Staff & Directors
Staff
Joy Rose, Founder & Executive Director
Phone: 207.504.3001
Address: P.O. Box 210, Hastings On Hudson, NY 10706
Web: http://www.musuemofmotherhood.org
Bio: Joy Rose, the MediaMom™, has been working towards the fulfillment of the vision of a viable, real and physical Museum Of Motherhood since 2003, when she trademarked the M.O.M., Museum Of Motherhood mark and began displaying objects, books and mom-orabilia at her Main Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY store.
She is President and Founder of Mamapalooza, Inc., a company by women, promoting mothers for social, cultural and economic benefit. Inspired by her experiences as a wife and mother in the arts, Joy is dedicated to championing opportunities for Mom-Artists, Educators and Entrepreneurs. She works tirelessly with women and volunteers around the country co-creating events and programming, changing the way women’s voices are heard in the media, education and performing arts, impacting the culture of modern mothers and their families.
Joy holds a BFA from Denison University, has been awarded the key to the city of Seneca Falls, home of the Suffragette movement, won NOW-NYC’s Susan B. Anthony award in 2009, and has appeared on CNN, NPR, Good Morning America, American Voices and The Wall Street Journal and in PEOPLE Magazine to name a few. She is a featured speaker at Women’s Events and Conferences and has appeared at The Women’s Media Center, ARM Conference, MPLZCC and What Women Want Expo. Her writing has appeared in The Mom Egg, The Lohasian and online at FWW. Joy was also the founder and lead singer for the Mom Rock band, Housewives On Prozac, a pioneer in the Mom-Branded arts world. Joy Rose also sits on the board for the International Maternity Institute.
She serves as Acting Executive Director for The Museum Of Motherhood.
“Unlike traditional art, the ‘Art Of Motherhood’ is formed amidst the chaos of family, between folds of time, directly impacted by the creative forces of creation itself.”
Executive Director and Founder, since 2003.
Suzanne Dawson, Director of Strategic Partnerships
E-mail: Suzanne.Dawson@mamapalooza.com
Phone: 917.282.6742
Bio: Suzanne has worked professionally in the marketing and advertising world for most of her very successful career. She has been coordinating sponsor/partnerships with Mamapalooza, Inc., since 2008 and helped to organize the Silent Auction with Working Mother WorkLife Congress in Fall 2010. Contact Suzanne directly regarding your corporate, individual or community involvement, donations and sponsor/partnerships.
since 2008.
We are currently accepting applications to sit on M.O.M. board. The board will require approximately 2 hours of meetings per month (email/conference call). The position is a two year term, with a possible renewal. We are seeking scholars from a wide range of disciplines such as history, literature, sociology and so on. We ask that you submit your name or that of another ONLY if you are able to commit the above time to the project.
Amy Andrews, MamaBlogger365 and Logistical Coordinator
E-mail: MamazinaMag@gmail.com
Motherhood Foundation Inc.
Board Of Directors
Gillian Crane, President
E-mail: gilliancrane@optonline.net
Phone: 212.473.4065
Address: 52 Landing Dr., Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
Bio: Gillian is a graduate of Muhlenberg College, ’96 and about to finish her Master’s degree in school counseling. She is an accomplished musician and has performed in everything from Housewives On Prozac to The Magic School Bus LIVE. She owned a record label that encouraged and coordinated involvement of students ages 16-20 to raise their awareness of philanthropy through the excitement of working in the entertainment industry where she produced a CD for the Lupus Foundation of America.
She’s currently the Associate Dean of Students at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY and Music Director of The Dobbs 16, a selective a cappella group comprised of Masters School Students. A member of the Independent School Gender Project, Gillian is passionate about women’s rights, health and well-being. She has recently traveled to Japan twice to participate in the Morioka Chuo Educational Forum, and has a certificate from the U. Penn Gardner Carney Leadership Institute. Gillian is a member of the Blue Hill Troupe of NYC. She is passionate about teaching leadership, and guiding students to find their moral compass. Gillian Crane is credited with the original idea of creating a Museum Of Motherhood.
