Diva Maverick Mavens

Phenomenal Woman a Poem by Maya Angelou

 Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing of my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Elizabeth Gilbert Eat Pray Love Author on Creativity

Diva Maverick Mavens Powerful Woman Quote

"By thought the thing you desire is bought to you but by action you receive it." Wallace Wattle

Diva Maverick Mavens Powerful Woman Quote

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."  Mark Twain

Christina Domecq Million Dollar Midas Touch at 20 and Bicycle Racer

Christina Domecq is the Co-Founder and CEO of SpinVox. For nearly a decade, Christina has founded and run three businesses in technology-based and management services. In 2006, she won the prestigious Ernst and Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year and the Ernst and Young Science and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year and also serves on the boards of several businesses.

 

You have a dramatic childhood. How did you handle losing your mother at such a young age?

 

Christina Domecq

From my early teens when my mother died from cancer and I took over the responsibility for raising my five younger siblings I have been very driven to push myself to the limits and live life to the maximum every single day. I embrace every opportunity that comes my way and give 100 percent effort to everything I do, every time. 

                     
How did you care for your 5 siblings at this time?

Christina Domecq

Being the eldest of six I had to play a large part in raising my five younger siblings. There's nothing that can prepare you for that so all you can do is be creative and innovative in your approach to meeting that challenge. This was probably the best preparation I could have for my professional life - any apprehension about starting a business paled in comparison. It's also true that the buzz you get from building something that could change the world - even if it means devoting yourself to it 24/7- can't be beaten.

Who supported you when you were going through these challenges? Would it have made a difference if that support wasn't there?

Christina Domecq

I have an amazing family network. And my siblings are an incredible source of support. I can't say if not having that support would have changed who I am today. Thanks to that support I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved both in my personal and professional lives.

It seems that you have been a serial entrepreneur from the start. Tell me what kinds of businesses you have had and at what ages and in which countries?

Christina Domecq

I started my first business in technology-based services in New York at the age of 20.  This company, NHWC, provided IT services and training to some of the world's largest corporations, including Kraft, Nabisco, Pepsi, Pfizer and Kodak. As CEO and owner I employed over 120 staff with a turnover in excess of $14 million and sold the business in August 2002.

My next challenge, aged 25, was to turn around a luxury yacht brokerage business in Spain. After a year I sold the business, achieving a six-fold increase in value, through a private sale.

While still running the yacht brokerage I got the inspiration for SpinVox and incorporated the company in the UK in 2003 at age 26.

 

What lessons did you learn from being an entrepreneur at such an young age?

 

Christina Domecq

I learned, like many entrepreneurs, that the business you start at the beginning is not the business that is necessarily going to be brought to market. SpinVox started out selling our service direct to the consumer  and, having proved the concept, we found the real value of the service is making it available through carrier networks and on unified communications platforms. Recognizing what the true market opportunities for your business are and having a solid team with you to evolve the business is truly what makes the difference for success.

What was expected from you as a Domecq family member? What was your mental environment? Who supported you? Who was your champion?  

Christina Domecq

My family is the same as every other family - we all want the best for one another and to pursue the things in life that are our passion. I have always been incredibly driven - and my siblings have been my biggest supporters. And, having 5 siblings - I had a lot of champions!

 

What inspires you?

Christina Domecq

                                                                     
I've always been inspired by people that chart their own path and make a positive impact on the world. Bill Gates is someone I greatly admire on this front. He not only changed the way we interact with technology in our daily lives, the Gates Foundation's philanthropic initiatives around the globe have inspired countless others and raised awareness of the impact even the smallest contribution can make in the health of those in developing nations and war torn countries. In sport, my ultimate hero is Lance Armstrong who conquered cancer to become the greatest cyclist ever. 

I'm told that you are a philanthropist. Why orphanages in Africa? What draws you to helping children?

Christina Domecq

I've always been interested in helping people - be it underserved children or budding entrepreneurs trying to get their start. Always bitten by the entrepreneurial bug I'd run lemonade stands to raise money for charity as a child. Several years ago I became involved with the Ubombo village in South Africa, helping fund an orphanage in which houses 150 children, in an area beset with poverty and HIV. In addition to housing, the orphanage provides a safe haven for all children in the area and offers education classes to children of all ages from those barely old enough to walk to those in their teens. 

 

I've recently started work on phase two of what I like to call the Ubombo Journey, including partnering with SaveTheRain.org to build rainwater collection systems to bring clean water to the village and initiatives such as a bakery and pottery business that will help create new revenue streams for the community.

Tell me about the Race Across America bike race?

Christina Domecq

RAAM has been on my radar for quite some time. Every year, I set my sights on conquering a new goal - usually involving an extreme sport or endurance event that pushes my personal envelope further.  And for 2009, I decided this was the year I would conquer RAAM.

Known as the ‘world's toughest bike race',Race Across America brings together more than 50 solo and team riders to complete a grueling 3,000 mile ride from California to Maryland. The course runs from California to Maryland across some of the harshest terrain and weather conditions known to man. I'm riding this year's event with my riding partner Ian Rolls and we've set a couple goals for the race such as beating the record for the fastest mixed team finishing time - eight days or less, and raising $500,000 for ACCION USA to provide microloans and business training resources to microentrepreneurs in financially underserved communities. 

All in all I expect RAAM to be one of those great life experiences that define who you are as a person. 

I hear you are up every morning at 3AM to ride. What is your philosophy behind having a 22 mile ride every week for your execs?

