Currents: the Big Ocean Women Podcast

2.1—Carolina Allen and Kim Landeen on Tenant 1, We believe in God and are women of faith

In this first episode of our new series focusing on our monthly tenets, Carolina Allen and Kim Landeen discuss the first tenet of Big Ocean Women “We believe in God and are women of faith.”

“We are connected to divinity, we are divine and that power both outside and within us compels us to help mold our actions and it helps empower everything we do both internally and externally in changing our lives and shaping our lives and the lives of our family and the lives of our communities.” – Kim Landeen

“Faith is power and when you can tap into this infinite source of power… it can compel you along… it can give you this strength to keep moving to keep planning to keep rising above whatever challenges are faced, or set before you, and it really drives our advocacy work and the humanitarian work that we do.” – Carol Allen

 

“I think there is some deep matriarchal wisdom in understanding that your example is first and foremost the thing that will change people’s hearts.” – Kim Landeen

“When something is done with a lot of intention, even though it’s mundane, it becomes very beautiful and ritualistic in a way that invites this kind of abundance into your life.

“When I can start the day in a prayerful mindset then all of these mundane things that I do that don’t seem very important become ritualistic through the intention and the deliberateness that I put into them.

“The cool thing is that I can pray anywhere. Like if I’m needing to recalibrate, if I’m needing to reconcile some kind of a negative feeling, I can just pray in my car, I can pray any time any place and connect with Divinity and tap into that infinite source again, and then my mundane actions become very holy and very sacred.

“Every little thing I get to do is such a gift when I’m living in abundance.” –Carolina Allen

Call to action: Wherever you are listening, and whatever faith tradition you subscribe to, or you don’t, if you have a will and a desire to connect with the divine more intentionally this week, my invitation to all is to see ways in which you can connect with the divine this week. How can you bring in that divine grace to your life as you are going about these mundane things, and how have you seen that divinity make these mundane things more sacred?

Carolina Allen is the founder and leader of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Carolina holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Utah with an emphasis in cultural religions and philosophy of science. Her inspirational and philosophical work has been presented at various international U.N. conferences. She is a native of Brazil, and a fluent trilingual. She and her husband Kawika are parents to 7 children. She is an avid soccer fan and had a brief career as a semi-professional player.

 

Kim Landeen is a founding member and a Global Team Director of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Kim has a deep love for the natural world. She lives in Alaska with her family where she enjoys spending the slower paced life with her children combing the beach for treasures, gardening, picking wild berries, and spending rainy lazy days making bread, reading books, and watching movies. She is an ecotour captain in Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site where she helps educate her clients on the relationship between humanity and the larger eco-environment. In addition to her love of nature, she also enjoys studying theology and the inner workings of the soul as well as tracking global political and social movements. Her love for God, people, and this world drives her to continually seek to improve her own circumstances and the circumstances of all those with whom she comes in contact.

1.13—Erica Komisar, Being There: Why Motherhood Matters

Erica Komisar talks to us about why being there for your children, especially in the first few years of life, is so important. Ms. Komisar is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst, and parent guidance expert who has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years. She strives to help parents live more satisfying lives and raise healthier children. 

 

A graduate of Georgetown and Columbia Universities and The New York Freudian Society, Ms. Komisar is a psychological consultant bringing parenting and work/life workshops to clinics, schools, corporations, and childcare settings.  She is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Daily News.  Erica is the author of Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters, and is currently finishing a second book on the topic of raising resilient, emotionally secure adolescents in an age of anxiety.

1.12—Aditi Aromi and Breastfeeding Advocacy

Dana interviews Aditi Aromi, talking about honoring our feminine biology through the gift and power of breastfeeding as well as the model of powerful impact as we reach out to meet needs in our community. 

Aditi is a born-again Christian, full-time mother of two beautiful children and a wife to the same husband of 22 years. Residing in Southern Utah as an entrepreneur of three family oriented businesses. She is the founder of Free2Feed a local motherhood support group, the owner of Sound Start Education where she works as a Certified Lactation Education counselor. And most recently the campus Director and CEO of the Learning Space, Homeschool Micro Campus in Southern Utah. 