Lynn Kuechle, Director of Programming and Acting Treasurer
E-mail: MomScholar@gmail.com
Phone: 507.625.1964
Address: 65 North Hill Dr., Mankato, MN 56001
Web: Mother Monologues
Bio: Lynn Kuechle became interested in Mamapalooza Festivals during research for her thesis in speech communication, which focused on the unattainable social norms of motherhood. She received her MA from the University of Minnesota, Mankato in May 2007 and is currently a full time faculty member at the University in the Speech Communication department. Lynn has been involved in non-profit management in the past. She was the director of Wellspring Faith in Action, a faith-based program that matched volunteers with senior citizens in the community who helped with non-medical tasks, allowing seniors to continue to live independently. Through this experience she has worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as well as state and federal Health and Human Services funding. She has been trained in the holistic approach to grant writing through the Grant Institute. She is the mother of two, a daughter Taylor and son Ryan.
Cara-Leigh Battaglia, Secretary
E-mail: clbattaglia@hotmail.com
Phone: 315.651.5947
Address: 3010 Garden St Ext., Seneca Falls, NY 13148
Bio: Cara-Leigh graduated from Radford University and Nazareth College of Rochester. Her wealth of experience with non-profits, business and children make her a versatile and knowledgable board member. Her resume includes teaching credits, writing, editing and production experience and active service as Executive Director of Geneva Business Improvement District. Cara-Leigh volunteers locally is the proud mother of Nicoli and is currently working as a Financial Services agent with New York Life.
Museum Of Motherhood (M.O.M.)
Advisory Board
Carol Evans, Working Mother Magazine and Media
Bio: Carol serves as President of Working Mother Media and CEO of Diversity Best Practices which are part of Bonnier Corporation. In 2006, Working Mother Media acquired Diversity Best Practices (DBP), the leading corporate membership organization supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace. DBP’s Best Practice Sessions, conferences, research, and publications allow companies to leap ahead on their diversity journey. At DBP, Carol has launched the Network and Affinity Leadership Congress (NALC), CEO Diversity Leadership Roundtables, the DBP Benchmarking and Assessment Tool and the Global Inclusion initiative.
Carol’s involvement with Working Mother magazine dates back to 1978, when she played a critical role in the launch. She grew Working Mother over the next decade, serving as advertising director and VP publisher. In 1986, she founded the Working Mother 100 Best Companies, still the most important workplace benchmark in the country. Click here for more about Carol Evans. The Museum Of Motherhood welcomed her as its first board member in September 2010.
Jill Starishevsky, Prosecutor, Child Abuse/Sex Crime, Author, My Body Belongs to Me
MyBodyBelongstoMe.com
646-262-7418
Jill is a mother of three and an Assistant District Attorney in New York City where she has prosecuted hundreds of sex offenders and dedicated her career to seeking justice for victims of child abuse and sex crimes. Outside the courtroom, Jill’s fondness for writing led her to create thepoemlady.com, where she pens personalized pieces for all occasions. In October 2006, Jill launched HowsMyNanny.com, the first online nanny reporting service that works to keep children safe by enabling parents to receive positive and negative feedback on their child’s caregiver. Jill is also the author of “My Body Belongs to Me”, a children’s book intended to prevent child sexual abuse by teaching 3-8 year olds their bodies are private.
Joy Baum
M.S.Ed., P.D., holds degrees in psychology, counseling in education and teacher training and school leadership.
nahvah@gmail.com
Joy works both nationally and internationally and has held positions of teacher, mentor and director of early childhood and primary school settings. Joy is currently working on educational projects that include curriculum and teacher training consultation for the Noguchi Museum and arts in education teacher supervision for Queens College in New York City. She is the founding director of education and consulting at LearnLive.US. where she trains professionals in groundbreaking scientific and creative contemplative methods in the service of schools, children and educators.
Joy sits as President of the Advisory Board of the Museum of Motherhood, and along with her own work on behalf of families and children, she promotes and represents the work of women and mothers around the world.
Laura Tropp, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair of Communication Arts, Marymount Manhattan College
B.A., Hunter College of the City University of New York, M.A., New York University, Ph.D., New York University
E-mail: click here
Phone: 212.774.4868
Bio: Laura Tropp specializes in media and politics and representations of pregnancy and motherhood in popular culture. She teaches courses in communication theory, media history, campaigns and elections, media law and new communication technologies. Her current research focuses on representations of pregnancy and motherhood in media, and the use of television in voter mobilization drives. Tropp is currently at work on a manuscript on pregnancy and media titled, A Womb with a View: Pregnancy in Changing Media Environments.
Recent Publications: Forthcoming, Battling the Blues: Representation of Post-Partum Depression in Popular Culture.” Mental Illness in Popular Culture. Ed. Lawrence c. Rubin. McFarland Press. Spring 2011.
