Richmond Women speaking the unspoken outloud
The G** Word Participants' Bios
Sheila Arnold
Master Storyteller Sheila Arnold has been gifted by God with performance skills and has been using this talent since she was eight years old. She has been a full-time Storyteller since 2003 sharing a variety of stories - “whatever fits in her mouth”. She travels throughout the country providing Stories, Historic Character Presentations, Christian Monologues and Professional Development for Educators to schools, churches, libraries, organizations and Storytelling Festivals. Sheila is often interactive and many times intersperses stories with song. Sheila did a variety of jobs prior to fulltime Storytelling - a Colonial Williamsburg Manager and Theatrical Interpreter, Social Worker for aggressive adolescents with emotional problems, an in-house Residential Counselor, a tour guide, pizza delivery person, Executive Assistant and Receptionist. Sheila currently resides in Hampton, VA.
Denise Bennett
Denise Bennett tells original stories, folktales, and sacred stories interlaced with harp and vocal music. Performing and teaching in schools, churches, libraries and retirement communities, she has also been a featured teller for the Williamsburg Storytelling Festival and the Virginia Storytelling Alliance Gathering. With a BFA in Drama – Speech and a Master of Divinity Degree from Union Theological Seminary, Denise leads workshops in basic storytelling skills, Biblical storytelling and healing stories and spirituality. A published writer, poet, and composer, in 2011 Denise released her first CD of original and traditional stories and songs entitled “Lost and Found.” Denise will be a featured teller this summer for “The Best Storytellers Festival” in Richmond.
“Denise Bennett is a storyteller and a musician of exceptional talent. Her work is timeless, and flawless. Her work reminds us of the love that dwells in the deep heart’s core.”
~master storyteller Elizabeth Ellis
Learn more at www.storiesbydenise.com
Camille Adams
Camille Adams is a Richmond, VA psychotherapist returning to the written word to save her sanity. Adams graduated from VCU in 1993 with a degree in English and worked in her early career with outsider art publisher Gates of Heck. In 2002 her career fully transitioned to psychology with the completion of a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology (from the Jesuits) at Boston College with positions at a methadone clinic on the edge of Boston's Southie neighborhood, Chesterfield County's Community Corrections Services, VCU's Counseling Center and a private practice, Create Positive Change,LLC begun in 2012.Camille Adams is a Richmond, VA psychotherapist returning to the written word to save her sanity. Adams graduated from VCU in 1993 with a degree in English and worked in her early career with outsider art publisher Gates of Heck. In 2002 her career fully transitioned to psychology with the completion of a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology (from the Jesuits) at Boston College with positions at a methadone clinic on the edge of Boston's Southie neighborhood, Chesterfield County's Community Corrections Services, VCU's Counseling Center and a private practice, Create Positive Change,LLC begun in 2012.
Jeannette Drake
Jeannette Drake offers spiritual guidance, advice and prayer support nationwide to individuals in or approaching crisis. In her current mission, GrapeVine Ministries - established in 2010 - she combines five decades of background experiences and post graduate training. She is a retired psychotherapist (LCSW), grounded in spiritual study who uses her creative writing and visual arts’ gifts. The author of poems, short stories, essays, letters and memoir holds an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. She also worked as a coveted writer in K-12 classrooms from 1980 to 2011. Her eclectic writings appear in Callaloo, Obsidian, The Southern Review, Xavier Review, Honey Hush! African American Women’s Humor, Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady, www.disabilityworld.org, Tough Times Companion III, Richmond Free Press, The Book of Hope and The World Healing Book, The Sun Magazine, Coloring Book: An Eclectic Anthology of Fiction and Poetry by Multicultural Writers, Black Magnolias: A Literary Journal and Chickenbones: A Journal, among others. Her books Journey Within:A Healing Playbook and Promise: Inspirational Fantasies (an e-book) were published in 2005 and 2011. She has conducted dream and expressive art workshops for adults of all ages in non-traditional settings. Ms. Drake has received awards and fellowships from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative arts, the Hurston /Wright Foundation and the Leonard E.B. Andrews Foundation. Her current work in-progress is a memoir, Far as the Eye Could See, for which she hopes to find a publisher.
Annette Kahn
Annette Khan, who is originally from Nebraska and accepted Islam in the late 70’s, has lived in Richmond since 1988. She is actively involved with the Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond (ICGR) and supports opportunities for education and dialogue between people of different faiths, cultures and races as one way to prevent conflict. As a member of the Interfaith Council’s Speaker’s Bureau, she has given presentations to various church and school groups about Islam.
The RVA Peace Festival, which began September 2004, is co-chaired by Annette. She is looking for additional team members to help plan the 10th RVA Peace Festival, scheduled for September 20, 2014 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. She is a former board member of the Richmond Peace Education Center, and also participates in many events/programs of the Asian American Society of Central Virginia (AASoCV).
Sarah Beck-Berman
Jackie Merritt & Resa Gibbs of M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio
Sarah is the Cantorial Soloist at Congregation Beth Ahabah, where she helps lead services and teaches in the religious school. She earned her BA in Religious Studies from VCU, and is currently a Student Cantor in her second year of the Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal ordination program. Her life-long immersion in Judaism serves as a springboard for communicating with people of all religions and beliefs.
Dhruti Rathi
Dhruti Rathi is an MBA finance and SAP Consultant. She is currently self- employed as a director of CreativeSAP Inc. She is also actively involved in investment portfolio management in USA and Overseas. She teaches about Jainism to kids of the Jain community and has spearheaded the Children's Activities and Pathshala(Religious School) in the HIndu Center of Virginia Temple. She also publishes the monthly Newsletter for the Community. Her goal is to focus on living the Jain Way of life on a day to day basis via thoughts deeds and actions and to imbibe good values from all religions to move to a higher spiritual level.
