When Women Run, We All Win

By Melanie V. Ramil

Emerge California inspires women to run for office and hones their skills to win. Emerge California at CADEM 2019 conference with Executive Director Melanie Ramil. Photo courtesy of Emerge California.

We used to talk about the numbers. 

We would say: From school boards to the California State Legislature, women hold only thirty percent of all elected seats. In California, where we often pride ourselves on serving as the moral compass for the country, we have been led by zero women governors. 

We used to talk about representation. 

We would say: Women need a seat at the decision-making table because “if you’re not at the table, then you’re on the menu.” As women make up over half of the population, we must hold at least half of the state’s elected seats. 

Yes, numbers matter. Yes, representation matters. But now, in the midst of a global pandemic, economic depression, and racial justice uprising, we must finally give voice to the truth behind the numbers and beyond representation. 

Women leaders are different. Women leaders possess a leadership style that is unique amidst the status quo. Women leaders are collaborative and effective and, simply, get sh*t done. 

Research has consistently found that women tend to adopt a more transformational leadership style, which is rooted in authenticity, cooperation and a focus on the common good. With men at the helm of power since our nation's founding, we have only seen and thus have accepted as the norm their leadership style - one that is more transactional, and one that values self over team, self over community. 

This is changing. 

In 2020, we saw the world finally recognize what we at Emerge California have known all along: women know how to lead. And, we must elect women if we want to live in a world where transformational leadership is the norm and not the exception. 

This is exactly why Emerge California was founded. We knew that if we changed the face of elected power, the decisions impacting each and every one of us would change too. 

For 19 years, Emerge California has been empowering Democratic women leaders to run for elective office — and WIN. We do this by recruiting women leaders to run, providing training to ensure they have the resources and tools needed to win once they do, and building a sisterhood that works to combat a political system still rooted in white supremacy and patriarchal culture. 

We are intentional about recruiting women from communities that have been historically excluded from politics, namely, women of the New American Majority - Black, Brown and Indigenous women, women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and young and unmarried women. We do this because we know that when our elected leaders bring the life experiences of those they serve to the halls of power, different and better decisions will be made.   

Today, more than 800 women leaders have been trained by Emerge California. 182 Emerge California women currently serve in elective office, including Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott, and seventeen mayors across the state.   

In 2020, we saw what it meant to have these women in elective office. 

Emerge California alumna and San Francisco Mayor London Breed was the first mayor in the country to order residents to shelter in place in March 2020. Immediately after, other major cities and eventually the State of California followed suit. 

In Monterey, Emerge California alumna and then-school board member Wendy Root Askew knew that students learning at home would be affected and delivered laptops to every student in the district to combat the inequities of the “digital divide.”

Emerge California alumna and San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott cracked down on gun law violations, knowing the safety risks that some families and children would face at home during a mandated quarantine.

Member of the California State Board of Equalization Malia Cohen. Photo courtesy of Emerge California.

Throughout the state, Emerge California alumnae were at the forefront of the global pandemic. They worked to ensure that students at home were safe and fed, essential workers were protected, and small businesses received the support they needed to survive.

Through the crisis, it could not have been clearer to see that the leadership of women is based in truth, compassion, integrity, on decisions based in fact and science, on the desire to protect and serve the most vulnerable among them, and the fortitude to prioritize what is right and moral above the need to get re-elected. 

If we want to live in a world that gives everyone the opportunity to succeed and recognizes the humanity of each and every one of us, we must elect women. 

We will once again have the opportunity to do this during the next election cycle. 

In 2022, not only will we see women run in historic numbers again, we will see women break barriers as they run and win higher elected posts. We know this because some of these women will be Emerge California alumnae. 

Malia Cohen, Class of 2005 alumna, is running for State Controller. If elected, she will be the first Emerge California alumna to rise from local elected office to statewide office. She would also be the first Black woman to serve as California State Controller. 

Hayward Mayor Pro Tempore and the first Afghan American woman elected to public office, Aisha Wahab. Photo courtesy of Emerge California.

If Aisha Wahab, Class of 2013 alumna, wins her race in Senate District 10, she will be the first alumna to serve in the California State Senate. When she won her seat on the Hayward City Council in 2018, she was the first Afghan American woman elected to office in the United States. 

Marina Torres, Class of 2020 alumna, would be the first Emerge California alumna to serve in a city-wide office in the City of Los Angeles if her run for City Attorney is successful. 

