Let Your Voice Be Heard • Let Your Heart Be Inspired! by Dale Allen

I was honored to be a part of a special project for the Parliament of the World’s Religions Women’s Task Force: conducting interviews inside the first-ever Women’s Village in Chicago at the Parliament Convening. I had been on a team of women led by Sande Hart with Pat Fero. We met online over the course of nearly a year to plan the Women’s Village. It was a very special endeavor, and our group efforts produced a beautiful, calming, nurturing, sacred and inspiring space.  

The McCormick Center is America’s largest convention center, and yet we were able to create serenity.  The tapestries of Women’s Woven Voices provided a colorful and meaningful enclosure for our space.  A fountain cascaded a peaceful hum. Majestic staffs created by Erin Beatty stood as sentries; keepers of ancient feminine power. A great Mother Tree crafted by Elisa Guyton and Leah Myers spread her paper branches outward and received the written prayers and blessing posted there by attendees.  The crown-making table was always busy with women talking and crafting exquisite headpieces. The Red Tent room was a tranquil place of mediation, rest, and a variety of spirit-nourishing workshops and presentations.

In a corner near the Red Tent room and the crown-making, I set up a warm and welcoming Interview Suite. The invitation put forth at the Interview Suite was: Let Your Voice be Heard! In total, I interviewed 72 women. These women came from all over the globe; from many faiths, religions, spiritual practices, and personal approaches to the sacred.

Meanwhile, my film “In Our Right Minds • On the Sacred Feminine, the Right Brain and Restoring Humanity’s Natural Balance” was screened in the PoWR Film Festival, which was an honor.  It was wonderful to see FAR’s Janet Rudolph, and fellow FAR Blogger, Caryn MacGrandle of the Divine Feminine App at my screening and film discussion.

Other than my film festival screening, I could be found in the Interview Suite.  The women I interviewed were lawyers, authors, activists, reporters, teachers, clergy, psychotherapists, mothers, daughters and grandmothers – all drawn to the Parliament’s goal “to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.”  And they were drawn to the Women’s Village, a feminine oasis in an organization that has only recently, in its more than 130 years, flowed with important strides to include women’s leadership.  Phyllis Curott, an Attorney, one of America’s first public Witches, Women’s Task Force Chair, Trustee and the Program Chair of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, is the creator of the historic 2015 Inaugural Women’s Assembly and drafted the Declaration for the Dignity and Human Rights of Women adopted by the 2015 Parliament.

A Women’s Village at the 2023 Parliament was a significant advancement. The Women’s Task Force wanted to be sure to have a record the event: hence the Interview Suite.  I was truly fortunate to sit with women as they spoke so profoundly from their hearts about their faith-in-action toward the Parliament’s themes of: a call to conscience, the support of the human rights and dignity of women, and the care of the next generations of children (which, of course includes care of our earth).

The series of interviews that proceeded gave me a sense of peace and reassurance. It is clear that women are activated, and their love cannot be stopped. I believe that you will find, as I did, that listening to women speak from their fierce hearts, empowers us as women to find our own voices and to take action from our hearts as well.  For me, sitting in the womb-like Interview Suite, connecting to these women, seeing all their beautiful faces of different ages, cultures, faiths, colors – it was all so precious, powerful, timely and poignant.  With each woman, I had the feeling that I was looking into a mirror.  The women all expressed their love; not dogma.  The One Heart of Woman comes through in these interviews.

PoWR is a large organization and is bursting with significant new initiatives: A Global Ethic, FOCUS24 Faith, Democracy & Our Common Future: Shaping a Path Forward, to name just two. My job in Chicago was to set up the Interview Suite, conduct the interviews and record video – no one (myself included) would have thought that 72 interviews would be done! 

PoWR’s bandwidth is quite full, and 72 interviews from the Women’s Village is a sizable project.  There was concern that, with its many critical programs underway, PoWR would not be able to move the project forward with post-production.  Phyllis expressed her gratitude and relief in Chicago when I let her know that I would go ahead and do post-production work on my own time to create a Montage video of 14 of the interviews. I then produced 10 individual interviews as well, again feeling the heart of the women come through as I worked. The Montage video, the produced interviews, and the raw interview video files are with the Executive Director at the Parliament.  I ardently wish the Parliament great success with its full plate of influential initiatives, and I also do hope that the women’s voices will be heard.

I think the willingness of these women to speak will encourage you.  Some women truly overcame hurdles to open-up and let their voices out. It was beautiful. You can see some of these inspiring interviews in the link below – and you can hear them via podcast as well.   I fell in love with these women.  I think you will too

Interview Videos

Interview Podcasts (on all podcast platforms)

https://daleallenpodcast.buzzsprout.com

BIO: Dale Allen is a veteran of corporate, commercial, and creative communications with hundreds of credits. She toured her one-woman show, In Our Right Minds to scores of audiences at universities, conferences, theaters and expos across the U.S., Canada, from Kauai to Dubai, to the UN-CSW and the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Her short film of the piece has been awarded in 19 international film festivals. Described as having the energy of “a Cape Canaveral lift-off,” she thoroughly engages and inspires her audiences, from highly educated corporate leaders to teenage girls. 

https://daleallenproductions.com/index.html
ttps://www.inourrightminds.net