Join us OCT 12th in Tahlequah, OK
"Are you always on the go?
Working full-time and taking care of your family needs?
Or have time on your hands, and just want to reconnect with others?
Need to get away for just a day and take a break?
Want a little more energy?"
This "O-sa-da" WELL CONFERENCE is just for YOU!
This day is designed to help you feel CONNECTED, LOVED, and REJUVINATED as a NATIVE WOMAN, grandmother, mother, sister, daughter, or friend!
Check out our agenda below to see what's in store:
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A G E N D A
8:00-9:00 am Registration, Coffee-Danish
vendors/booths
9:00-9:15 am Welcome, Denise Alley, Conference Planner
.
9:15-9:45 am Welcome, Cherokee Community Cultural Outreach Guest
Prayer, TBA
Cherokee Adult Choir
9:50-10:05 am "Morning Stretches and Energy Techniques"
Hollie Warnick
10:05-10:25 am "Growing Up - Preserving Native Culture"
(Learn Cherokee Words)
Bobbie Smith
10:25-10:50 am "Looking back, What I learned by Working in Cherokee
Nation"
Mary Mead, Keynote Speaker
10:50-11:10 am Morning Break
vendor/booths
11:10-11:45 am Discussion on Family & Work - Native Culture - Faith
Native Women Panel
11:45-12:45 pm Lunch Buffet
Musical Number
Honoring our Elders, Presentation
12:45-2:00 pm "Letting Go of Mind Chatter for Healing & Inner Peace"
Jennifer Heward
2:00-2:30 pm Group Activity/Closing
Evaluations
About Well Women Gathering
Thoughts from the Conference Planner
Siyo! Welcome to the conference website!
I’m Denise Alley.
If you’re reading this, you already feel the inspired call to want to be with other women who are managing to keep things going, working and juggling family, or maybe to those who are retired and just want to feel connected and supported, (and everything in between.)
This one-day conference is created with you in mind – a culturally inspired day to encourage and reinforce your well-being as a Native woman.
By attending you will:
1. Strengthen your mental and emotional well-being. Learn a few simple yet powerful tools to increase inner peace.
2. Build a sense of community, and foster friendships that support each other and create a sense of belonging and self-worth.
3. Enhance personal growth through speakers, and interaction with others.
4. Encourage self-care, which is essential for maintaining well-being, yet as women we sometimes struggle to prioritize it amidst our busy lives. Simple energetic tools will be taught other resources and information will be available.
5. Promote and preserve Native culture in your life, by sharing and interacting with other Native women and learning some Cherokee words.
Give yourself one transformative day to immerse in your divine identity and affirm your innate self-worth.
Purchase your tickets now, bring a friend!
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Denise Alley is a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Shawnee, Otoe-Missouria, and Delaware. She is a inspirational speaker, staff development trainer, and author. Her book, Native Soul Heart and Healing can be purchased on Amazon. Denise resides in Arizona. You can view her website for more information. www.denisealley.com
Artist: Virginia Stroud
I first saw Virginia's art work when I was speaking in Cherokee, NC back in the late 90's- early 2000. I saw a big mural hanging in the lobby of the hotel I was staying at, it was a scene with a community of Native people out in nature. I loved it! I proceeded to walk to the restaurant to eat dinner, when I struck up a conversation with the manager about the painting. He said he had met and visited with the artist Virginia several times, that she was delightful and that she was Cherokee from Oklahoma.
I ordered my dinner and the manager came over and proceeded to tell me that Harrison Ford (the actor) had been there to eat in the restaurant as well, while filming the move, "The Fugitive." The train wreck scene was filmed in the Cherokee hills, and he said the train was still down in the gulley. I was fascinated.
Through the years, I made it a point to look for Virginia's artwork and have purchased several prints. I always wanted to meet her, not knowing she actually lived in Tahlequah.
Fast forward, my mother Mary Mead who presently lives in Go Ye Village, retirement center said she knew Virginia's sister, who also lives in Go Ye Village and that they had had lunch with Virginia. Again, I was thrilled that she was so close and that I could finally possibly meet her. I got to briefly say hello to her and express my deep appreciation .
When I look at Virginia's paintings of especially the women, it seems they have an innocence and yet they carry the strength in who they really are. To me they symbolize, "well 0-sa-da, women".
Although Virginia isn't able to paint in her latter years, her work is still inspiring! It carries the strength of Native women to stand and dance in who they are with grace and ease.
Thank you Virginia for sharing with us all, your talent and spirit through your art work. We love you. We honor you.
(pic, Mary Mead (my mother), Virginia Stroud, Elizabeth Higgins (Virginia's sister)
(permission granted to use Virginia Stroud's picture for Well Women Gathering)
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Virginia Stroud is Cherokee-Muscogee Creek and is an enrolled member. She attended Muskogee High, Bacone College, and University of Oklahoma. She is prolific painter and illustrator. She is a former Miss Cherokee, Miss National Congress of American Indians, Miss Indian America, was Artist of the year for Indian Arts & Crafts Association, and received the Cherokee Medal of Honor in 2000.
In 1969 as Miss Cherokee, and Miss National Congress of American Indians and later Miss American XVII. She wanted to represent her tribe in a traditional outfit. A committee of Cherokee women, appointed by Chief W.W. Keeler designed a dress based on a hundred year old Cherokee dressed owned by a Cherokee lady, Wynona Day. Elizabeth Higgins (Cherokee Nation) sewed the first tear dress for Stroud. Today, many Cherokee Nation women wear the tear dress.
Virginia resides in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.