The pipeline that Emerge California has built over the past two decades has undoubtedly upended the status quo. When Emerge California women win, they are often the first - the first woman of color, the first LGBTQ+ woman, the first mom - to serve their cities and districts. When Emerge California women win, they flip districts and are sometimes the only Democrat on city councils and county boards. And, as more Emerge California women run and win, they will break barriers at the highest positions of power in the state. 

Emerge California is more than a training organization. We are a movement that inspires women to see themselves as leaders, and to run, win and lead in public office - a movement that is literally changing the face of elected power. 

Federal prosecutor and first-generation Latina who worked for President Obama, Marina Torres represents the American Dream. Photo courtesy of Emerge California.

When women run, we get an elected body that leads with grit, honesty, grace and integrity, and one that has the courage and fierce commitment to move us towards a more compassionate, just and equitable world. In short: when women run, we all win. 

Melanie Ramil is the Executive Director of Emerge California.
Seismic Sisters thanks Melanie Ramil for being a bold advocate for women’s leadership and contributing this Opinion as a guest columnist in our July 2021 edition of The Jolt newsletter.

Courage in Full Swing: What we learned from Naomi Osaka

By Ariel Neidermeier 

Naomi Osaka in action at the Australian Open 2020. Photo credit: csm/Alamy Live News

Four-time Grand Slam singles champion. Reigning champion at the US Open and Australian Open. The first Asian player to be ranked No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association. The first Japanese-born player to win a Grand Slam title. 

In light of all these achievements, it’s hard to imagine that Naomi Osaka would become best known for her rise as the face of athlete mental health following her withdrawal from the French Open in June 2021. But beyond a resonance amongst just athletes, Osaka’s story represents the stories of so many women in professional spaces calling out for mental health support.

After declining the news conference following her first-round French Open victory, Osaka was fined $15,000. She would go on to withdraw from the French Open completely, citing mental health issues. Since the incident, the 23-year-old mixed-race, Japanese and Haitian professional tennis player opened up about her stance on athlete mental health in a Time Magazine article titled, “It's O.K. Not to Be O.K.” A Netflix docuseries released mid-July, titled “Naomi Osaka,” adds further context to the events, by exploring the loneliness and self-discovery of Osaka’s early career. 

Mental Health in America in 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic relentlessly persists, we are seeing the highest levels of anxiety and depression in the U.S. on record. In its 2021 State of Mental Health in America Report, Mental Health America (MHA) reported that today, 19% (47.1 million) of people in the U.S. live with a mental health condition. This represents a 1.5 million increase from 2020. Within this, alarming numbers of young people are reporting thoughts of suicide and self-harm, with 9.7% of youth in the U.S. reporting severe depression. For youth who identify as more than one race, like Osaka, that rate increases to 12.4%.

Osaka acknowledged the effect of the social, political and economic tumult of the last few years on her own mental well-being to Time: 

“The world is as divided now as I can remember in my short 23 years... So, when I said I needed to miss French Open press conferences to take care of myself mentally, I should have been prepared for what unfolded.”

What unfolded was a chilling reminder of the lack of understanding and under-resourcing of the mental health needs of not just professional athletes but of many women as well. 

Get Your Head In the Game

Tennis has always been known to be a mental game. Ask any competitive tennis player who their greatest opponent is and they will name themselves. The top players in tennis win matches because of a strong mental game. Even a top ranked player can lose to an average player if their head is not in the game. 

In tennis - as in life - winning does not just depend on physical strength but on strategic ability. Tennis players are trained to read their opponent, sharpen the ability to predict their competitor’s next move, exploit their frustrations and, ultimately, demobilize their game play from the inside-out.  

Similarly, in patriarchy, women must stretch themselves strategically to survive - and thrive - in a society in which the odds are often stacked against them. Women are twice as likely than men to be diagnosed with depression. Whether this discrepancy is due to more women seeking diagnosis or not, as with many aspects of society, when it comes to mental illness, women seem to suffer more. 

The Business of Doing It All 

Osaka’s profession of being a top ranked athlete is flush with intense media scrutiny and difficulty switching from “match mode” to “social mode” in a quick few minutes, as players have to turn off the ruthlessness they hold on the court and put on a pretty face for the media immediately after.

This echoes the switching costs that so many women note can negatively impact their mental health: going from hard-driving career woman fighting to compete in the workplace to nurturing mother and present partner immediately after. The feminist movement has long discussed the possibility of women “having it all,” only to discover that having it all meant doing it all - work life, family life, married life - stretching women even further and stacking the odds ever higher.

From this standpoint, perhaps Osaka’s most courageous achievement in her interaction with the French Open was simply stating publicly that “It’s O.K. not to be O.K.”

