Executive Director: Janell Kapoor is the Founding Director of Kleiwerks International. She is an avid mud mama, global movement-builder, designer and teacher whose work has inspired people from over 52 countries to build their own homes with what they have where they are. She led the initial ecological design-build trainings in Thailand, Argentina and Turkey, which resulted in the building of educational centers, training programs, businesses, policy change and regional movements of hundreds of thousands of mud people. Janell lives in the oldest mountains on the planet at the Ashevillage Institute, a one-acre permaculture site that features residential and urban solutions, such as an 18,000 gallon five-pond rainwater catchment and aquaponic greenhouse system, edible and medicinal landscape, recycled courtyard kitchen, beautiful mud art and an earthen-renovated guest house. Janell is thrilled to be launching the Women of the Americas Sustainability Initiative (WASI), an action-oriented alliance of women leaders who construct, educate, organize and advocate for strong and empowered communities through ecological design-build practices, with the aim of creating a socially and ecologically resilient world. Janell is dedicated to the champion within each of us, and to the possibility that we may learn to live in balance with ourselves, each other, and this most beautiful planet we are blessed to inhabit.
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Director of Operations: Valerie Costa is Kleiwerks International’s Development Director. Valerie has over a decade of experience working with nonprofits as a staff member and volunteer. She is the owner of Aril Consulting, a fundraising and nonprofit management consulting business with clients around the United States. Prior to starting her own business she was the Vice President/Chief Development Officer at Senior Services, the largest nonprofit social services organization serving older adults in Washington state. While there she was responsible for raising over $2.4 million per year from a diverse group of funders. Valerie currently lives in Central Vermont and is enrolled in the Sustainable Design/Build certificate program at the Yestermorrow Design/Build school, with the hope of building her own home and hot tub some day.
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DELEGATES
WASI’s 30 Delegates will lead the building of projects and programs with and for local communities.
Brasil Delegate: Lilian Avivia Lubochinski is an Architect and Urban Planner with a strong conviction that our way of being in “place” is an expression of our relation to the planet. She was an active participant in the 1st World Social Forum. She worked with the Movement of Agrarian Reform (MST), planning their National School, which was built with Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBss) and rammed earth by landless volunteers who came from all over Brasil. Lilian has conducted community-based planning of new rural settlements. She was a technical advisor to the secretary of social work for the the city of São Paulo, and worked in the spatial humanization of the homeless shelters network and other social service structures. She coordinated the team that wrote the master plan of a mainly rural municipality, with strong local community participation. She has been a lecturer at the Open University for the Elderly at PUC-São Paulo on the subject of the “Relevance of Ancestral Knowledge for the Sustainability of our Planet,” covering the topics of building and territory occupation, revisiting traditions and understanding new paradigms.
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Canada Delegate: Christine Jack is a Nlaka’pamux First Nations leader who now resides in St’atimc Territory near Lillooet, BC. As a survivor of the residential school experience, Christine has dedicated much of her life path to healing through traditional knowledge and proudly carries forward the roles of Sweatlodge keeper, hunter, fisher woman and a gatherer of traditional medicines and foods from Mother Earth. She is a Victims Assistance Support Worker, involved in the Stop the Violence Against Women movement and facilitates workshops for women to start or continue their healing journey through earth based spiritual ceremony. Christine is known throughout many native communities in BC for her strong voice to protect mother earth, threatened by modern conditions of lives out of balance and ecological destruction. She is a member of Lillooet Food Matters, a local food security advocacy group that creates opportunities for community collective organic growing, revitalization of trade economies and cooperative planning for indigenous food sovereignty. She is also a member of Salmon Talks, a group which creates actions locally and educates provincial governance to take notice and create viable solutions to revitalize one of the primary traditional foods of First Nations people in the region. Christine is known for her strong voice and leadership role and is dedicated to empowering other women to speak their truth and step forward as sacred earth keepers.