Christina Domecq

I've long been active in extreme sports. In addition to the marathons (including NY on a number of occasions) and triathlons around the world in which I've competed, I also never pass up an opportunity to ski or climb mountains, sail, surf or fly (I have a helicopter pilot's license). This is a lifestyle choice for me. I believe that fitness of mind goes with fitness of body. This applies to both my professional and personal lives.. My philosophy is that everyone is at their best when driven, and I encourage all my team to over-deliver and to amaze themselves.

What does "Clip in and Climb on" mean? How does this philosophy relate to mountain climbing?

Christina Domecq

At SpinVox we use mountain climbing as a theme that underpins our cultural values and ambition.  It's about ascending steep, sometimes unexplored terrain with a team of highly trained and courageous climbers and guides - making our way together around ice falls, avalanche-prone ledges and going places no one has yet dared.  Our simple mantra is to "clip in and climb on", achieving together what others thought impossible. 

I think the thing to do is to constantly set yourself new challenges and push the bar ever higher as you do so.  It helps if the challenges appear frightening at first, that way you'll constantly surprise yourself at what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

Tell me about your experience in 2002 when you were climbing Mt Blanc in Chamonix, France and met Daniel Doulton who was taking a year out of the technology business to run a paragliding school?

Christina Domecq

Some people you are just destined to meet. While on holiday in 2002 I was climbing Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France and struck up a conversation with Daniel Doulton who was taking a year out of the technology business running a paragliding school there. While working together on a business partnership in Spain and spending a day running around from meeting-to-meeting we had the `eureka` moment in 2003 for what became our company SpinVox. 

Have you ever taken a year off to play or explore your options as Daniel did?

Christina Domecq

Because my professional life has been as an entrepreneur I have been charting my own course since my first business at age 20. I truly enjoy what I do - and have always believed in a work hard, play hard philosophy. I enjoy each day to the fullest and because of that I have never taken extended leaves between my professional ventures.

What has been the most inspirational of all the journeys you have taken abroad? And why?

Christina Domecq

 

My travels to Africa and visiting the people of Ubombo (KwaZulu Natal region) has been incredibly inspiring. The joy of the people and the beauty of the region is so wonderful to experience. Through this I became involved in helping build an orphanage in the village. Because of lack of adequate medical resources and high mortality rates many children in the KwaZulu Natal region are left without any family. And thanks to local caretaker Dawn Irons, today the orphanage also provides early childhood education to children in the area. It's been incredible to see the impact the orphanage has had on the village and has inspired me to work with the local community on other initiatives for the village such as clean water and revenue building opportunities.

I understand you support SpinVox also sponsors a series for people involved in extreme sports and athletics such as an Olympic canoeist, an ulramarathon runner and a Lisboa-Dakar race driver? Tell me about this too?

Christina Domecq

 

At SpinVox we enable people to speak freely - say what you mean, in the moment without having to sit down to a computer and type out the words. Inherently the filter between the head and hand in typing the words takes out the dynamic nature of speaking your thoughts as something happens. Since I know first-hand the wide range of emotions that go through an athlete's mind whether they are a father/son team trekking to the North Pole, or a Beijing Olympics canoeist wanting to share her experience of competing with family without being censored, or an ultramarathon runner making his way  across America, or even the disappointment of the Lisboa-Dakar race driver waiting to start the race only to find it has been cancelled at the last minute, The dynamic of them sharing the experience with their followers in the moment is incredible. It is the premiere example of why SpinVox was developed and how it facilitates communication. 

If tomorrow were your last day on earth what would you like your friends and loved ones to say about you? What would be on your epitaph?

Christina Domecq

 

They would say I lived life to the fullest and gave 100% every day. And my epitaph would probably say "She Clipped in and Climbed on!"

Tell me about SpinVox? How did you get the idea? What challenges do you face running this company? What does it take to run a company like SpinVox? What attributes are the most important?

Christina Domecq

The moment of inspiration came in 2003, when I received 14 voicemails in one morning and asked: "Why can't I get my voicemails as text?". Daniel and I did a lot of research to find out if such a service existed and amazingly it didn't. So we saw an incredible opportunity to create a new market - voice-to-text - now on five continents and more than 125 million users.

Challenges with any new company is capital - raising the first $500,000 for the company was probably the hardest (we've since gone on to raise over $200 million). From there building the team to execute the vision and creating a strong company culture were paramount to getting the growth of the company on the right track. Hiring the right people is the most important attribute for a company and has been the key to making SpinVox such a successful company so quickly.

To keep the company moving forward it takes a commitment to innovation and openness to new ideas. SpinVox employees are our greatest asset - I continue to be amazed at the fresh thinking and ideas my team brings to the table. And it is wonderful to have the company recognized by organizations such as the World Technology Forum as a Technology Pioneer in 2009. SpinVox is a true team effort and I am so proud at what we've accomplished in a relatively short period of time.

What advice can you give to other women entrepreneurs?

Christina Domecq 

 

The most important thing when starting a new business is not to lose sight of what you are trying to achieve. It can often be very tempting to suddenly take your business in new directions if that appears to be an easier option. At SpinVox we often remind ourselves that we do one thing well - convert voice into text - and that drives our direction constantly. And, you should always be able to summarize you business in 30 seconds, otherwise I don't believe you have a business, so that should help focus too What is vital is to use past experiences and trusted advice to help guide you, mentors are invaluable - you should learn from their mistakes and advice to ensure you realize the full potential of your new business.

What are your thoughts on having a coach or mentor, yes or no? If yes, how do you choose the best fit? Why do you recommend having a mentor or mentors?

