On October 29th, 2019 Dr. Choman Hardi, CGDS’s founder and director, read some of her poetry, spoke about gender inequality in the Middle East, and highlighted CGDS’s activities, goals, and needs to an audience of about 50 people in New York. The dinner, which was entitled “On Storytelling for Social Impact: From the Classroom to the Community,” was organized by Mr. Faisal Al-Juburi and funded by Ms. Jan Warner, CGDS’s patron, who provided seed money to start our center in 2015. Ms. Warner also serves as one of CGDS’s Fundraising Champions. In conversation with Dr. Choman was Ms. Christina Lowery, the CEO of Girl Rising, a global movement for girls’ education and empowerment.
The event was attended by women’s rights activists, artists, academics, and representatives of various foundations and organizations. Some of the attendees were Dru Menaker, the COO of PEN America; Alicia Adams, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts’ Vice President International Programming; Kayce Freed Jennings, the co-founder of the Documentary Group and former ABC producer; Susan and Peter Osnos, who established PublicAffairs Books; Catherine Filloux, the co-founder of Theatre Without Borders; Amar Bakshi, the founder of Shared Studios Portal; Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, the senior education advisor to Mayor DeBlasio; Keli Goff, the Emmy-nominated journalist behind Netflix's documentary "Reversing Roe;" Jill Campbell, co-founder of the theater production company Seagull Ink; Ellen Chesler, Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute; and Waidehi Gokhale, CEO of Soliya.
Of the event, Dr. Choman said: “It is brilliant to be able to forge connections with good women and men who are working through activism, art, education, and policy to advance gender justice. I am grateful to CGDS patron and my good friend Jan Warner for providing this opportunity.” This event is one of many activities that Dr. Choman participated in during her ten-day advancement mission in D.C. and New York.
Photo Credit: Peter Roessler (@shootmepeter).