Being “real” is the new perfect. Social media is bursting with memes of lazy days with sweatpants and pizza, in celebration of “imperfections” and minor slips of willpower. We’re told it’s okay to be human, and yet, why do all these women gobbling gorgeous looking cupcakes look so damn perfect? Then there are the accounts that only highlight vibrant green juices, or elegant yoga poses, or perfectly-plated raw meals, and its like, do you ever just eat a brownie that isn’t date-sweetened, gluten-free and low glycemic? We all strive for wellness, but sometimes it can seem like a never-ending pursuit – always in sight but never quite there. In comes the GOOD Fest.

The GOOD Fest helps women to realize that they can still be health-conscious and enjoy a tall stack of gluten-heavy pancakes. This one-day event features a plethora of wellness topics, breakout sessions, yoga, and a supporting community of experts and like-minded attendees.

It all started in a coffee shop when the founders Kate, Jen, and Jess, decided to curate the “The. Best. Day. Ever for a wellness-lover.” Each of these dynamic women came to wellness after leaving their established careers in the marketing and restaurant industries. Now, they work as bloggers, yoga instructors, and health coaches.

Kate, Jen, and Jess are thrilled to host the second GOOD Fest at the Hudson Loft in Los Angeles on February 3, 2018, to share their love of wellness with four hundred women from around the world. People are traveling from the East Coast, as well as other countries, to attend this empowering festival. To keep the conversation relevant and intimate for everyone, each attendee has been assigned one of five unique wellness tracks. Each track addresses various wellness interests through its specific breakout sessions and panels.

“This day is designed to give you a taste of multiple facets of wellness so you can find what works for you. It might be crystals or it might be an inspiring career talk – our goal is for everyone to walk away from this day feeling inspired in some way,” said the founders.

Although the tracks are unique in themselves, each includes a yoga session with a local instructor, a veggie-centric lunch courtesy of Sweetgreen, time to shop the marketplace of wellness vendors, and of course, a concluding cocktail hour to mix, mingle, and make new friends. Plus, everyone will receive an epic swag bag loaded with healthy goodies from over a dozen festival partners – like Hu Chocolate, Nektar, and Rebbl. 

Attendees can look forward to hearing from prestigious speakers who are both knowledgeable yet relatable. Panelists include Sophie Jaffe of Philosophie, Katie Horowitz of Women Against Negative Talk, Jordan Younger of the Balanced Blonde, Lynn Chen of The Actor’s Diet, and so many more. The panels are packed with nutritionists, powerhouse female entrepreneurs, natural healers, and successful creatives.

If you’re getting the “woo-woo” vibe, its true, some opinions may be considered a bit out there. There is a discussion on crystals, and you are likely to hear the words “high vibrations” and “energy,” and perhaps even a few “the universe has your back”s. However, the founders ensured that all feel welcome, no matter their beliefs.

“In the end, it’s all knowledge, and you can do with it what you’d like. Maybe you’ll brush it off, or maybe it will be the thing that inspires you and changes your life.  We have speakers covering everything from living a more eco-friendly lifestyle to taking charge of your sexual health – so if you’re anti-woo – woo, no worries, we’ve got you covered too.”

The most important role of the GOOD Fest is creating a safe and nurturing space to foster a wellness community and personal growth. “If there’s something we’re most proud of, it’s being a place for people to truly connect & support each other,” said the founders. They hope to inspire the attendees to continue on their wellness journeys, no matter where they are, and support them when they feel less than perfect.

“We all have each others backs as we navigate and define this wellness space for ourselves. We aren’t ashamed that that we love a good burrito and IPA as much as a green juice and a Kundalini class. When we are real about our own lives, it creates a safe and accepting space for [attendees] to share theirs!”

There are still a few spots left. If you’re interested in wellness, or even just looking to meet a new friend or two, tickets and the full agenda are available here.

Tanya Flink is a vegan, foodie, and certified Master Personal Trainer based in Orange County, CA. She is also the host of the podcast, “The Vegan Potluck.”