Christina Domecq

 We aren't born with all the answers - we have to go out there and find them. Mentors provide an invaluable sounding board and objective perspective; and I have found it advantageous to have mentors both within and outside of my industry to share ideas, challenge my thinking and discuss all sides of business building.

Like anyone, I'm constantly learning from situations and experiences, and over the years I've found that listening to your trusted senior management team will also ensure that the right decisions are made, which will benefit the business.  As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, but as CEO you have to accept that the final decision will always fall on your shoulders.

If there is anything else you would like to mention please do...any future projects you would like to talk about?

Christina Domecq  
 

 

Looking to the future I am excited at what the next year holds for SpinVox - as the company that Daniel and I started in 2003 continues to grow and expand in ways that no one could have ever anticipated.

And in closing I'd like to impart the importance of balance in one's personal and professional life. As I mentioned earlier I work hard and play hard - both are very important to me. This week for example my company signed the biggest deal in our history - switching on 12 new carriers across Latin America and expanding our service to more than 125 million customers - and that would absolutely be cause for a glass of champagne and a relaxing weekend by the ocean. But that's not me - rather than kick back and relax, I want the next challenge. On June 20 I will be riding with my racing partner Ian Rolls in the 3,000 mile Race Across America to target raising $500,000 for ACCION USA - and I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing to  celebrate my company's success!

Angelia Miller is the founder of Diva Maverick Mavens www.divamaverickmavens.com a new bread of feisty, non-conformist adventure loving adrenaline-high entrepreneur. The tag-line is: Empowering Women by Interviewing Empowered Women...Inspiring "You" to Take Action! Casting exceptional dynamic talent for fresh content is the mission of Diva Maverick Mavens. The interview is in the original transcript form with minimal editing to preserve the purity of the content received from Christina Domecq, her staff and Farrell Talbot Consulting. 

Website:www.spinvox.com

Celebrities Wear Mary Fanaro's OmniPeace Fashions for Peace

Mary Fanaro, former event producer turned fashionista and humanitarian entrepreneur, founded OmniPeace, a L.A. based fashion brand that donates 25% of its profits to promoting peace, education, human rights and ending extreme poverty in Africa by 2025. Fanaro conceived the idea in 2005, while watching Live Eight, a string of benefit concerts created to highlight the urgent need to address global poverty. Fanaro has worked with celebrities Courtney Cox and model Naomi Campbell and she has a large celebrity following which includes: Jennifer Anniston, Sheryl Crowe, Alisha Keys, Eva Longoria, Gwen Stefani and Kimora just to name a few. www.omni-peace.com

Photos and video on Diva Maverick Mavens are provided courtesy of Mary Fanaro and permission of Sabina Ptacin Red Branch Public Relations.

Angelia Miller is the founder of Diva Maverick Mavens www.divamaverickmavens.com a new bread of feisty, non-conformist adventure loving adrenaline-high entrepreneur. The tag-line is: Empowering Women by Interviewing Empowered Women...Inspiring "You" to Take Action! Casting exceptional dynamic talent for fresh content is the mission of Diva Maverick Mavens. The interview is in the original transcript form with minimal editing to preserve the integrity of the content.

Can you tell us about starting your career as an actor?

Mary Fanaro

I'm from Miami originally. I was going to film school at the University of Miami. I was in a film writing class and my teacher asked me to go and audition for a film a friend of was doing. I said, "But I'm not an actress." He said, "I know but I want you to do this as a favor." Consequently I got the part and really never stopped working so consequently didn't have to go back to school which nothing made me happier. That was the time when all of these films and Miami Vice sort of descended upon the city and they were revamping South Beach so it was a really fun time to be apart of all that.  

What got you into acting?

Mary Fanaro

It was really that incident. I wasn't sure what I wanted to study when I went to college and to be honest all the classes that started later in the afternoon were the film classes so those were the ones I wanted to go too. One p.m. classes I'll take those and the rest just sort of fell into place. Once that teacher asked me to audition for his friends film I kept working. One thing lead to another job and then another and Miami came to be the place to work. I wouldn't say for serious acting but commercials were coming from everywhere and then Miami Vice. I must have done so many episodes of Miami Vice. It was a lot of fun and then I did a movie of the week with Courtney Cox and that's how I moved out to Los Angeles.

I know that Courntey Cox was instrumental in your recovery from Ovarian Cancer. How did you handle recovering from Ovarian Cancer and chemotherapy?

Mary Fanaro

If someone had of told me what was going to happen ahead of time, the picture I had in my mind of what my life would be like after I got diagnosed was completely the opposite of what happened. I got diagnosed 2 weeks before I launched OmniPeace. I launched Omni Peace June 12, 2007 and started at 8 PM. The very next morning 12 hours later 8AM I started chemotherapy. I really didn't have much time to be honest with you to think much about what having cancer meant to me because I had worked on this company for 2 years before I had launched it. Everyday I lived and breathed it and nothing in my entire life had ever made me happier. The fact that OmniPeace was about to take off was so exciting for me albeit the news was untimely. I just showed up for what I had to do. I showed up for my chemo. I'd be in my office everyday working. I was having enormous gratitude for my experience because I was fighting for people who don't have health care or even water to drink. Their fighting for their lives and fighting to stay alive. I have health care and friends and family and great doctors and new modern medicines. Ovarian cancer is  sort of under the radar for a while; it was not like Breast cancer by any stretch of the means. It was sort of a new cancer and I was stage 3. It was pretty far along and uh so I felt like the company really saved my life. It was an interesting dichotomy and not one that I thought it was going to be like at all.      

