Empowered Women International

Cross posted from the EWI We the People Blog:

"I Found My Soul in a Parking Lot", $800

Nadia Janjua is a practicing Architect and professional Artist based in the Washington, D.C. area, working under the business name NJARTitecture. Born to Kashmiri-Pakistani parents, Nadia grew up in the forested mountains of Western Maryland with her three siblings, strongly influenced by the solitude and beauty of her natural surroundings. She started drawing before she could write, and she started painting with oils in adolescence. Over the past fifteen years, she has explored different paint mediums, photography, graphic design, ceramics, and printmaking, eventually spending the majority of her time on nurturing her painting ability.

Nadia is inspired by the challenge of capturing potential, nuance, and nostalgia in all of her works. Through her paintings and her architecture, she explores narratives of her past, present, and future in the hopes of not only processing her own life journey, but striking the viewer to reflect more deeply on their own personal narratives.

"Mode" $2000

Her architectural design focuses on the multi-sensory experience of space, encouraging the inhabitant to go beyond just the visual sense and become an active participant in creating the experience with all of their senses. Similarly, Nadia’s paintings involve a history of layers where line, shape, color, and texture come together to provide an elevated experience of harmony and meaning to the viewer. Her work has evolved from producing rendered images of landscapes and scenes from the East, to abstract painting, incorporating both Western and Eastern parts of her identity.

Nadia has been exhibiting her work professionally since 2002 throughout the United States, and more recently, internationally. She has numerous works commissioned by private collectors, and has contributed annually to charity, fund-raising and auction events for different causes.

In 2010, she was invited to attend the first ever Marketplace of Creative Arts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sponsored by the

"Resuscitation" $300

World Islamic Economic Forum, and selected to moderate a panel of artists discussing “Identity in the 21st Century: Investing in the Future of Creative Arts.” In 2011, Nadia was selected as the Coordinator of Muslim Women in the Arts, an international network of approximately 500 creative individuals, and curated their debut art exhibit “Healing & Empowerment: Violence, Women & Art” in Silver Spring, MD, in April 2011. She is currently in the process of starting her own non-profit organization called Muslim Women’s Creative Empowerment, a collective of creative individuals raising awareness of women’s issues through empowering artistic expression.

View all of Nadia’s work for the We the People Project 2011.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we will be featuring a new We the People Project 2011 exhibiting artist.

Cross posted from LocalKicks:

Photo by Lauren Garcia

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - Alexandrians, otherwise known as the most generous online-giving citizens in the country, once again did not disappoint during the Spring2ACTion challenge between May 5 – 7.

Spring2ACTion, an online fundraising initiative of ACT for Alexandria and ACTion Alexandria during the Spring for Alexandria event, exceeded its $100,000 goal by raising $104,156 for Alexandria non profits.

Forty-eight Alexandria-based nonprofit organizations benefitted from this massive grassroots effort through donations from 1,265 community members. Roughly 75 percent of the donations came from Alexandria citizens, with the remainder coming from matching grants.

Alexandrians representing nonprofits and other civic organizations were happy with the Spring2ACTion results.

Marga Fripp, executive director of the nonprofit Empowered Women International, thanked the Spring2ACTion initiative “for making philanthropy accessible to all” and raising funds for their mission of teaching business skills to artistic and creative low-income, immigrant, and refugee women.

“No small donation was too small in this campaign,” said Fripp, whose organization received a $5,000 grant for receiving donations from 150 separate donors throughout the three-day event. The Art League of Alexandria received a $2,500 grant for bringing in donations from 139 donors, and The Center for Alexandria’s Children won a $1, 000 grant for receiving donations from 104 givers.

ACT for Alexandria executive director John Porter thanked the Alexandria community for supported the effort, calling Spring2ACTion an “an exciting opportunity for Alexandria nonprofits.”

Likewise, Tracy Viselli of ACTion Alexandria, added, “It was inspiring to see Alexandrians respond to our challenge to increase local giving with such enthusiasm and generosity. When we all pitch in and work together, it’s amazing what we can accomplish as a community.”

Thomson M. Hirst of the Mason Hirst Foundation in Alexandria agreed, adding, “When everybody helps, everybody benefits.”

Nina Randolph, chair of the Healthy Families Alexandria Resource Development Committee, remarked how the community came together, saying, “We’ve wanted to do an online fundraiser for years and you gave us the opportunity. It brought synergy and excitement to our group. It was tremendous.”

Thank you to everyone who attended, donated to, and sponsored Women Back to the Future last night! A special thank you to our Board Chair Kate Campbell Stevenson for an amazing performance.  All the proceeds from last night’s event will go towards our goal of raising $5K to help us cover the cost of the Entrepreneur Training for Success Program in Montgomery County.

From the tickets sales, donations, and sponsorship we raised $1, 775!  We still need to raise $3,225 to meet our goal of $5K.  If you were unable to attend Women Back to the Future  but would like to help us reach our goal and provide self-sufficiency to local immigrant, refugee, and low-income women by making a donation.

Thank you to our event sponsors Gold Works, Moneta Prose, and In Focus Foundation.

About Women Back to the Future:

Women Back to the Future is an inspirational musical journey through the lives of History’s Famous Women,
Abigail Adams, Rose Crabtree and Bessie Coleman.

The performance starring extraordinary actress and activist, Kate Campbell Stevenson, is a must see and
an inspiring performance for all ages!

Experience three dynamic women in this innovative one-woman musical; three women from American history and the engaging talents of our amazing ambassador for women’s empowerment,

About Kate Campbell Stevenson:
With over 25 years of professional experience in music, theater and education Kate Campbell Stevenson brings to life women with “can do” attitudes through song, monologue, poetry and sign language.

Clever onstage costume and make-up changes transport participants through history.

Thanks to your generosity and amazing outpouring of support over the past 3 days of Spring2Action Alexandria, EWI raised approximately $13,920. We raised $5,920 and three matching gifts of $1,000.

We also came in first place as the organization with the most number of unique donors 159, which brought us an additional gift of $5,000. Yay!!!

No job or gift was too small in this campaign, and everyone’s actions made a great difference. This was absolutely a powerful grassroots philanthropy effort, and one that gave voice to everyone who made a gift of $10 or more. Each gift regardless of its size led to an extraordinary outcome.

Big things seldom come along. But collectively small acts can add up to great things.

It was very inspiring to team up with all of you and lead this campaign, and to engage with each of you in raising funds to empower and transform women’s lives.

Heartfelt thanks to all our ACTion heroes: each of you who donated and encouraged me throughout the campaign, the Board and Advisory Board, our beneficiaries, my amazing colleague Shannon Lynberg for working long hours to keep our members engaged, the extraordinary team of ACTion Alexandria: John Porter, Brandi Yee, Tracy Viselli and many others for working tirelessly to mobilize the Alexandria community and raise funds for great organizations.

Their efforts resulted in 937 participants, $76,323 + matching grants, which translate in more than $100K funds raised over the 3-day campaign.

Way to go Alexandria and keep on believing in the power of good and the potential we all have to act as heroes for our communities.

PLUS Our WINNER for the Mother’s Day Spring2Action Raffle is Barbara Williamson. Congratulations, Barbara!

She will be receiving our gorgeous hand sewn pink floral apron created by our artist entrepreneur, Velma Crawford. Velma is currently in our Entrepreneur Training for Success and she is receiving mentoring and coaching from great designer and entrepreneur supporters of EWI.

Because of your overwhelmingly positive feedback on Velma’s aprons, we’ve added more aprons to our online gift shop. Check them out and find the one you love! Send us your feedback. We also take custom orders, just email us.