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The post The GOOD Fest Celebrates Your Wellness Journey (and Its Imperfections) appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnThe New York Times recently published an article about how female empowerment is basically meaningless. Why? Because companies have figured out how to monetize it and turn it into a “feeling” women can buy.

Jia Tolentino penned the piece that’s quickly gaining momentum on social media because she gets it — and that it is the reality that big brands have latched onto modern feminism and women’s desire to claim their individuality.

The article points out that empowerment, at its heart, is truly amazing. It was used to describe how the oppressed could overtake their oppressors, “In 1968, the Brazilian academic Paulo Freire coined the word conscientization, empowerment’s precursor, as the process by which an oppressed person perceives the structural conditions of his oppression and is subsequently able to take action against his oppressors,” Tolentino writes. “Eight years later, the educator Barbara Bryant Solomon, writing about American black communities, gave this notion a new name, empowerment.”

And in 1981 the term evolved again. “Julian Rappaport, a psychologist, broadened the concept into a political theory of power that viewed personal competency as fundamentally limitless; it placed faith in the individual and laid at her feet a corresponding amount of responsibility too.”

So, what does empowerment mean now? Tolentino bitingly describes it as a theory that is “applied to the needy while describing a process more realistically applicable to the rich.”

And she’s right — empowerment is now a product that’s sold to the less-than-wealthy female masses. That’s why companies sell pink-washed products and think that using hashtags like #StrongIsTheNewSkinny is totally okay.

Tolentino writes about more than a few brands that have effortlessly co-opted this once “empowering” word:

Aerie: the American Eagle lingerie brand sold a lot of product because of its #AerieReal campaign. This campaign was known for its lack of Photoshop and use of slightly larger models.

Dove: The personal care brand is incredibly well-known for its #RealBeauty campaign featuring women of all shapes and sizes.

TEDWomen: this sub-sect of TED is all about the power of women.

Forbes Women’s Summit: its hashtag is #RedefinePower.

Now, no one is saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing that women are generally using the phrase empowerment more. But when any word is monetized its authenticity begins to diminish.

Getting women who may never have thought about what empowers them before to do so isn’t bad — even if those thoughts are sparked from watching a Dove ad. The real problem is that corporations that aren’t exactly ethical and don’t consider women when sourcing or producing their products are making these ads to spark a need for worthless stuff. (And let’s not forget all the men at the top of many of these companies, too.)

Luckily, there are plenty women from all walks of life who embody what female empowerment really means. And if authentic messages keep getting play, perhaps they can up-end all this corporate feel-good crap and create a new definition of women’s empowerment that can help a new generation.

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Some corporate version of female empowerment via Shutterstock

The post Everything Has Cash Value, Even Female Empowerment: #NowWhat appeared first on EcoSalon.

A look at what it means to be a father’s daughter. 

I recently spent a few days on a road trip with my father. Dad and daughter road trips aren’t really common when you’re in your late twenties. In fact, to my knowledge, they’re not really that common at all. But they should be.

When I was in middle school my father proposed our first “D&D” (the nickname for what he deemed Dad and Daughter adventures), a road trip to Yosemite during spring break. We proceeded to have a D&D on every single spring break until I graduated from high school. We have had two “reunion” versions since I graduated from college. That’s what you call commitment.

Before I learned how to walk, I was dragged up mountain passes in a child carrier. When I was 8, I was on the back of our tandem bicycle, pedaling 200 miles from Seattle to Portland, and at 15 my father was placing a copy of Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey into my hands. To say that my father was attempting to instill a sense of adventure in his daughter would be an understatement.

But what he also did was made a lifestyle of pursuing the things that I wanted and enjoyed doing completely achievable, not because I was a girl or a boy, but simply because I was a person, and people have passions. He didn’t put me on a soccer field and a volleyball court because those were girl sports, he just knew I needed to burn some energy off and if he showed me a variety of options I would eventually choose one that I felt good about. In turn, I felt supported, and as cliche as it sounds, really did think that I could do anything that I wanted. The whole “girl” thing wasn’t even part of the equation.

In a world of commercialized gender roles, girls grow up inundated with gender specific messaging, from pink princesses to Snooki. How do we raise empowered daughters that embrace the beauty of being a woman but also believe that they can do anything they want to do, even in a world that’s often inhibited by gender roles? There’s no simple answer to that question, but it certainly starts with being there.