Canada Delegate: Laurie McEwen is passionate about building structures that fit into the environment and make use of recycled and local materials as much as possible. With the help of her community, family and friends, she has been building her own home for over a decade. It was originally inspired by the “Earthship” design, which has a foundation/retaining walls of recycled tires, and locally made materials. This is a solar advantage design, using tires as a heat sink. Laurie’s home site has also incorporated her skills and vision as an organic gardener and permaculture design student. The principles of a sustainable and healthy life path are present in other dynamics of her life as well. Laurie has been a registered massage therapist for 20 years and owns and operates the multi-disciplinary Wellness Centre in the small town of Lillooet, B.C. By providing alternative healthcare, long- lasting healing changes have been impactful in the community. Creating sustainable businesses in a rural setting has been and continues to be important. She has also studied conflict negotiation and mediation, and likes to solve conflict in a positive way that helps to promote healing. Laurie has a degree in Art and Design from Ontario College of Art and has worked with photography, though, is presently focused on painting. Creativity and expression are an important part of her healing process.
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Chile Delegate: Javiera Carrion is an agronomist and a graduate of the Master of Science in Integrative Design Program at Gaia University. She now lives and works with her family community in Cabrero, Chile where, as an Ecological Integrative Design Specialist, she is responsible for educational and networking coordination, design and management of projects, documentation, mentoring, consulting and teaching ecological and social regeneration classes at Ecoescuela El Manzano. Javiera Carrión is part of a network of women leaders and activists in Chile who are working with the Chilean Institute of Permaculture, the network of EcoVillages, and professionals in Applied Permaculture to create and lead a transformative learning community. At Ecoescuela, Javiera is involved in creating transformative learning experiences that will aid in local level transitions to become a more holistic society.
Chile Delegate: Carolina Heidke Adriasola, an Environmental Engineer, is a native of the city of el Sol, Quilpué, Chile, and has been living in El Manzano with her family for 5 years. After a brief tour of South America researching projects of ecovillages and demonstration centers working on sustainability, she returned to Chile and participated in the Permaculture Design certification course in 2008. She is part of the founding team of the Ecoescuela El Manzano and has worked actively in coordination, communications and public relations of the organization. She participates in sustainability and permaculture education at the Ecoescuela El Manzano. She coordinates two projects for the Ministry of the Environment in Villa El Manzano, to generate local resilience. With a deep social awareness, Carolina has formed part of the directive of two community organizations such as El Manzano Youth Group and El Manzano Neighbor’s Committee. She has also been part of activating the transition process of Villa El Manzano, the first Latin American initiative of Pueblos en Transición, in which she has taken a key role in the dynamics and facilitation of heterogeneous social groups. A lover of herbal medicine, Carolina has developed a deep knowledge of their properties and uses for the preparation of cosmetic products.
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Costa Rica Delegate: Ana Elena Obando has been a women’s human rights lawyer and activist for more than twenty-five years. She is from Costa Rica and holds a Master’s degree in justice and gender. Ms. Obando was formerly the coordinator of the Concertación Interamericana de Mujeres Activistas por los Derechos Humanos (CIMA) and has been affiliated with a number of NGOs. She has been an independent consultant for international organizations, an ex-professor of law, and a researcher and trainer. Ms. Obando has published numerous articles and essays on the subject of women’s human rights and have written for several print publications and electronic media such as WHRNET.
Costa Rica Delegate: Felicia Echeverria Hermoso joins WASI as a delegate from San Jose, Costa Rica. She is a nurturing grandmother, organic agriculture expert, and a passionately strong proponent for “full and sustainable living” in Costa Rica. She began this career in 1992, when she was part of the team that launched the Earth Council in San Jose, Costa Rica. Since 1996 she has been involved with farmer and consumer training; marketing organic products; policy development and implementation; standards/regulations drafting; and certification services management. In 1996, she pioneered Costa Rica’s first door-to-door organic produce distribution business, and continued in the same spirit by helping for the first farmer-to-farmer training center on organic agriculture in Alajuela, CR which reached 80% of CR’s farmers. Working as the Manager of the National Organic Agriculture Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in Costa Rica (1999-2006) and later as Executive Director of Eco-LOGICA S.A. (2007-2010), Felicia’s vast technical and managerial experiences have led her to her current location: the rural area of Los Santos in Costa Rica, where she is developing a sustainable living model farm and training center geared toward knowledge exchange and practical instruction for the surrounding farming communities.
