KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Katherine Craft. Craft is the founder of Conspire Theater, a program that provides incarcerated women a healing and empowering experience through the arts.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Julieta Garibay. Garibay co-founded the Undergraduate Leadership Initiative, an advocacy group comprised of fellow undocumented college students, supporters, and family.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Peggy Kelsey. Kelsey created The Afghan Women’s Project to share stories of Afghan women to help change stereotypes.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Ndeye Boury Silla. Silla is one of our community’s outstanding teenagers. The daughter of Senegalese immigrants, she raised more than $900 to purchase school supplies for children in her parent’s native country.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Marissa Vogel. Vogel started the non-profit organization Little Helping Hands, which creates and manages volunteer opportunities for younger children and their parents.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Esther Reyes. Reyes is Executive Director of the Austin Immigrant Right’s Coalition and has helped lead a statewide effort to protect the human rights of Texas’ undocumented immigrants.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Rina Hartline. Rina is director of Texas State Relations for Centerpoint Energy and mentors other women as the founder of the Association of Women in Energy. She works to inspire other women working in the energy field.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU presents eight stories about women and girls who are making a difference both locally and globally. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of the station’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. Today we spotlight Amy Koch.  Koch is a graduate of Project SEARCH at Seton Healthcare Family, a best practice for hiring individuals with developmental disabilities created at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. Her inspiring story shows that leaders are often the people behind the scenes making changes through their daily actions.

You can watch KLRU’s other Women and Girls Lead videos at klru.org/wagl and be sure to watch stories about other women making a difference on Makers: Women Who Make America on Feb. 26th.

KLRU, the University of Texas Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, and the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders invite you to a discussion about cultivating leadership. The evening will also feature short video features on local women and girls making a difference in the Austin community and a preview of the PBS series MAKERS: Women Who Make America.

Date: February 12
Time: 7 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)
Location: KLRU Studio 6A (map)
RSVP: The event is free but an RSVP is required. RSVP Now

Inspiring Women Leaders, a discussion about cultivating leadership, will focus on inspiring future generations through mentorship and other means. Speakers will include:

• Christine Adame
  Graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, participant in INSPIRE: Empowering Texas Women Leaders program, and former staff member of NEW Leadership Texas.
• Monica Martinez
  Project Specialist, Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders
• Alma Jackie Salcedo
  Graduate Coordinator at Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, UT-Austin

As part of the event, KLRU will present eight short videos featuring local women and girls who are inspiring others through their actions. These women were nominated by the community to be featured as part of KLRU’s participation in the national Women and Girls Lead campaign. A preview from the upcoming PBS documentary MAKERS: Women Who Make America – a film that shares the stories of exceptional women whose pioneering contributions continue to shape the world in which we live – will also be shown. This documentary airs February 26th at 7 pm on KLRU.

Women featured in the Women and Girls Lead project videos will be:

• Katherine Craft is the founder of Conspire Theater, a program that provides incarcerated women a healing and empowering experience through the arts.
• Julieta Garibay co-founded the Undergraduate Leadership Initiative, an advocacy group comprised of fellow undocumented college students, supporters, and family.
• Rina Hartline is director of Texas State Relations for Centerpoint Energy and mentors other women as the founder of the Association of Women in Energy.
• Peggy Kelsey created The Afghan Women’s Project to share stories of Afghan women to help change stereotypes.
• Amy Koch is a graduate of Project SEARCH at Seton Healthcare Family, a best practice for hiring individuals with developmental disabilities created at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center.
• Esther Reyes is Executive Director of the Austin Immigrant Right’s Coalition and has helped lead a statewide effort to protect the human rights of Texas’ undocumented immigrants.
• Ndeye Boury Silla is one of our community’s outstanding teenagers. The daughter of Senegalese immigrants, she raised more than $900 to purchase school supplies for children in her parent’s native country.
• Marissa Vogel started the non-profit organization Little Helping Hands, which creates and manages volunteer opportunities for younger children and their parents.

Last night in Studio 6A, KLRU together with ITVS announced the next group of women and girls to be profiled for Women and Girls Lead: Austin.  Nationally, Women and Girls Lead is a public media campaign spearheaded by ITVS that uses the power of storytelling to spark conversation, debate and action on the challenges faced by women and girls in the 21^st century.  KLRU’s digital shorts shine a light on stories profiling local women and girls who serve as models of leadership in their communities.