Take Alice Ozma and Jim Brozina for example.

When Ozma was in the fourth grade, and her parents had just gone through a divorce, her father made one simple commitment: to read to her every single night for 100 days. If you have listened to the NPR story on the father daughter duo, you probably teared up. The story is touching and moving, and a tribute to the best of father daughter relationships, and the power of simple actions. After 100 days, the two were so addicted, they stuck to it, keeping up a tradition that lasted for 3,218 days, taking them all the way up to her first day of college.

As Ozma told NPR, “I don’t think fathers and daughters are spending time together every night.” It’s not just every night though; parents and children, and especially daughters, aren’t spending a lot of time together at all.

This hadn’t occurred to me until I started talking about father-daughter relationships with friends of mine. Many of them are strained, most are non-communicative, and few would be defined as close. With my own father-daughter relationship put into perspective, I have in turn grown more and become more appreciative, acknowledging how much that relationship has come to shape me.

I look at that relationship and wonder how much of my father’s and my relationship is “good” or “close” because we have both been intentional about making a concerted effort to build a bond. Whereas I will pour my heart out to my mother, I am more reserved with my father, but I am good about going to him for advice that I know he is happy to give.

He’s the one who can analyze my recent half marathon time and what intervals I should be trying to get to, when I need a map, he’s the first person to call and if a friend has a car problem, it’s like having a personal mechanic on a direct line. In other words, he is always there. Present. Providing direction, but letting me take the lead.

He does the same, knowing what works with his daughter and what doesn’t, never having pushed me to do anything I didn’t want to do (volleyball won out over soccer), never once bringing up the fact that I was a “woman in a man’s world” and never pushing for too many personal details. We have a bond because we have a mutual respect, and that isn’t because he’s my father and I am his daughter, it’s because he has raised me to value community and connection, and that personal relationships take work.

It takes a lot to raise a daughter. I know that not because I have one, but because I am one. And we live in a strange world; on one hand sexualizing gender at an ever earlier age and then on the other, doing everything we can to take away a woman’s rights, stripping her of her ability to stand up for herself and take control of her own life. We are so protective and full of Victorian values that we don’t end up teaching what healthy, committed relationships actually look like.

Navigating these modern day waters is anything but easy, but it’s also essential.

Want to support your daughter? Be there. Every time. Even when she fails. Honor who she is and what she is passionate about. Teach her the importance – better yet, the necessity – of love and self-respect. Instill the kind of values so that you know she’ll make good decisions without your oversight, because too much oversight and she’ll start doing the opposite. Remind her that she is smart, beautiful and powerful, not because she is a woman, but because she is an amazing human being.

And take her on road trips.

The post An Ode to the Father Daughter Bond appeared first on EcoSalon.

Life on two wheels. 

What’s better than sharing a spin around town? Eva and Mela from Allthatiwant take part in ride-sharing in Cologne, Germany.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures to contact@ecosalon.com.

The post On the Move: Cologne, Germany appeared first on EcoSalon.

Life on two wheels.

A bike and shoe combination spotted in Portland, Oregon reminded us of this quote:

“The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.” –Ann Strong, quoted in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1895.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures to contact@ecosalon.com.

The post On The Move: Portland, Oregon appeared first on EcoSalon.

Video“I think art can change society.”

In 2010 Ommulbanin Shamsia Hassani took part in a workshop organized by Combat Communications in Kabul, Afghanistan. She learned the art of graffiti and brought her work to the streets of her city. This inspiring video produced by Kabul at Work, serves as a reminder of the power of art to empower an individual and its potential to create change in a society.

The post Video: Who is the Graffiti Artist? appeared first on EcoSalon.

The bonds of women can be empowering at any age.

Only in my early 20s did I learn the global importance of International Women’s Day with streets full of women around the world coming together in solidarity. This day is about empowerment and equal rights.