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Haiti Delegate: Tanya Merceron joins WASI as a delegate from Haiti, where she is in her eighth year as Training Officer with The Program for Training Young Women and Children (PEJEFE) based in Port-au-Prince, an organization devoted to empowering women and youth, disaster and risk management, and violence prevention and intervention. Tanya was born in Haiti and raised in a large family whose arms extended an embrace beyond her blood relatives, an environment which she attributes with developing her keen awareness of her environment and a sensitivity to the human condition witnessed in her home country. Convinced that there is a deep meaning to life that we strive to connect to, Tanya lives vibrantly, open to discover new perspectives, and meet people who look toward a different horizon than her own. A former student of law and environmental management, Tanya seeks a deep understanding of humanity and Nature.
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Hawaii Delegate: Ehulani Hope Kane is a native Hawaiian, artist/actor/teacher, long time activist for peace, women, the arts, native Hawaiian rights, social, environmental, spiritual-oriented and community issues. She is a mother, a grandmother, an aunt and a sister. Ehulani continues to move through her precious life on a journey that requires presence, patience, curiosity, humility, stamina, humor, integrity and heart.
Hawaii Delegate: Emillia Noordhoek joins WASI as a delegate from the Hawaiian Island, Molokai, where she is Executive Director of Sust `aina ble Molokai. An Accredited Professional (AP) in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Emilia holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Oregon and a Masters Certificate in Real Estate Development from Portland State University. With extensive knowledge and experience in environmental management and the mortgage industry, Emillia’s former work as Resource Development and Marketing Director for the Molokai Habitat for Humanity focused on putting families into affordable homes and helping end the cycle of poverty. Many of the partner families she worked with were Hawaiian Homesteaders whose lands lacked basic infrastructure and access to public utilities. Leveraging her experiences, she built off-grid homes utilizing sustainable building materials, equipped with roof water catchment and solar photo-voltaic panels. Her tenacity and solutions-based approach qualified Molokai Habitat for Humanity as the first Habitat affiliate in Hawaii to register houses with Energy Star HERS rating and subsequent LEED certification. Under Molokai Habitat for Humanity’s Rehabilitation and Energy Upgrade Program, Emillia reached out to families living in dilapidated houses to make physical improvements that ensured greater safety, affordability, energy efficiency, and added space for culturally appropriate multi-generational `ohana purposes. Emillia also successfully implemented The Global Village, a dynamic program integrating local and global volunteerism to build homes and bring in much needed donations.
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Nicaragua Delegate: Felipa Nery González Ruiz, originally from the rural peasant community of Santa Teresa, in the area west of Condega, is well respected by the young people, mothers, fathers, teachers and leaders in her community. Felipa is the President of Asociacion Mujeres Constructoras de Condega (AMCC) an organization that promotes economic empowerment, as well as personal growth for North Nicaraguan women, as a means of strengthening women’s personal growth through vocational training and participation in citizen’s advocacy at the community level. She has been actively teaching carpentry and construction and directing activities at AMCC for 14 years. Felipa has worked in specialized earthen construction and has been trained in adobe restoration. She also has built earth ovens and traditional kilns.
Nicaragua Delegate: Helen Shears has worked at Asociacion Mujeres Constructoras de Condega for 17 years where she currently holds the role of Technical Coordinator and is responsible for project management, monitoring of technical courses and teacher training. With a background in basic carpentry, furniture making and home fixtures, she has much experience as a tradeswoman, although she also has taken on much of the work coordinating behind the scenes at AMCC. With her background origins in London she does much translation work as well. Currently, she is doing much coordination as they are preparing to launch the development of 2012 courses in adobe construction that will start the construction of theory classrooms that will be an integral part of the expansion and improvement of the conditions of the organization.