It’s O.K. Not To Be O.K.

In her discussion of possible solutions to the mental and emotional strains tennis players face, Osaka practically noted the benefits of simply giving athletes the ability to take a break when they need one:

“I have numerous suggestions to offer the tennis hierarchy, but my No. 1 suggestion would be to allow a small number of “sick days” per year where you are excused from your press commitments without having to disclose your personal reasons.”

In the same way, if we seek to confront the fact that women, on average, suffer more from mental illness than men do, we should give the same ability to women. That is, give women, female-identifying and gender non-conforming individuals the permission to ask for more support - without stigmatization, judgment, penalty, or the provision of more detail - when they need it.

Oakland Blossoms with Blk Girls Green House

By Polina Smith

Kalkidan Gebreyohannes and J’Maica Roxanne, founders of Blk Girls Green House at their city-center cultivation site in Oakland, California. Photo courtesy of @blkgirls_greenhouse on Instagram.

Blk Girls Green House is an Oakland-based plant boutique with artisan crafts and products, the creation of Kalkidan Gebreyohannes and J’Maica Roxanne. The two Bay Area locals collaborated with a mission: to establish a hub for Black-owned businesses where they can set up shop and flourish. A variety of pop ups occupy the retail space at Blk Girls Green House, filling the space with handmade crafts and local goods that speak to the current art and fashion trends. More importantly, it’s signaling that positive change is coming back to Oakland.

With the George Floyd protests of June 2020 ensuing a national reckoning around race, the importance of Black-owned businesses in historically segregated, redlined, voter-suppressed, and minority-majority communities has never been more pronounced. The existence of nearly insurmountable barriers to entry for many aspiring small business owners positions Blk Girls Green House as the neighborhood's most welcomed oasis. Blk Girls Green House is in the center of a neighborhood of Oakland widely known for its rapid gentrification, displacement of low-income housing, and stagnant working wages that combine to create an untenable living situation for many of its long-term residents. Amid this atmosphere of constant change, it becomes the kind of community-focused organization and business that can share its wealth of resources with members of the Oakland community and benefit the very people it serves.

Kalkidan Gebreyohannes and J’Maica Roxanne, founders of Blk Girls Green House at their city-center cultivation site in Oakland, California. Photo courtesy of @blkgirls_greenhouse on Instagram.

On Juneteenth of this year, Blk Girls Green House launched a recurring concert series entitled “Grooves from the Greenhouse,” a close-up concert experience featuring a live DJ, dancing, food and beverages. Through this initiative, Grooves from the Greenhouse pairs a distinctive and energizing curation of music with a lively atmosphere and a focus on local arts, crafts, and cuisine, presented in conjunction with the SF Foundation, Broccoli City, Empower Initiative, Alkali Rye, and Endeavors Oakland.

Blk Girls Green House boosts its hyper-local activation with a current collaboration with Oakland-based pop-up coffee cart Blythe Coffee. Theirs is an artisanal approach to coffee, centering the drinking experience around the senses of “sight, scent, and touch.” Furthering this endeavor, a list of monthly craft products is maintained and kept in rotation, with items ranging from watering canisters to handmade Moroccan Babushka slippers and fringe printed blankets. Blk Girl Green House is a creative oasis bringing back the vivacity of Oaktown proving that it’s a beautiful time to grow.

Changing Tides Foundation: Empowering Women to Protect the Planet

Written by Tumay Aslay

California surfer Becky Mendoza is Co-founder and board Executive Director of Changing Tides Foundation, an environmental organization founded by a surfing sisterhood. Its battlecry: use our voices to advocate for the planet and all of its inhabitants. In 2016, Mendoza decided to launch the foundation to create a diverse community of people with a shared passion for solving global challenges and creating change. She was driven by her firm belief that women are a critical part of the solution for a healthier planet. She has not only managed to design an organization that puts women at the forefront of the fight against environmental crises, but also teamed up with like-minded organizations around the world to implement mentorship programs to protect the earth.  

In a time when our social media channels have been bombarded with portraits of our planet getting destroyed by climate change, the vision of Mendoza is to show people the changes they could make at an individual and collective level.

Mendoza is a go-getter, self-starter and risk taker. She went to the University of Florida and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then attended St. Thomas University in Miami for Law School where she earned a Master’s in Sports Administration. It was only fitting that Mendoza, who has been working towards a more sustainable world, talked to Seismic Sisters about sisterhood, pushing change for equity and her vision for a healthier planet.

What drove your passion for protecting the planet and creating change?