The women to be featured in 2012-2013 are:

Katherine Craft
Julieta Garibay
Rina Hartline
Peggy Kelsey
Amy Koch
Esther Reyes
Ndeye Boury Silla
Marissa Vogel

Complete bios below.

Special thanks to everyone who attended KLRU’s announcement event.


Katherine Craft is the founder of Conspire Theater. This program inside the minimum and maximum-security units at the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle provides incarcerated women a healing and empowering experience through the arts. Craft teaches theater arts, creative writing, team-building and interpersonal relationship skills to more than sixty women at the jail annually.

From her nomination letter: “As a theatermaker and as a teacher, she not only serves the women in the jail by leading her weekly workshops, but by acting as an advocate for one of the most easily marginalized, ignored, and dismissed populations among us.”

Julieta Garibay is one of the nation’s young leaders and advocates for passage of the DREAM Act. She has risked deportation by becoming a public face of undocumented youth in our nation. As a student at the University of Texas-Austin, Julieta was a co-founder of the Undergraduate Leadership Initiative, an advocacy group comprised of fellow undocumented students, supporters, and family.

From her nomination letter: “Julieta has withstood tremendous pressures yet has hung onto her love for this country as the land of opportunity, and onto her heartfelt desire to help others, both as an advocate and in the profession she longs to practice, as a bilingual nurse.”

Rina Hartline is director of Texas State Relations for Centerpoint Energy and mentors other women in the fields of energy and government affairs. As the founder of the Association of Women in Energy, Hartline is dedicated to promoting the education and advancement of women and girls in comprehensive energy fields. She is also a student and expects to receive her MBA through UT’s McComb School of Business in 2013.

From her nomination letter: “Rina shows us all that women can be leaders in any field, in any profession and in any environment, if they are willing to take the opportunity to do so.”

Peggy Kelsey created The Afghan Women’s Project to share stories of Afghan women to help change stereotypes. Her photography exhibits are used by organizations worldwide to raise awareness about Afghan Women by seeking out wisdom and sources of strength from women who have experienced repression and hardship.

From her nomination letter: “The project touches the strength, wisdom, brilliance, courage and suffering of a cross section of contemporary Afghan women. It is a study in the resilience of the human spirit and an invitation to humility and compassion for the viewer. It crosses the boundaries of time and culture.”

Amy Koch works as a Floor Supply Specialist for the Materials Management Department at Seton Medical Center Austin. She is a graduate of Project SEARCH at Seton Healthcare Family, a best practice for hiring individuals with developmental disabilities created at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center.

From her nomination letter “Amy’s presence and work ethic break the stereotypes of individuals with developmental disabilities. Her presence at the hospital inspires people daily by overcoming her own barriers and providing excellent customer service in a competitive work environment.”

Esther Reyes is Executive Director of the Austin Immigrant Right’s Coalition and has helped lead a statewide effort during the 2011 Texas Legislature to protect the human rights of Texas’ undocumented immigrants. Her work as part of the Human Rights Leadership Development Program” provides basic human rights education and promotes racial and social justice in Austin. She is also Senior Editor of TODO Austin magazine where she works to build bridges between Austin’s various communities.

From her nomination letter: “Reyes strives in her executive and advocacy roles to increase education and training opportunities. Austin Latinos are seeking a next generation of leaders and Esther Reyes’ story is one which will not only inspire that community, but all under-served populations in the metro area.”

Ndeye Boury Silla is one of our community’s outstanding 15-year-olds. The daughter of Senegalese immigrants, she raised more than $900 to purchase school supplies for children in her parent’s native country. She also helped start a book club with other children of African immigrants and is an overall leader in her family and community.

From her nomination letter: “Her fearless aspirations are a great example of how change is made.”

Marissa Vogel started the non-profit organization Little Helping Hands, which creates and manages volunteer opportunities for younger children and their parents. Through Vogel’s organization families can sign-up for volunteer activities suitable for children making it simple for parents/caregivers looking to introduce children in early childhood to the rewards of helping others and caring for our environment.

From her nomination letter: “The families involved in Little Helping Hands feel like it has changed their lives, allowing them to get involved in the Austin community and expose their children to the many needs of the community.”