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United States Delegate: Liz Johndrow joins the WASI Alliance as the founder of Earthen Endeavors. Her vision is to use natural building as a bridge to create beautiful and functional spaces while embodying a meaningful connection with the natural world, others and our built environment. Working with low impact and resource-efficient materials that are non-toxic and healthful, durable and recyclable, Liz integrates beauty and function into living spaces – through a process that inspires creativity, joy and greater human connection. Liz works with earthen plasters and floor systems, and timber-framing and enjoys the exploration of natural building as a localized, sustainable way of building using the resources we have at hand. Liz has several past lives including mother, owner of a small futon business, cook at a natural foods restaurant, student of midwifery and herbalism, massage therapist, gardener and wilderness school instructor.
>>> More WASI delegates are coming soon. Please check back. To support these dedicated, action-oriented women, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution today. With deep, earthy thanks!
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GLOBAL PEERS
Development Specialist: Desiree Adaway comes to WASI as the Development Specialist Global Peer. Desiree is a consultant and coach. She designs programs and strategies that create revenue streams and advocate for organizations. The insights and expertise she brings to her clients comes from having served in senior-level nonprofit and grant management roles for renowned organizations such as Habitat for Humanity International, where she was the Senior Director of Volunteer Mobilization, and Rotary International, where she was the director of their largest Humanitarian Grants program. Desiree works with organizations to bring the talents, resources, skills and knowledge of a community together to raise funds, build brand equity and increase their collective power – a transformation that can, and has provided a positive impact on the lives of many. At the heart of Desiree’s work is inclusion, ownership, relationship building and leadership development.
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Operations Manager: Jessica Jenks is WASI’s Operations Manager. A native of Vermont, Jessica grew up working on the family dairy farm, gardening and maple sugaring in the green mountains. She is widely travelled and has volunteered in South Africa, studied in Spain, and interned in Washington DC, where she currently resides. Jessica graduated from Cedarville University with a BA in International Studies and History, and in 2009 received an MA in Environment and Sustainable Development from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. Through her background, studies, and living in China, Chile, Mexico, and The Netherlands, Jessica cultivated a passion for the sustainability of rural population livelihoods and small-scale agricultural production. Academically and professionally, Jessica’s work has focused on sustainable food systems, community conservation strategies, and the legal and human rights to land and water.
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North American & Caribbean Outreach Coordinator: Susannah Tedesco joins WASI as an inspired and dedicated agent provocateur of all things natural and resilient. She has devoted the last ten years to working with rural grassroots initiatives to build a sustainability movement empowering communities to create viable solutions to local food insecurity. Susannah studied organic agriculture at Linnaea Ecological Farm School in British Columbia, Canada where she also received her permaculture design certificate in 2001. As a horse-woman, community organizer, teacher and life-long student, she is passionate about building integrated regional networks committed to envisioning and actualizing promising change with abundant food, beautiful and artistic culture, and innovative opportunities to harmonize ancient earth based knowledge with creative visions for the future.