I would say my empathy drives my passion. In this day and age, photos, video and social media have had a big impact in unveiling the problems that exist on our planet. I’m incapable of standing around and doing nothing while others suffer. If there is an action I can take to make someone else’s life a bit better, or to be more mindful of the planet and its beings, then I’ll do what I can.

The ladies of WOMP in Bocas looking at the photos they took of their communities, through their own lenses, in a photography workshop. Photo credit: Ashley Barker @barkerfoto

How did your years working in the action sports industry prepare your fight for environmental justice?

I have been an attorney in the action sports space for almost 15 years. I’ve watched how social media has changed our industry and I’ve watched athletes become advocates for the planet. I think the biggest benefit is understanding the psychology of how to connect with people who live the action sports lifestyle. Everyone in this industry thrives off of being outdoors and in nature, so it makes sense to want to protect where we play.

Changing Tides Foundation was born from the idea that the world would be a better place if we all had the opportunity to be of service, and that is what we do, we give anyone and everyone the tools to make better decisions for the planet. We are inclusive and inviting. We want everyone to know that they can be the change, that we need to do this together.

Changing Tides Foundation co-founders, Leah, Anna and Becky, with Emi Koch from Beyond the Surface International surfing in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. Photo credit: Ashley Barker @barkerfoto

Can you talk a little bit about the intersections of diversity, financial resources and environmental awareness? Why is it important to make these connections?

The concept of intersectional environmentalism is something that we have made a commitment of educating ourselves about. As we learn, we share that knowledge with our audience. There are issues of accessibility because typically things that are seen as ‘healthy’ or ‘sustainable’ are more expensive, therefore making it inaccessible for much of the population. Our goal is to help people understand that they don’t need to spend a bunch of money to be more kind to the planet. Anyone can grow food from seeds. Anyone can repair their clothes or shop second-hand. Anyone can bring a cup or reusable water bottle with them, anyone can bring a bag with them to the grocery store.

The bigger issue is racism, which basically puts communities of color at a disadvantage from the start. In essence, the burdens BIPOC communities face, from a financial and health perspective stemming from decades of discriminatory housing and lending practices, means that they have bigger fish to fry than caring about single-use plastic, which we totally understand. We are learning that we have to work together to dismantle the bigger issues of racism simultaneously as we tackle environmental problems. It is actually a super complex issue that we have committed to getting educated about.

Becky Mendoza , Co-founder and board Executive Director of Changing Tides Foundation. Photo credit: ​​Michael Beck for Unstuck Woman

What environmental achievements are you most proud of today?

We have done so many different things from composting on Oahu and cleanups across the globe to education about plastic pollution, climate change, environmental justice and more. I think our most effective achievements have been getting people to understand that our individual actions matter. That with small changes we can create new, healthy habits for ourselves and the planet. Knowledge is power, so education is the key to a better future.

What are the benefits of collaborating with other like-minded organizations?

Since day one, our model at Changing Tides Foundation has been based on collaboration. There is so much work to be done and no organization can do this work alone. If we all work together, we can create collective change and reach the masses.

Some of the Changing Tides Foundation team at a beach cleanup at Moonlight Beach in collaboration with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii I think Cred for this one is: Jianca Lazarus @jianca_lazarus

Why is it important to empower women to protect the planet?

I would love to see more women working together to empower one another rather than competing against each other. I would love to see more men involved in lifting women up and bringing more female voices to the table. Women offer a different perspective, and I think that is what is necessary to find the solutions to the problems that exist in our world today. The biggest beacon of hope for me is seeing more women as stakeholders and decision-makers in the environmental realm.

How would you like to see Changing Tides Foundation grow in the future?

I would love to see Changing Tides Foundation chapters grow far and wide, across the globe. We all have the power to work together to create change, and I want people to know that.

Becky with the ladies of the first ever Women’s Outreach Mentorship Program (WOMP) in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. Photo credit: Ashley Barker @barkerfoto

Join Changing Tide Foundation and become an earth hero yourself!

When Your Skin Calls You Home’ Comes to Oakland

By Polina Smith

Crescent Moon Theater Productions’ latest project ‘When Your Skin Calls You Home’ is one that tugs at the heartstrings—but not in the way you might imagine. Through performance art and ritual grounded in Curandersimo, this Selkie-folklore circus-theater production encourages viewers to look within, and rediscover the parts of themselves that may have been lost or neglected.