What did that mean to you to know that you had friends and family that cared so much and deeply for your health and your well-being?

Mary Fanaro

It's unusual because I've never been one to feel comfortable with an enormous outpouring of love. It's hard for me to sort of embrace that so clearly on this level. In the beginning, it was uncomfortable and then when I realized it was OK to be loved and it was OK to take all of this great affection and concern from people once I opened up to that; it was unbelievable. It was really a turning point in my life cause I had always been so standoffish to anything that was extraordinarily emotional. I also had an incredible boyfriend that I had only been dating for 4 months. I said to him, "Your barely my boyfriend and your not my husband. You can leave if you want to.I wouldn't ask anyone to go through anything like this." He said, "If we have to climb Mount Everest, we're going to climb it together." So, that was pretty extraordinary for me between him and Courtney who found me some great doctors--none of which I would have been able to find without her. She got on the phone and made some calls to people that may take a while to get into but she got right in. My first doctor said to me look your going to sick for the next year and you just need to right off your life. When your not at home getting sick your going to be in the hospital getting sick. I looked at my boyfriend that was in the room with me and I was like this is not my doctor. How could someone dictate to you what your life was going to be like? Who knew if I was going to get sick or not going to get sick? There was another doctor I wanted to get into to see and I tried and tried and I couldn't Courtney sort of made a call to somebody else and that person made a call to somebody else that made a call and I got a call that asked me if I could be their at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. And so, yes, it's nice to have those kinds of friends in those situations. I ended up having a wonderful doctor and my experience was nothing like what that other doctor said. I was fortunate enough to barely get sick. I gained 20 pounds which is an unusual thing to do on chemo because you tend to lose weight. I ate all my favorite foods for my whole life all the time and I worked out and I swam almost everyday that I could. You get something call neuropathy from the chemo and I thought that if I kept moving and did something that made me feel good everyday. I tried to make my life as normal as possible and continued to do the same things that I did before. My boyfriend and I went to dinner and traveled. You know you are supposed to travel because they don't want you to get on planes and stuff but your just extra careful. It's not about being a superman but an effort has to take place because your body is getting thrashed. You've gotta keep healing your body and feeding until the next chemo. Everyone's cycle is different and you have a small window of time to recover and get your body together before you have the next session.   

How are you keeping a balance between OmniPeace and your personal life to stay healthy?

Mary Fanaro

I have a pretty good routine that I follow everyday. I'm a woman that loves routine. If you mix meup and take me out of my safe pocket I get all befuddled. I'd wake in the morning. I'd go to the gym and workout. I'd come home, work most of the day and have meetings most of the day. I have to be honest it doesn't feel like work. I don't feel like I am working. I feel like I'm blessed to love what I do. It's not even like this is work so I have to take this time off to relieve the stress. Nothing makes me happier than to be in my office going over new ideas, campaigns with my assistant and my licensing agent. What are we going to do and how are we going to raise money? Who else is doing what we are doing and can we partner with them. It's just collaborations with people who are trying to do really cool and innovative, entrepreneurial things. It's easy for me to balance it.      

How did you get the idea for OmniPeace?

Mary Fanaro

I'd been to Africa early on in my twenties and it struck me. It had a heavy impact on me. I wasn't quite ready to be philanthropic yet. There was something inside of me that said I would have to come back to Africa somehow and I had no idea how or or when or why. And almost 20 years later I was producing events in the entertainment industry and I just did the ten year anniversary of the Hard Rock hotel for my friend Peter Morton who owned a hotel in Vegas. I woke up Monday morning and I thought I can't do what I have been doing for one more second. It was such a definitive moment in my life but what I did know is that I had a talent for getting a lot of people in a room that the rest of the world paid attention to and listened to. I thought well what if I could be the vehicle between them and something that I love for them to get behind and involved in. Celebrities have an enormous ability to change the world just because of who they are and I think what Bono is doing is amazing today. Bono and Angelina whatever you want to say about any of those people. It is extraordinary the attention they have brought to people wanting to be philanthropic and humanitarian. Shortly after my decision to make a change, I was invited to Bono's "One" campaign and I thought that was a great campaign. He wasn't asking people for any money. He was using celebrities to do a campaign for people to raise awareness about Africa and African deaths. One thing lead to another and I met with a girl who had produced that campaign and we were trying to come up with an idea to start a company. We were at a friends house and I saw a chocolate bar. It was called the Endangered Species Chocolate Bar and it donated 10 percent of it proceeds to endangered species. I wanted to start a chocolate bar company and we had the logo on it and we were going to call it a peace of chocolate bar. One thing led to another and a friend of mine said forget it. Your never going to raise any money off the margin of a chocolate bar. Get that logo on t- shirt and get on celebrities and see if it even sticks and that was 2 years ago. Clearly it done a lot more than just stick.   

I was reading that you had a lot of help with launching that from Courtney Cox and Naomi Campbell?

Mary Fanaro

Naomi launched it for me at "Scoop" in the Meat Packing district in New York and Courtney launched  at "Kitson Men" in Los Angeles.  

When you went to Africa, had you ever seen poverty like that before? Was there a story about that experience?