Recent Presentations/Productions: The Fertilization will be Televised. Pregnancy in Popular Culture. Mothers in the Arts, Literature, Media and Popular Culture. Mamapalooza Festival and Conference. New York City. May 20, 2010.
Mother Studies Conference Planning Committee 2011
Janae Seignious- Shields, MSW
Bio- Janae has a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in U.S. history from the State University of New York at Oswego and a Master’s of Social Work from Monmouth University with a concentration in International and Community Development. She is a Class III Green for All Fellow. In 2011, Janae completed the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development Family Development Credential for leaders. Since 2006 she has been working at Goodwill Industries in the Workforce Development Division. Janae cowrote the proposal that secured funding to start a program to help single mothers become self reliant and empowered.
Currently, she facilitates a monthly support group for single mothers. She continues to secure funding and donations to support programming for single mothers at Goodwill. She serves on committees that evaluate Welfare to Work Programs. She is a certified Occupational Safety and Health 10 and 30 hour General Industry Trainer. She also teaches the Roots of Success Environmental Literacy Curriculum to people on and applying for public assistance to introduce them to green career opportunities and environmental justice issues facing people in their communities. She develops training programs and strategic plans to continuously improve quality and efficiency of Goodwill’s Workforce Development programs. She also sits on the Advisory Board for Samuel Gomper’s Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx, NY. Janae has a commitment to developing programs and services to help strengthen families and address issues of urban poverty, workforce development and environmental justice.
Guest Curators
Charlotte Ghiorse
(212)505-7065
b. 1965, aka The House of ChoCLeT is a painter, printer, video and performance artist; and has exhibited continuously since 1991. She holds a BFA in Fine Art Painting, cum laude1992, from the State University of New York at Albany, and also holds an Emergency Medical Technician Certification from John Jay College 2005 (EMT Basic). She sold her first collection of work one week after graduating college in 1992 eerily on the 90th floor of World Trade Center Tower 1 to an investment banker. Years later after becoming involved with the Fire Department NY, she created a series of work about WTC debris. Subsequently becoming part of the Permanent collection of Lisa De Kooning and the NY State Museum’s Permanent Collection, both 2003, this work is also on view at the 911 Memorial Museum. With 20 years of solo show experience, in 2010 she hosted a successful group show called American Garbage, and in 2011 the Anti-Narcissists and the Very Mundane. Ghiorse is happily working with the Museum of Motherhood as a guest curator since July 2012, and has been creating work, around being a mother and caregiver since 2001. Her most recent solo exhibits include The Family Jewels (September 2012), which was on view as a part of the Brooklyn Museum’s GO Brooklyn Competition, as well The Modern Mother showed at the Museum of Motherhood (April 2012). Ghiorse lives in NYC with her husband, two sons, and daughter; she is an active environmentalist. www.charlotteg.com
Christen Clifford is a mutlidisciplinary artist in New York. Her most recent work Buffalo Vs Detroit: Opportunity City Deathmatch #1 is temporary installation of knitted elements and chalk on the exterior of the Buffalo Central Terminal for echo:Art Fair. She holds a BDF from NYS/TSOA and has been a guest teacher at NYU, Playwrites Horizons and MIRG.
Her work is strongly influenced by feminist art and the art of mothering. Her solo BabyLove, about maternal sexuality, had its premier in Ljubljana, Slovenia in October 2005 at the Mesto Zensk International Festival of Contemporary Art and has played San Francisco, British Columbia, and New York. In September 2006, BabyLove was produced in association with the 15th Annual San Francisco Fringe Festival, where it sold out and was named “BEST OF FRINGE.” BabyLove was produced as part of the third annual Terra Nova Solo Arts Festival at Center Stage, New York and as part of Hourglass Group’s Real Live Women at the D-Lounge. BabyLove won the “AUDIENCE AWARD” at the Frigid Festival in New York in March of 2007, and toured the US and Canada before a three month Off Broadway run at 45 Bleecker in 2008, where it was named Critic’s Pick by New York Magazine, NBC, and Time Out New York, which gave BabyLove five stars.
Clifford has appeared on panels about maternal sexuality and has been featured in articles about mothering in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York and on Fox New York News. She was a frequent guest on Metro TV’s Naked New York and has appeared at Mamapalooza! and at The Museum of Sex in New York. She has been on the review board of the SoloNova Festival, appeared on the mainstage of the Moth, Women Center Stage and has received fellowships and residencies from Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio and NYFA to name a few.