The 2012 theme is “connecting girls, inspiring futures,” which has gotten me thinking about all of the inspiring connections that surround us every day. In my everyday I come into contact with female colleagues and friends, all that are passionate about what they do. They are writers, filmmakers, doctors, lawyers, humanitarians and vagabonds, and every single thing in between.

What does it mean to be a woman? A lot of things.

I think about my mother and her friends, the generation ahead of me. My mother once reminded me how special my group of female friends was. “I didn’t get an empowered, strong group of female friends like that until later in life. Appreciate it.”

It’s true. It’s important to take time to appreciate the special bond that women have. It’s what solidifies friendships. It’s what brings you into the embrace of a circle of women on the other side of the world even when you don’t speak their language. It’s the overwhelming sadness that you feel when you hear stories of rape, genital mutilation and slavery. It’s what inspires you to teach, to give and to love, not only the women you are closest with, but the ones you have never met.

Some strong women in my circles have given me some good perspective lately, and in honor of them and their constant support, here are 10 thoughts for International Women’s Day about what it means to be a woman and what it takes to build a movement, to be stronger and to continue pushing boundaries.

1. No matter where we are, we are a community. Embrace it, take part in it and honor it.
2. We must make time to thank the mothers, aunts, grandmothers and neighbors that raised us to be independent and loud-mouthed. We rarely turn down a fight.
3. Live. It doesn’t make a difference where you are and who you are with, find the space to keep breathing and celebrating the ordinary.
4. We are free and do have the power of choice. Keeping that power is our right.
5. We all have a passion. The most powerful thing you can do is find it and encourage others to do the same.
6. Appreciate what you have. If you have your health and your spirit, make sure you act so that others can do the same.
7. Never take each other for granted. We are all fragile beings, treat one another with respect and compassion. Always.
8. Learn balance. We all need time to breathe, and sometimes we need to make compromises to ensure that we continue doing so. This is necessary.
9. You are enough. You can always push yourself to be better and do more, but remember that who you are right now is what counts.
10. Your global community needs you. Your voice, your written word, your physical being; it’s all valuable. Use it wisely.

Image: Anna Brones

The post Honor, Inspire and Advocate for Women…Everyday appeared first on EcoSalon.

Advocating for women, one story at a time.

Today we’re celebrating International Women’s Day, a day that has been observed since the early 1900s. In Afghanistan, Cambodia and Zambia, and several other countries, it’s an official holiday and around the world thousands of events are held to inspire women and celebrate achievements.

It’s a day for honoring the women around us – our mothers, our grandmothers, our daughters, our sisters, our friends – and those farther from us- the single mother that lives across the street, the school teacher that fights so that her female students learn to read, the girl on the other side of the globe that dreams of being a doctor. Today is a day for celebrating all women, but also remembering that advocating for them is a daily affair.

We devote a lot of our content to highlighting the successes and struggles of women around the globe. Here are our top 11 to get you thinking about what it means to be a woman, what it means to advocate for women and what a future with strong, empowered women around the globe will look like.

8 Women-Run Businesses

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Female Journalists Report from the Frontlines

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The Story of Stuff: A Conversation With Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard is an inspiration to men and women alike, and has dedicated her life to telling the stories that will help us build a clean, green, healthy, safe community for everyone.

Women Learn How to Fail At Work in Grade School

Want to empower women? Start with girls. What they learn at an early age has a significant impact on how they perform and succeed later in life.

Parents Opting for Abortion or Adoption in Light of Economy

Women who are having abortions and placing their children up for adoption aren’t who we think they are. They’re mothers.

5 Stories of Girls Pushing Boundaries and Effecting Change

These five examples prove that change begins with the next generation, and these girls are doing it.

6 Funny and Intelligent Women That Make Us Laugh and Think

Tina Fey, Molly Ivins, Mindy Kaling; this list of female writers is one that inspires us and moves us to speak out more.

Women Investing in Change for Other Women

Women don’t always put their economic power to drive social change. Imagine if they did.

Sexual Assault Victims Speak Out to Empower Themselves

Speaking out about sexual assault lessens the stigma, empowers victims and can encourage more women to come forward.

Sexting and Cyberbullying has Harsher Consequences for Girls

Technology has given us new ways to communicate, and with it exacerbated the messages of mass media.

