was convicted because of the color of her skin.
Nanny to Amy Carter.
Prince became Amy's nanny in 1971 while Jimmy Carter was governor of Georgia and she was a trusty prisoner assigned to the governor's mansion, after being interviewed in December 1970 and chosen that month by Rosalynn Carter to look after Amy because Rosalynn was convinced of her innocence.
In 1975, when Jimmy Carter's term as governor ended, Prince was sent back to prison. However, in January 1977 she was able to travel to Washington for Carter's inauguration as U.S. president. Partly thanks to a letter to the parole board by First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and partly thanks to Jimmy Carter, who asked to be designated as her parole officer, Prince was reprieved, and was able to live and work at the White House for the four years of Carter's presidency.
Pardon.
She was eventually granted a full pardon after "a reexamination of the evidence and trial proceedings by the original judge revealed that she was completely innocent".
Later life.
As of 2015, she lives near the Carters in Plains, Georgia, and sees them frequently, and she still sometimes babysits for their grandchildren.
Media portrayal.
When she was in the White House, her story was widely reported in the media, and some of the coverage was "not ... kind". The coverage included a skit on Saturday Night Live with Amy played by Sissy Spacek, and Prince played by comedian Garrett Morris in drag.
Legacy.
Jimmy Carter dedicated his 2004 book, "Sharing Good Times", to Prince, and discusses her in his 2005 book, "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis", as an example of the dangers of racism and of the death penalty, saying that had the dead man been white, she would "likely" have been wrongfully executed like Lena Baker. Prince is also featured in the 2015 Kate Andersen Brower book "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House".
Political activist, domestic terrorist and former Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur in her book "" creates a critical portrait of Carter's relationship towards Mary Prince, comparing Carter's treatment of Mary as akin to that of a domestic slave and that this is a notable example of how the criminal justice system perpetuates Black and Third World people's enslavement.


Louise R. Pinnell

Louise Rebecca Pinnell (March 31, 1877 – May 22, 1966) was the first female lawyer in Florida.
She was born on March 31, 1877 in Cuba, Missouri to Ethan Allan and Frances Collier Pinnell. Her father Ethan was an attorney who was admitted to the Missouri Bar Association in 1873 and eventually became a probate judge. Pinnell received her early education in Crawford County, Missouri before attending Steelville College. During the 1890s, the entire family moved to Bronson, Levy County, Florida.
Pinnell was an autodidact, as there were no law schools in Florida before 1900. She thus received her legal tutelage from her father, and five months after completing her oral examination, became the first female to be admitted to the Florida State Bar in October 1898. Pinnell initially practiced law with her father before joining the law practice of Major St. Clair-Abrams, Esq. in Jacksonville, Florida, who specialized in railroad litigation. In 1920, Pinnell began working as an attorney for the Florida East Coast Railway Company in St. Augustine, Florida. She remained at the company for approximately twenty-five years.
Pinnell died on May 22, 1966 in Jacksonville, Florida.