She is currently a curator at Dixon Place in New York and was the creator and curator of the monthly series HEAT: sexy stories and burlesque at the Culture Project.
Ronnie Komarow is an adjunct professor at the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University. She is also creator of the ‘The Maternal Instincts Art Project’ and acting guest curator at M.O.M.
Her ‘Maternal Instincts’ project offers a forum for dialogue about motherhood-related themes and content in contemporary visual art. Once considered a “blind spot of modernism,” the project’s intent is to provide inspiration and validation for artists engaged in working with these themes and to generally open this topic for discussion and commentary. http://
2011 – Academic Committee & Conference Advisor Coordinators
Lisa Reagan
Lisa has been a free-lance journalist, ghostwriter, and book editor for the past 21 years. She is the current Associate Editor for Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine, the former East Coast Editor-at-Large for Mothering Magazine, and the former US Contributing Editor to Kindred Magazine, a global magazine on conscious parenting out of Australia. In 2007, she served as a judge for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence college journalism awards for online, in-depth reporting.
As an activist for holistic parenting, she co-founded and was president of Families for Conscious Living, a 501C3 national educational nonprofit, for 10 years. She wrote and developed The Gathering Guide for parents who wish to create their own support groups for conscious parenting, which is now the foundation for the eduational, outreach project Pathways Connect.. She still serves on the board of directors for FCL and is currently writing a book about her adventures in conscious living. Lisa serves as the parent representative on the national board of directors for the Holistic Pediatric Association.
Dr. Donna Decker
Associate Professor of English, Director Honors Program; Director Women in Leadership Program
Ph.D. Northeastern University, Boston 2005, M.A. English Salem State College, Massachusetts 1990, B.A. English and Psychology, State University of New York at Albany, 1978
E-mail: deckerd@franklinpierce.edu
Phone: 603.899.4296
Courses Taught: Women’s Literature, Banned Books, Introduction to American Literature, Introduction to Literary Studies, Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Queer Studies, American Short Story, Theories of Fiction, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction, Fiction Workshop, Advanced Fiction Workshop, Introduction to Women’s Studies, Women in Leadership Seminar, Ancient and Medieval Worlds, College Writing I and II, Law and Literature, World Literature
Research Interests: Donna Decker is a Ms. Magazine Feminist Scholar. Read a recent Ms. Magazine blog article by Professor Decker. The purpose of the Feminist Scholars program is to advance public knowledge by making women’s studies and feminist scholarship more accessible to a mass audience. This competitive initiative (many feminist academics applied; few were chosen) is designed to engage feminist scholars in writing for Ms. Magazine. I attended the Ms. writing workshop in Washington, D.C. in May 2010 and am at work on an article about misogynist internet blogs in the wake of the Montreal Massacre. Click here to read more about Dr. Decker.
Mother Studies Conference Planning Committee 2011
Jocelyn Fenton Stitt
Assistant professor Gender & Women’s Studies, Minnesota State U., Mankato, MN
Ph.D.: English and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan
E-mail:jocelyn.stitt@mnsu.edu
Phone: 507.389.5026
Bio: Jocelyn is a global student: Los Angeles, Scotland, Michigan, San Francisco; Innovator: created an educational outreach program about women’s lives internationally for underserved communities as a Fellow the International Museum of Women in San Francisco; Researcher: intertwining of the familial and the imperial in the British Caribbean from the nineteenth-century to the present and feminist mothering; Teacher: graduate and undergraduate courses on Global Feminism and international issues; Specialty: global feminist theory and analysis; Essayist: topics include contemporary Caribbean culture and mothering; Co-editor: Before Windrush: Recovering an Asian and Black Literary Heritage Within Britain (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008); Mothers Who Deliver: Feminist Interventions in Public and Interpersonal Discourse (SUNY Press, 2009).
Mother Studies Conference Planning Committee 2011
Dr. Melinda Marie Jetté
Assistant Professor of History, Public History Program Coordinator, Franklin Pierce University
Ph.D History, University of British Columbia, 2004; M.A. History, Université Laval, 1996; B.A. History and French, The Catholic University of America, 1991
Courses Taught: History and Film, U.S History Survey,Topics in U.S History,Modern Latin America,Oral History, Public ,History Internship, Introduction to Public History, History and the World Wide Web, Exploring Local and National History
Mother Studies Conference Planning Committee 2011
Dr. Phyllis Chesler, Scholar, Author, Educator and Activist
E-mail: PChesler@phyllis-chesler.com
Bio: Phyllis Chesler is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at City University of New York. She is an author, psychotherapist and an expert courtroom witness. She has lectured and organized political, legal, religious and human rights campaigns in the United States and in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. A popular guest on campuses and in national and international print, television, radio and online media, she has been an expert commentator on the major events of our time. She has lived in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. She currently resides in Manhattan.