Mary Fanaro

No. Never. Never. Well, I was really on Safari so I hadn't expected to see anything other than animals. The guide we had he was from there and his father was from there and one day he took us to what I think they called little refugee camps. There was a family of six living in these tiny, tiny I don't even know what you would call them and they were naked with there noses running and no food. The guy who was our guide would bring extra food from all of the people he would take on Safari. We had cooks cooking for us everyday and we didn't eat everything but unbeanosed to me they were taking the food to these people. I was blown away. I couldn't believe it. My grandfather many many years ago started a company called Archer Daniels Midland and today it is one of the largest agricultural companies in the world. I thought to myself. I'm apart of this family and without them we don't eat and yet why can't we figure out how we can take some of that a help feed other people. There are so many resources we have access to and I just couldn't understand why we can't figure out a way to share some of that. There are boats off of the Ivory Coast that could bring in food and I thought it was that uncomplicated but obviously not. I tried to make that happen but everyone patted me on the back and went that such a cute idea.

How do you overcome the that's so cute objection to your ideas?

Mary Fanaro

You know it's not even that so much anymore. It's why Africa? Why not here? You have your own people here that are in trouble. And I also get what your trying to do is never going to happen. Africa is so far behind. I don't look at the bigger picture. What I look at is today and one human being. That's all I can sort of grasp in the moment. In Africa, you have women who have to carry machine guns to protect their family. There are women that are being raped and men that are being burned to death and they are just fighting for their rights-normal natural human rights. The government declared genocide but does nothing. It's still going on. Twenty-eight thousand children die everyday of illnesses that are related to poverty. I think it's every 30 seconds an African child dies of Malaria. I don't hear statistics like that here in the United States so those are sort of my answers when people say why Africa. Africa is what I'm passionate about. Somebody that is doing something for the homeless in Los Angeles I think is great. I just happen to be doing something that pull on my heart strings. It all goes back to that passion thing. We all have to do that thing that we are most passionate about because that is the thing we are gong to do the best and that's the impact we're going to have the most. I say if that is something you think is important than you need to find a way to address that problem because there is not enough people in this world to address all of these issues and make it a perfectly happy and peaceful place. God knows we call all try and I don't know a better healing power or a more peaceful place to live in when your heart is about giving and helping other people. It sounds like a cliche but I've lived it and I understand it to be truth.  

It looks like you are donating 25% Millennium Promise with Jeffrey Sachs to promote peace, education and human rights.

Mary Fanaro

My first year in business was all about Millennium Promise. I had researched when I first started the company. I didn't know where the proceeds were going to go and I had researched Ox band, Red Cross and Bread for World Institute and all these places. They seemed so big and at the time all I had was a chocolate bar. I was thinking what organization was going to care about my little piece of chocolate. I had read this article in the front page of the LA Times about Jeff Sachs and his work was so extraordinary and seemed like the most progressive of anything I had read up until then. I just thought I'm going to try to get in touch with him and say that I just want you to be the recipient of 25% of these chocolate bars and I'll also get some great press out of them which will help you. He couldn't have been more grateful. I went to meet with him and his team. Not for one second did he make me feel like it was a pat on the back. It was we think this is completely innovative and we love this. Jeff had invited me to a big dinner. It was like the President of Rwanda (or some other country) and other influential people were working with him. We put the chocolate bars on the tables and he said it's people like this and this chocolate bar that really make a difference in the world just by being innovative and entrepreneurial and coming up with different ways to get people excited about what it is that we are doing. Of course that whole thing turned into a whole apparel line and that poor little chocolate bar has yet to get off the ground.               

How did you segue from chocolate into fashion and that logo is brilliant?

Mary Fanaro 

The logo was designed by this guy Joe Patruccio. The girl I was going to originally open this company with he was the Godfather to her children and he came up with that thing in a day. Initially the logo was going to the like the number 1 so it was going to be the number 1 over the continent of Africa because originally we wanted to collaborate with the "One" campaign then in the 11th hour we thought, no, we want to do this all on our own. We were all sitting around trying to think what are we going to do with this logo and this guy in the back of the room held up 2 fingers and suddenly the number 1 went to a 2. That's what I mean by: Passion is God's will for you. In that moment, you could tell that the stars were perfectly aligned because it was so simple and the logo was 100X better because it was a peace sign over Africa instead of a number 1 over Africa. I told Jeff Sachs that I was going to donate 25% of the profits to him. The press that I got the first year of the business was extraordinary not only for OmniPeace but for Millennium Promise. Jeff and his wife are like my biggest fans and their like family. Every time we go to New York we all have dinner. His daughter Lisa is about to get married and he invited me to the wedding. They're extraordinary people and I am grateful and honored and blessed that I am able to be small part of what they're doing. I'm able to bring different things to the table. I did an event with them with CAA which one of the biggest talent agencies here. Jeff came out and spoke at CAA which made a significant donation to him and then I through an event for him afterwords at my boyfriend's restaurant. I also come up with different ways to raise money for whoever my partner is that year. 

What are the new projects that you have in store?

Mary Fanaro

The new campaign this year is Stamp Out Violence Against Women and Girls of the Congo. I partnered with a woman by the name of Andrea Kerzner who has an organization called Art of Humanity. She goes into shelters refugee camps and schools in Africa and gets them to draw things. She'll give them a piece of paper and ask them to draw 3 pictures their life before your incident, the incident-- whether it's a child being attacked or boy soldiers being taken off to war at a young age and having to kill and then the third picture which is about their hopes and dreams after the incident. If someone told you to draw your definition of hell it would be that and a 100X worse. You couldn't come up with this stuff when you think what a kid today ought to be drawing. These were the most graphic pictures I have ever seen drawn by children and so we took those pictures and arranged them into a collage because we couldn't put those images on a t-shirt. The images are so visually horrific that we put the collage inside the body of the OmniPeace logo and the back of the t-shirt is the story of a girl who is now apart of a movement called "Turning Pain into Power." The hang tags on the t-shirts are doubling as call to action post cards addressed to the president and that is why the campaign is "Stamp Out Violence." All you have to do is tear off the hang tag and put a stamp on it and send letter to President Barack Obama urging him to pass legislation to stop the war which is essentially over these minerals in the Congo which run all our cell phones and computers. You can get these minerals in other places but we go there because it's so cheap. Twenty five percent of those proceeds will go to UNICEF and Eve Ensler's organizations: Peace over Violence and V Day.   