The program focuses on how we can move forward through soul loss and the times in our lives when we are numb, disconnected, or traumatized, in the face of colonization, collective violence, and generational trauma. Utilizing the beauty and tranquility of nature as a backdrop for the production, the cast takes viewers on a mystical journey through the wild currents of self with the goal of landing them back in a place of wholeness. The story unfolds through the use of aerials, live cello, vocals, movement, and masks.

Polina Smith, Melusina Gomez, and Shoshana Green invite us to acknowledge the parts of us that are lost. At Commonweal, Bolinas. Photo by Mer Al Dao.

The cast consists of eight performers: Melusina Gomez, Mia Pixley, Shannon Gray, Shmee, Shoshana Green, Polina Smith, Claire Calderón, and Nikbo.

Melusina Gomez is the writer and creator of the production, along with being an artist, teacher, curandera, and founder of Metzmecatl: Moon Rope Theatre, a theater company in the Bay Area. She holds a MA in Experimental Performance from The Experimental Performance Institute at New College. Gomez hopes to bring pathos, humor, beauty, tension, magic, and healing to the production, and to the world at large.

Psychologist and artist Mia Pixley uses her voice and cello to study the self, others, and the natural world, with her music focusing on the beauty that lives in sorrow and how that mix can guide us closer to one another. Pixley has a professional studies diploma in cello performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D. from CUNY Graduate Center, City College, and she tours annually on the Windham Hill Winter Solstice Tour. Pixley is set to release her first full-length album, “Margaret in the Wild,” a project that encourages us to move towards nature within us and around us.

Cellist Mia Pixley creates a soundscape of wonder, freedom, and enchantment. Photo by Mer Al Dao.

Specializing in dance trapeze, Shannon Gray merges the worlds of circus and dance to bring a rare kind of emotional intensity to her performances—no matter if the venue is an underground loft or a zipline suspended 100 feet over the ocean. Gray is currently working on a film called The Sentience Project, which examines dreams, injuries, sentience, and the natural world.

Shoshana Green, artist, teacher, curator, and presenter for Butoh programming in San Francisco, uses movement and image to study movement, the esoteric, relationships, and the body as a sculptural representation. Green has performed in KATSURA Kan's Oracle and Enigma at CounterPULSE in San Francisco and in Vangeline Theater's (NYC) production of FIFTH OF BUTOH at Triskelion Arts in New York, as well as in eX..it performance festival at the International Art Research Residency, Schloss Bröllin in Berlin, Germany.

Shoshana Green and  Shannon Gray putting on their selkie masks as they domesticate what is wild within.  Photo by Mer Al Dao.

Artist, storyteller, and educator S. Shmee facilitates enchanting programs that bring mindfulness, embodiment, and creative play to tell stories and build communities. Shmee’s original works have been seen at the Bioneers Conference, the Conference for the International Association for the Study of Dreams, SF Fringe Festival, and many more. Schmee holds a BA in Film Studies and a MA in Depth Psychology and supports higher education as an adjunct professor, teaching artist, and administrator.

Polina Smith is the Artistic Director of Crescent Moon Theater Productions and creates original and innovative new work that spans the disciplines of dance, theater, music, and circus. Smith holds a MA of Fine Arts in Creative Inquiry and worked for over ten years with the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women. In addition, Smith is the art event producer for Bioneers and Seismic Sisters.

Claire Calderón is a writer, literary curator, and musician in feminist indie folk-pop band Coraza, whose first single, “Like Blood” was released this year. Calderón has an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and also manages The Ruby, a gathering space for women and non-binary artists and writers in San Francisco.

Nikbo is an indie-award winning Filipino artist and organizer who creates genre-fluid music about belonging. Nikbo has been singing and writing for 20 years and toured the world as Musical Director of Stanford’s Talisman acapella group. Nikbo’s compositions won multiple competitions with the West Coast Songwriters Berkeley chapter; Nikbo was also a VONA fellow in 2011, and a featured artist at APERture and the Pistahan Festival. Most recently, in 2020, their first music video, produced in collaboration with the award-winning, Brooklyn-based digital artist Kameron Neal, won an Independent Music Award.

This diverse and talented cast are the true alchemists of the production, each bringing an essential ingredient to cast the healing spell that is this production. As they unfold this story, they urge you, through their passion, to meet your truest self.

In the final scene, Mia Pixley, Claire Calderón, Nikbo, Shoshana Green and Melusina Gomez look out over an ocean cliff, having reclaimed all that was lost. An act of soul retrieval and rebirth. Photo by Mer Al Dao.

When Your Skin Calls You Home was performed at Commonweal in Bolinas, on the California coast, and at Skyline Community Church in Oakland over the summer of 2021.