Dr. Chesler is co-founder of the still ongoing Association for Women in Psychology (1969) and the National Women’s Health Network (1974), and is a charter member of the Women’s Forum (1973-74). She is a charter member of the Veteran Feminists of America, a founder and Board member of the International Committee for the Women of the Wall (1989), as well as an affiliated Professor with Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities.
Dr. Chesler’s thirteen books and thousands of articles and speeches have inspired people on many diverse issues. Click here to read more about Dr. Chesler.
Academic Committee
Special Thanks
The MFI Board also notes special attention and gratitude to:
Gillian Crane for her ideas and the concept in creating a Museum Of Motherhood; Terry Platz and Bob Bickford for assistance in creating the mission statement and filing legal documents for the Motherhood Foundation’s 501c3 status; Jennifer Edwards, who served as President of MFI from 2006-2009; and Joy Rose for creating the first ever exhibit of mom-orabilia in Dobbs Ferry, NY in 2003, filing of trademarks, legal, financial support and for steady and constant steering of the Motherhood Foundation towards the fruition of M.O.M. since 2002; and Camille Faila Murphy, Executive Director, Westchester County Of Women, recognized as a national leader in the movement to improve the status of women.
Annette Daniels Taylor
Theatrical and Performance Arts Consultant
Bio: Annette Daniels-Taylor is a playwright, poet, actor, teacher, singer and costumer. In 2009, Daniels-Taylor won the Artie’ s Emanuel Fried Award for New Play, A Little Bit of Paradise, which premiered at Road Less Traveled Productions in 2008.
She has worked on or behind many notable Buffalo and NYC stages, including HBO’ s Def Comedy Jam, MTV, Apollo Theater, Black Entertainment Television, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Ensemble Theatre, La Mama, and Nuyorican Poets Café. While working as a designer and stylist for Ruby Dee, Queen Latifah, Lenny Kravitz, and Russell Simmons, among others, she wrote and acted, and received a scholarship from the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. She and her husband, artist Rodney Taylor, moved to his native Buffalo so that they could devote more time to their art and their four children.
Her poetry is included in Mom Egg, a collection of mother-inspired literature. Daniels-Taylor’ s performance Mama Songs for Children has toured WNY. Since 2006, she has been a coordinator for Mamapalooza Festival Buffalo. She is a co-founder of Down in My Soul Productions and a member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild. Daniels-Taylor is writer-in-residence at The Langston Hughes Institute. She is also a teaching artist for The Arts in Education Institute of Western New York, Irish Classical Theatre Company and The African American Cultural Center.
Culture & Arts Committee
E. Claire Misquitta
Claire has a global persona in working for some of the world’s most illustrious brands. With experiences that cover The European Union, North American and South Asian Markets, her detailed skills at developing the right campaign is incomparable. She has more than17+ years experience in industries such as Banking and Finance, Pharmaceutical, Telecommunications and Consumer Goods. Her vision in orchestration and marketing new and existing brands through Client Services-Direct Marketing and Global Communications world class. Clare’s expertise is centred on international markets like Asia, Europe, Canada. She has American experiences which includes multicultural markets like the African American, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Pakistani, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese. Her experience varies from Best in Class agencies/Fortune 500 companies: WPP Y&R & Wunderman Publicis Group Publicis Dialog & Publicis Wellcare Fortune 500 Companies like GSK.
Grants Advisor
Barbara Glickstein, RN, MPH, MS, Co-Director of the Center for Health, Media and Policy at Hunter College
Bio: Barbara is a public health nurse, broadcast journalist WBAI Radio and global activist. Barbara’s work focuses on ‘Women, Health-Wise & The Health Care System’. Ongoing efforts focus on synthesizing and living fully aligned with her feminist values while she continues to recognize and speak about the strong parallels between nursing knowledge, feminist philosophy and mothering knowledge. Her professional work as a global activist has her committed to working towards a revaluing of, women’s work, caring, ethics and knowledge towards a world view that values women.
Friend and Advisor