How are you able to get support from A-listers in Hollywood?

Mary Fanaro

I will say that some of it is from my friends and most of them it's taken on a whole life on it's own. I have been incredibly, incredibly lucky. I think that if we are talking about the same show I had no idea that, that was going to happen. Hugh Laurie wore an OmniPeace t-shirt on the premier of House and I knew the producer of the show so that was a little different; Some of them I know and work with to get on particular shows. Haden Christensen was in my t-shirt and David Beckham at a Lakers game a while back and I had nothing to do with that. Sharon stone was wearing a t-shirt in the Atlantis in South Africa. Courtney is one of my best friends for 20 years, Jennifer Anniston and Sheryl Crowe--all my good friends. There are a lot of people on the celebrity page and I had nothing to do with that thank God. You don't want to keep going back to your friends to keep wearing the same stuff. They get tons of stuff to wear all the time. People are wearing the stuff because they love it and it's cool and they like what it represents. It means I'm doing my jobs. There wearing it because they like it and they've heard good things about it. 

Tell me about the Kitson Primary School that OmniPeace supports?

Mary Fanaro

I went to the Kitson Primary School and told them listen you've been my biggest supporter donating all the proceeds from the sales of the t-shirts. Let's match my donation and build a school together because you deserve have something that is a testament to all of hard work as much as I do. I went to Senegal and we broke ground on the school. It's an amazing organization called Build On. You give them the money and in 7 weeks they go from sand to stone and you have a school. I will  hopefully do it again. 

What kind of advice can you give to women who may have a dream that is similar to yours?

Mary Fanaro

When you want something bad enough in your life and your passionate, there isn't anything that can stop you. There are no obstacles. There are just challenges and everyday is a new testament to how much you want to fight to get what you want because there is always going to be money that you need to getting it going or getting it started. There will always be people that are naysayers. People will say, "Everybody is doing that. Why do you want to do that." There's a great quote by Albert Einstein, "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." I live by that. I think you have to do what you love because that will make you the healthiest and happiest and if you do get the opportunity to do that then you are incredibly blessed because not everybody gets to get up go to work and love what they do. Just give it a shot. I was going to start a chocolate company and sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you think it's going to be but when you are on the road to something good; It may swerve to the right and make a U-turn every once in a while but it will always lead you to where you're supposed to be going. You've gotta have that tenacity, that will power and that stick-to-itness that gets you through. There will always be excuses as to why you can't do it. There is nothing that we can't accomplish when we put our minds to it. Sometimes our minds can be our biggest adversary and our biggest asset. When your mind, body and heart are all in sync then there is nothing that can prevent you from having what you want assuming it's not a Ferrari, ha ha ha--assuming it has a philanthropic aspect to it.   

Here is the link to the audio link: http://www.divamaverickmavens.com/main/podcast.html

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Dana Romanoff Documentary Photojournalist and Multimedia Specialist

Dana Romanoff is a Documentary Photojournalist who has traveled around the world with her multi-media company photographing women and telling their stories through compelling narratives. The visual and emotional strength of her message will inspire you to take ACTION and change your world. www.danaromanoff.com

Photos and videos on Diva Maverick Mavens are provided courtesy of Dana Romanoff Photography.

Angelia Miller is the founder of Diva Maverick Mavens www.divamaverickmavens.com a new bread of feisty, non-conformist adventure loving adrenaline-high entrepreneur. The tag-line is: Empowering Women by Interviewing Empowered Women...Inspiring "You" to Take Action! Casting exceptional dynamic talent for fresh content is the mission of Diva Maverick Mavens. The interview is in the original transcript form with minimal editing to preserve the integrity of the content.

How did you get started in the documentary photojournalism?

Dana Romanoff

I guess I started with an interest in the people around me and the world. I especially had an interest in people's lives who aren't necessarily represented in the media as much or who don't have a voice in the mainstream. That was always an interest and when I went to college I devised my own major in cultural studies contemporary issues in society about race, class and gender. I started off doing more written work, ecological and ethnography work. I always loved photography work as well so photography was always on the side. I would use the photography in the ethnographies as well but it was not the main focus of my work. Over the years it became obvious that you can become a visual storyteller and became to more drawn to visual storytelling and to the image. I love speaking with people, interviewing  people but I also like capturing people in a picture because a picture can speak across languages.

Tell me about your background as a journalist?

Dana Romanoff

Well I've been working at newspapers as a photojournalist and staff photographer. I went to graduate school at Ohio University school of visual communications in 2002 to study photojournalism. I was always do written work but I was trying to combine more visual work and photography into whatever I was doing. I went to visit Ohio University and was accepted into their program for photojournalism and spent two years there learning to be a photojournalist. I was learning how to do visual story telling, how to be a reporter and how to make powerful images. While I was there I received some internships and after I graduated I worked at the Free Lance Star at Fredericksburg, VA which is about 50 miles south of D.C. It's a smaller community paper of about 46,000 people of daily readership and really got involved in community journalism and telling stories and meeting interesting people locally trying to make a difference and working those skills of working with journalist. I was honing those skills of having to go out and make an image on a deadline, how to tell a story on a deadline, having to find the story and having to gain people's trust and allow people to open up to you. That was a great experience and then I worked for the Charlotte Observer which was a bigger newspaper but similar because it was community journalism and working with reporters and finding issues. I also had the freedom there to go out and meet with different people and kind figure out what's the buzz and what's happening. What are the issues we need to be reporting on?