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Central American Outreach Coordinator: Lucy Dale comes to the Women of the Americas Sustainability Initiative as our Central American Outreach Coordinator with a passion to help create strong partnerships between individuals and organizations throughout the Americas. She is originally from the United States and currently lives and works in Nicaragua where she supports community development projects around housing construction and service learning. Lucy has a passion for permaculture and environmental education that began during an internship with EcoVida Sao Miguelin Brazil. She has also worked with rural communities in Honduras. In college, Lucy focused on Latin American Studies and Portuguese, and spent a year in Brazil where she furthered her trilingual language skills. Capoeira, Son Jarocho and playing soccer are a few of her many passions.—
Latin America Coordinator & Multimedia Storyteller: Alixa Garcia joins the WASI team, bringing her strong collaborative connections with communities across Latin America. She is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Climbing PoeTree, an internationally renowned activist, multimedia theater, and spoken word duo out of Brooklyn, NY. She is Co-Director and Co-Producer of the award-winning theater production and national organizing strategy “Hurricane Season: The Hidden Messages in Water” which featured over 200 environmental and social justice organizations and toured over 11,000 miles on a bus that runs on recycled vegetable oil. Her visual artistry can be found in her mural paintings and clothing line, across NYC, Cuba and Jamaica. Alixa received Best Director and Best Script at the 2009 Reel Sister’s Film Festival for her short, “Unnatural Disasters & This Great Shift In Universal Consciousness.” She has traveled to over 70 cities, presenting workshops and performances in over 500 venue with powerhouses such as Angela Davis, Alicia Keys, Amiri Baraka, Erykah Badu, Alice Walker, The Last Poets, Danny Glover, Mary Robinson, Vandana Shiva and Dead Prez among others. On a mission to overcome destruction with creativity, Alixa is highlighting the imaginative and powerful solutions that live amongst us.—
Multimedia Artist: Naima Penniman: A multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional artist, activist, and educator committed to social, environmental, racial and sexual justice, planetary health and love expansion, Naima Penniman joins the WASI team out of her passion for women-led initiatives to restore balance and activate healing in a world struggling with conflict and destruction. Naima is co-director of Climbing PoeTree, the internationally-acclaimed performance duo that uses art as a tool for popular education, community activism and personal transformation. She, alongside Alixa Garcia, has stirred 1000 crowds in more than 80 cities alongside visionaries such as Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, Vandana Shiva, Angela Davis, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Danny Glover, and The Last Poets. Naima is the founder of Ayiti Resurrect, a collective of artists, holistic healers and community builders with bloodlines in Haiti and the African Diaspora, working in collaboration with local Haitian organizations in an effort to address the psychological, spiritual and emotional healing of the survivors of the 2010 earthquake.—-
Grants Coordinator: Amber Lynn Munger’s passion for Haiti began with her first trip there in 1997. She later received her B.S in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina – Asheville and began a career in environmental policy and climate change for the Environmental Defense Fund. Seeking a better understanding of the effects of poverty, Amber earned a law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, focusing on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Amber’s work in Haiti has included disaster relief, presidential election observation, case work on human rights claims, community organizing, advocacy, and facilitating foreign learning groups. She has worked with peasant groups and salt workers in the desertified region of Anse Rouge where she founded her own organization in partnership with peasants working toward social change. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, Amber organized local, Haitian-led relief efforts and fought to give voice to Haitian people within the humanitarian relief system. Since then, she has been working in partnership with engineers, local Haitian government, salt producers and women harvesters to develop sustainable business models for salt production and improved Haitian health. She continues to play a leadership role in directing the Article 29 Organization and the smooth functioning of its tree nurseries and women’s programs. She looks forward to bringing support to WASI through grants.—-
Operations Manager: Kristen Aldrich joins WASI as part of the operations management team. She holds a BS in Communications from Northeastern University, years of experience working in higher education administration, and an MA in Environmental Conservation Education from NYU. Through her graduate studies, Kristen found her interest peaked in sustainable agriculture. After completing her Masters, Kristen volunteered and interned with organic farms in Oregon, California, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, exposing her to sustainable practices and permaculture design. She feels that a sense of community and open information/idea sharing is important to personally connecting to our food and to the earth. She has relocated to Asheville looking to work in sustainable agriculture/sustainable living in such a way that engages, educates and empowers communities.
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Photographic Bookmaker: Erica Mueller joins the team as a professional Photographer who will be developing a photographic book series based on the women, communities and projects of WASI. Erica has a passion for living a life of inquiry and adventure, capturing moments with her camera, and seeing the powerful stories that photos tell come to life on the printed page. As a freelance photographer, Erica’s work has been published in books and numerous magazines. It has taken her around the world and driven her to create photo projects that delve into the depth of our human experience. More recently, through living in the mountains of Western North Carolina and learning about natural building and living sustainably, Erica has discovered an even deeper connection with the earth and its people. She is excited to continue on this path by working with as many cultures and communities as possible, sharing traditional knowledge and wisdom, all the while documenting, through her lens, the beauty and magic of this life we all share. Erica’s work may be seen at www.ericamueller.com.