1.11—Michelle Meline on celebrating womanhood, parenting adult children, and Practicing Joy

Michelle Meline is the mother of six children and grandmother to 2.  She has been involved in PTA, Boosters for the Performing Arts, bake sales, little league, girls softball, school plays, and endless hours of homework with her children.  She even built a five story pagoda entirely out of food storage, once!

She wants women everywhere to know that they are all gifted and uniquely talented and they possess abilities to love and nurture goodness in every facet of life.  She hopes everyone will practice peace, choose joy, believe in goodness, never give up and keep being amazing!  Favorite words to live by “Be beautiful, Be real and Bring light!  These are written on her heart and the bathroom mirror in lipstick! She celebrates womanhood and believes that the strongest good can be accomplished by working together with good men! 

Michelle’s Professional adventures have taken her to several industries.  She has worked for and assisted firms in Marketing, Advertising, Law, Accounting, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Interior Design and Media. She has had the pleasure of meeting many talented and wonderful artists including Hiroshima, Earth Wind and Fire, and Kenny Loggins who she sang happy birthday to.

She has also served with Interfaith Boards and in the Dept. of Communications as a director of media relations at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Currently, she is serving as a board member for Big Ocean Women which is an international women’s organization.  This organization’s mission is to gather and train women to be deliberate thinkers and to engage as powerful forces for good in their homes, communities, and the world.  She invites you to visit bigoceanwomen.org for more information

1.10— The Invisible Girl Project, a Discussion with Dana Robb and Jill McElya about the film

63 million girls are missing from the Indian population.

In India there are estimated to be:

70 million sex selective abortions yearly
37 million more men than women
1 girl for 8 boys in some villages

There is even a village called Devra that has no women in it.

These are just a few of the realities based one on of the most tragic circumstances in the world-the belief that girls are liabilities.

What do we do? Listen to this interview with Jill McElya to learn more, gain hope in a better future, and become part of the solution.

BIO: Jill McElya is an attorney, whose experience includes extensive public
service, in both criminal and civil law practice. In January 2008, she moved to
India to serve as the Deputy Director for the Chennai field office of an
international human rights organization. In this capacity, she and her staff of
Indian lawyers worked to rescue victims of bonded labor (slavery) and hold
their perpetrators accountable through the public justice system.
While living in India for two years, Jill and her husband, Brad were
exposed to the practice of female gendercide (the systematic killing of females).
After studying the issue and forming relationships with Indians from
organizations that combat the problem, they founded Invisible Girl Project
(IGP) in 2011. IGP’s mission is to save girls’ lives to end female gendercide in
India. Jill now serves as President for IGP, a 501(c)(3), charitable organization,
headquartered in Raleigh, NC, where she now lives with her husband and their
own two little girls.

 

1.9—A guest Episode from the Diamonds for our Children Podcast, A conversation with Katie Jo LaRiviere and Carolina Allen

Currents hosts a guest podcast episode from the Diamonds for our Children Podcast featuring a conversation between Katie Jo LaRiviere and Carolina Allen. 

1.8—A Motherhood Ministry with Katie Jo LaRiviere

An interview with Katie Jo LaRiviere of Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary where we discuss motherhood, literature, and the deep emotional connections of finding a shared humanity. 

Katie Jo LaRiviere is an associate professor of literature who writes and produces the Diamonds for Our Children podcast, a public humanities project and motherhood ministry launched in 2021. LaRiviere’s weekly poetry live sessions can be found @diamondsforourchildren on Instagram.

1.7—Parenting and Self Government with Nicholeen Peck

A discussion with Nicholeen Peck on parenting, peace, and finding balance during stressful times by teaching children self government. 

1.6—An Interview with Leslie Grossman from George Washington University

 A conversation with Leslie Grossman, Faculty Director of the Executive Women's Leadership Program at George Washington University, on how to harness our strengths as women, the power of supporting other women, and the ways we can lead out and lead up. Leslie is the author of Link Out: How to Turn Your Network into a Chain of Lasting Connections.

1.5—The Period Episode with Lisa Bjornberg

We discuss menstrual health and the wide array of options available to us, trying to break down some of the stigmas associated with being a woman.