3 Issues Women Around the World Confront in Common

No matter where we’re born or where we live, as women we all confront confidence, victim-blaming, and strength in some way or another.

Image: mckaysavage

The post Celebrate International Women’s Day With 11 Stories About and Inspired By Women appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sometimes, the solution is as simple as a bicycle.

Girls who stay in school for seven or more years marry four years later and have two fewer children. Countries where women’s share of seats in political bodies is greater than 30% are more inclusive, egalitarian and democratic. Two-thirds of the 130 million children worldwide who are not in school are girls.

There is an indisputable need for investing in and empowering women. Given the global scope of the issue, that task is daunting. Yet a solution as simple as a bicycle can make – and is making – a meaningful, measurable difference.

This year, 88bikes Foundation, a nonprofit organization that gives bikes to kids in developing countries, is launching its sixth and most ambitious project, Asha 2012. With the help of the Nell Newman Foundation, Asha 2012 will endow bicycles to thousands of girls around the world, from Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia.

The project was inspired by a bicycle endowment 2010 that took place at the Bihar Ashram in India, a shelter for girls who are survivors of sexual slavery. Sheltered by Free the Slaves for several months before reintegrating back into their communities this ashram provides a safe haven and a place to transition back into society after a gruesome reality. At Bihar, the 88bikes team met Asha. After six months at the ashram, Asha, which means “hope” in Sanskrit, reintegrated back into the same community from which she was sold. The story was so moving, she later became the namesake for the organization’s current project.

The goal for Asha 2012 is to provide bicycles to girls who have endured and transcended similar situations of slavery and abuse, in turn empowering them to take part in their communities, attend school and grow as strong women.

“We’ve found that girls tend to appreciate the bikes more and demonstrate greater maturity [owning the bicycles]. Women and girls deal endure and transcend tremendous abuse and unequal rights, especially in the developing world. We believe focusing on girls has the greatest overall impact on the community. We want to do everything we can to foster leadership and healing among heroic girls who’ve risen above challenging circumstances beyond their control,” says 88bikes co-founder Dan Austin.

Bicycles can be an excellent catalyst for empowering women, in all kinds of communities, as writer and cycling advocate Eleanor Blue points out. “Bicycling is a great economic equalizer especially for women. Women worldwide tend to have more domestic work than men, and bicycling when it can be an alternative to walking and transit is often safer, cheaper and makes things like school and working outside of the home possible where they might not otherwise be.”

Not only a tool for economic and social empowerment, having access to a bicycle often achieves a very simple, but powerful, goal: inducing a smile. “A bicycle is a tool of happiness and autonomy. With a bike, your world instantly expands,” says Austin.

At a first glance a bicycle might not appear to be the key tool for solving international development challenges, but consider all the elements that it brings together – transportation, education, health, etc. – and it becomes clear that at a grassroots level, two wheels could be one of our most effective ways forward when it comes to empowering women and making significant and long-lasting change.

“The 88bikes model is refreshing and effective,” says Nell Newman of the Nell Newman Foundation. “It empowers women though a grassroots and somewhat radical approach. Bikes are such a fantastic, low cost way to expand an individual’s freedom – freedom to move, freedom to do commerce – and receiving one will make a profound difference to these girls who have transcended so much already. We are happy to be supporting their efforts.”

If we are to bridge the gender and economic gap around the world, it will be imperative that individuals and organizations consider programs like these, as they deal with larger, more complex equality issues on a personal level. “Asha, our namesake for this project said that the bicycle ‘helps me feel equal to men,'” says Austin.

That isn’t just a feeling, it’s a reality. “Gender and equality starts with children. Often girls in many places are not always able to go to school, especially if they have to travel a long distance, and bicycling can bridge the gap, quite literally, between male and female education,” says Blue.

88bikes is currently accepting sponsorships of $88 per bike for Asha 2012. Donations can be made online at www.88bikes.org. Donors are asked to email a picture of themselves, to be presented with the bike. In return, 88bikes sends back a photo of the child with her new bike and her donor’s picture.

Images: 88bikes, Lynsey Dyer, 88bikes

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