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Social Architect: Jodi Lasseter brings her expertise in transformative organizing to the behind-the-scenes logistics of WASI. Originally from the mountains of North Carolina, Jodi has pursued her commitment to gender and environmental justice through extensive community-based work in East Africa, South America, Western Europe, Mexico and throughout the U.S. Deeply committed to linking local, national and global movements, Jodi played a key role on the organizing team for the first U.S. Social Forum, and has worked extensively with indigenous peoples’ organizations spanning the nine countries of the Amazon Basin. She currently is the Program Co-Director at Spirit in Action, where she coordinates two national networks–the Education Circle of Change and Emerge—and facilitates trainings with a wide array of grassroots organizations.
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News & Social Media Coordinator: Ryan Van Lenning is excited to join the Kleiwerks International team as News & Social Media Coordinator. As a writer, advocate and communications professional, Ryan works with a variety of environmental, social justice and sustainable food nonprofits. He is a founding board member of a permaculture-based food-justice organization called Planting Justice in Oakland, California and received a permaculture design certificate from the Regenerative Design Institute in 2011. His writing has appeared in Ecolocalizer, Oakland Local, Terrain: California’s Environmental Magazine, Global Exchange’s Climate Justice blog, Ethical Traveler, Food First, Truthout, Matador Change, and Huffington Post. Ryan strives to live by the three principles of earth care, people care and fair share. He believes that men of privilege should be allies for women’s movements and is happy to be working with the Women of the Americas Sustainability Initiative. As much as he loves online communications, Ryan spends as much time as possible wandering in the wilderness, gardening and scuba diving.
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VOLUNTEERS
Director’s Assistant: Gillian Scruggs joins the WASI team as the Director’s Assistant, helping to keep administrative business in order at Kleiwerks International’s headquarters in Asheville, NC. Gillian is a recent graduate from UNC Asheville with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish. She has spent time studying, teaching, and living in Chile and Argentina, and is deeply passionate about the importance of sustainable agriculture and the power of women in the future of our world. While WWOOFing on an organic farm Cordoba, Argentina, she discovered KI’s website and promised herself to get involved. Gillian works as a part time Spanish tutor and as a coordinator for UNC-Asheville’s Campus Recreation Department. She loves languages (especially Spanish and Portuguese), making connections, gardening and white water kayaking.
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Technology Consultant: Frank Jones is eager to assist Kleiwerks International as the technology consultant. He has been a student in the fields of computer science, electrical engineering, computer programming, networking, and the culinary arts. After changing majors many times and studying everything under the sun, he finally completed baccalaureate studies in philosophy and political science at UNC-Asheville in 2010. Spring break 2009 and 2010 were, respectively, each spent working with Habitat for Humanity in Hattiesburg, MS and volunteering at local orphanages in Montero, Bolivia. During each of these trips, he experimented with blogging as a way to engage a larger audience and open political discourse. Frank looks forward to completing graduate coursework in Transatlantic Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill in May of 2012 with a thesis on information technology policy. This thesis is now being written using the blog-to-book format as a continued experiment with political and scholarly blogging. In addition to his thesis, Frank writes on a variety of topics for Debtors Unite, Demand Studios, Associated Content, and Jones PC Repair. He is always looking for new adventures in education and travel which is why he spent the second year of his masters studies at UPF in Barcelona. When he’s not behind the keyboard you will usually find Frank behind the lens of a camera.
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Grant Writer: Nadine Hamby’s interest in agriculture and sustainable living began while growing up on a farm in Washington state. She earned BA degrees in Communications and Fine Art from the University of Washington. After graduation she became a VISTA volunteer and provided design assistance to low income community groups in Los Angeles. She worked for the County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks in Seattle for several years and was the volunteer editor for her community newsletter. She moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 2006, works for a solar energy company and is excited to be a part of WASI.