How do you manage to gain the trust of the people you are working with?

Dana Romanoff

I think that is one of the important things in my work and I'm glad that it shows. You have to form a relationship with the people that you are working with and to do so they have to know that you are really interested in being there. Let's be honest and say why you're there. People open up with people they think really care about them and want their lives to be better and want to tell their stories. At the newspaper because of the deadlines, I wasn't able to spend as much time. In my long term contracts, I spent a lot of time getting to know the people, living with families when I travel some place. I live in the community although I am an observer. As an outsider, I try to become an insider as much as possible. I think it makes the pictures so much richer.  

How much time are you spending in these communities to bring about the powerful stories that you are telling?

Dana Romanoff

One of the example would be "Wife of the gods" which was in Ghana, West Africa. It is about a controversial practice of the traditional religion of the Elway people. I was there in 1999 doing an undergraduate semester abroad. I was studying in Ghana and I heard about this practice where women and girls are brought to shrines to atone for the crimes of their ancestors and their made into Trokosi or wife of the gods. It's a controversial practice because people were saying that those girls and slaves to the shrines and enslaved to the priests and are abused forced into marital and physical labor. I went to the village because I was curious so I went to the village as a feminist, journalist, curious person and photographer. I went to chief and the village and told them that I am a student. I want to study and really find out what is happening in their village and ask them if they would accept me. They were hesitant at first but accepted me because I went in a very humble fashion bowing down to the chiefs and saying that I'm here to learn and I'm here as a student. I lived with a family for about a month and half doing written research and just getting to know the culture and the people. I stayed in touch with them and I kind of published my research and they were happy with my finding because they found it to be truthful. I always stayed in touch with the people and few years later when I was in graduate school I received a grant to go back and photograph the project so I was accepted back because they remembered me from before and remembered that I had done truthful work. I had 4 months to photograph so time was on my side. It's rare to have that much time to work on a project. For the first 2 weeks I didn't really take pictures, I walked around with a camera, taking pictures of a cute child or something and funny faces just to let people get comfortable with having me there. And then I started to pick up the camera and it just became an extension of my arm, people didn't really notice that I had the camera and didn't really do anything different. I was taking so many pictures that people's attention span is only so long that they can't just stand there and pose for you they're going to have to get back to their daily lives and you keep photographing them.

What inspires you? Where do you get your ideas and leads from? What inspires you to follow the story?

Dana Romanoff

I guess from all over. For that particular case, I was studying in West Africa and was riding a bus and reading a newspaper and I saw 2 different editorials. One saying these women are queens and the other saying these women are slaves and that kind of struck a cord. I was interested and went there to investigate. I love coming up with story ideas and I love speaking with people and surrounding myself with a diverse group of people which enables me to learn more about what is going on in people's lives and not live in a bubble. Newspaper articles can inspire me. Movies can inspire me. Talking to neighbors and talking to people I wouldn't normally talk to, to see what's is going on. One story that I did was on the survival of burlesque and that was in 2005. I just use this as an example of how I come about a story. I was living in Athens, Ohio working on another project called in search of peace in 2003 and it was after 911. It just felt like we were living in such an anxious mindset in the world, the country and people were filled with anxiety and fears. It was the culture of fear so I wanted to know how people-- other people were finding peace in their life because it was getting to me. I was going around photographing different retreats or different ways that people were finding peace in their lives. Ideas can come from anywhere.

Where are you getting the research for your ideas or are you getting it from the subjects?

Dana Romanoff

The majority from the subjects themselves. I also like to have historical background and speak with different anthropologists that have worked on the topics. Any other news stories that have been done and any other research that has been done. With the stories I'm telling I hearing the voice from the people and with multi-media you can literally hear the people speaking and then I narrate the story from that. But the research comes from speaking from other anthropologists in the field. 

How are you able to gain their trust in order to get them to help you with your research?

Dana Romanoff

If it's somebody working on a similar project that I am working on then their is a commonality right there. Why wouldn't they answer my phone call or answer my email. I was working in Mexico most recently and I took a couple of days seeing who was researching what I was researching about women and immigration. There were some anthropologists and organizations doing some of the same work. Of course they were happy to speak with me because we're working on the same story and they're happy to provide the information.      

What is the difference between photojournalism and photography?

Dana Romanoff

I consider myself a photojournalist. I'm trying to tell a story with my photography often it's a lot more news related. And maybe a little more new worthy and timely too. As a documentary and photography it's a story that covers an issue that is going on and supports an issue. Personally I'm hoping that my stories will inspire social change. It will inspire people to take action or to think differently on a topic.

What's it like to be a woman in this field? And what kind of advice can you give?

Dana Romanoff

I found it helps me. I think women can easily bond with other women across cultures. For example, working in Mexico, working in Africa and in more rural communities. Women often work in the kitchens and with children. It's really very easy as another woman to help her with her laundry or help her with her children and to form that relationship even if you can't speak the same language. I know how to do a lot of the same chores that she is doing so that's a way to easily gain trust and acceptance. As a female their is also more of an instinct to get a little closer and to be more nurturing and to make those more intimate photographs. To be working with men in a lot of other cultures, I think working a male photographer can be seen as more threatening to the women. Being a female photographing men, I not as threatening or may be considered charming a little more fun to have along so it's helped in those situations as well. Professionally with career, I don't think it's made much of a difference. I graduated with a class that was mostly women. I think women are really leading the way in the field of photojournalism in lots of ways.

Tell us about "No Mans Land Women of Mexico"?

Dana Romanoff

It's about the effect on immigration on women in rural Mexico? It started in 2005, when I was working at the paper in Frederickburg, Virginia. I was doing a series on Latino immigrations kind of a new population, new neighbors. They weren't being represented in the newspaper's pages but I noticed it was a really growing population and community of Spanish speakers and a lot of migrant workers.I began by photographing them and working with a reported Kathy Dyson. I noticed that the majority of the people there were men that had come looking for work. They would tell me where they are from and the people they had left behind in Central America and their children, wives and their girlfriends. They told me how it is for them to be away and who they left behind. That is what got me thinking about the other side of immigration and who are behind these men who are here working. I had the opportunity in 2006, I was awarded an internship with National Geographic Magazine and I pitched this project to them of how are these women who are left in rural Mexico and how these women surviving without their men around and thriving. I went to Oaxaca, Mexico which is one of the southern most states and also one of the most poorest states in Mexico and found a few communities where 80% of the working age men in those towns were here in the US working. The women would describe it as "puerta muere" which meant kind of purely women or only women around.  

The stories are sad. Can you comment of this?

Dana Romanoff

Well for "No Man's Land" it was sad but it's also a story of hope and of empowerment and of women making a difference in their communities with the opportunity. With the men gone, yes it's sad to say goodbye to your 14 year old son as he crosses into this other land and have no idea when he will return or if he will return or even if he will make it across the border. It's hard for the women who have a spouse that has been gone for 17 years and comes home for a couple of months at a time. It's really hard but these women are so strong. They are having to take on the jobs of both men and women now and take on the role of both mother and father. Their really being pushed by the men not being there. They are also becoming some of the sole bread winners for the family. In some cases some of the men do abandon them and they're not calling or sending money or maybe there's not much work in the US. There's not much money to send back home. The women are stepping out in the community and taking on non-traditional roles in the community to become leaders in women's groups and to start going to their children's schools and speaking out and speaking up. It's changing from a macho society to matriarchical society is what I saw.  

What kinds of obstacles have you overcome?

Dana Romanoff

In my personal life, I've been fortunate not to really have any hugh obstacles.  I have a stable loving family, good education and always able to find work and to have an income. I think I've been very fortunate not to have any obstacles which has lead me to do the work I want to do because I think that's pretty unique. Most people in the world don't live such privileged lives. I like to put my efforts back into helping people that have major obstacles in their lives. It doesn't mean that's it's not a challenge being a photographer and photojournalist. It's certainly a challenge daily and a struggle and probably even more so now with newspapers closing and the economy as it is. A lot of fields are hurting right now. Photojournalism is hurting and advertising is hurting. If there is no advertising then how can you get those images published. I think in the field of photography and photojournalism there's a hugh obstacle which is the economy and the changing times and how do we overcome that. I think multi-media is one of the main ways we're going to have to overcome some of these problems and what I mean by multi-media is mixing audio, mixing still images, mixing video and enabling your stories not just to be in print but to go out there on the world wide web and be broadcast all over the world. You can reach a much more broader population with Miltie-media and the obstacle with multi-media is what's the platform. How do we as journalists get paid for what we do? It costs money to do these projects and these stories. It's also a passion. How do you make your passion pay? How do you put food on the table and still do what your passionate about. I guess that's the biggest obstacle that I'm facing right now and a lot of journalist and photographers are facing.

How are you able to fund your passion?

Dana Romanoff

I've been fortunate in the past to always work for newspapers and they've always been very generous with giving me time off to work on other projects. In June I left the paper in Charlotte and kind of made the plunge into the freelance world. I knew you had a quote about paragliding on your site and I read a similar quote about jumping and developing your wings on the way down. I knew that was taking the plunge going freelance and finding a way to make it work. I've been very fortunate to receive grants in the past and pitch story ideas to magazines and have them be accepted. That's getting harder and harder now with more people applying for grants and less money available. I've turned to photographing some weddings. This summer I'll be photographing a bunch of weddings and again to mix my passions in I photograph the weddings in a more photojournalist documentary fashion. I want to kind of capture those candid moments as if I were on a magazine assignment, or as if I were living in another culture, or as if I were photographing any other story. I'm photographing the story of the wedding day. It's more of a non-traditional wedding photographer and hopefully that will fund future projects along with grants and other magazine assignments.

Is there anything else you wanted to add?

Dana Romanoff

If people are wanting to do photography and photojournalism and wanting to follow their passions in any field is to do that to pursue that but know that it is definitely a struggle. You have to find a way to find a balance between putting food on the table and following your passions but hopefully you will know if you are on the right path and the doors will keep opening. If one door closes, you know that hopefully another door will open and to keep at it. There is something I have to constantly keep telling myself that it is a journey because sometimes I expect things to happen instantly. I have to remember to enjoy the ride. As long as you can enjoy it as you do it and for me make a difference in other people's lives and help better other people's lives then I think it's worth it.

To hear the entire story listen to the interview in the podcast directory http://www.divamaverickmavens.com/main/podcast.html.

WIFE of THE GOD from Dana Romanoff on Vimeo.

No Man's Land: The Women of Mexico - trailer from Dana Romanoff on Vimeo.