OCTOBER 2015

Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Brigid Williams, M. Arch

Brahmins, Bohemians and Beyond: The Building of Boston

A presentation by Brigid Williams, an architect who over the years has studied and contributed to the spirit of Boston’s architectural history.

A 35-year Beacon Hill resident, Brigid Williams is a prominent architect, talented artist, involved community member and a mom who raised her family in the city.

A graduate of Harvard College and Yale University School of Architecture, she founded Hickox Williams Architects with her husband in 1983. Their much-lauded work began with restaurants, retail spaces and a large health club. Their work has since expanded to the creation or transformation of many residential homes that are, according to Design Magazine, some of the most beautiful places to live in the Boston area and beyond.

Her architectural talents spill over into her paintings, according to gallery owner Stephen Score. “She can also dream and invert and simplify people and things into lines, shapes and colors while retaining the magical properties and personalities that matter to the viewer.”

Please join us for what is sure to be a rapturous compendium of Boston architecture through the years.

SEPTEMBER 2015

Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Prof. Liana De Girolami Cheney

Concealments and Revelations in the Self-Portraits of Female Painters

Prof. Cheney is an art historian, Beacon Hill neighbor and presently a Professor and Visiting Scholar in Art History at the University of Bari, Italy and Universidad de Coruna, Spain, and is an emerita Professor of Art History, Chairperson of the Department of Cultural Studies at UMass Lowell. She is the author and coauthor of numerous articles and books relating to Renaissance, Mannerism Pre-Raphaelite art.

Prof Cheney will captivate audience members on the topic of female self portrait painting, including a brief and general introduction on the nature of female’s self-portraiture in painting from the sixteenth century to the present day, and a focus on the specific comparison between American and European female’s self-portraits in the 20th century. The presentation will touch on some of these artistic issues, viewing self-portraits by Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Rolinda Sharpless Suzanne Valadon, Remedios Varo, Leonora Fini, Frida Khalo, Paola Rego, Anna Medieta, Audrey Flack and Julie Heffernan.

Her forthcoming books are on Readings in Italian Mannerism II: Architecture and Sculpture and Lavinia Fontana’s Mythological Paintings.

Don’t miss what is sure to be an enlightening evening at the Forum!

APRIL 2015

Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar

Speaker: Traci Walker Griffith

The Winning Formula: Transforming a Boston Public School

Traci Walker Griffith has been the principal of Eliot K-8 Innovation School since 2007. Traci has worked in the Boston Public Schools since 1992 as a teacher and assistant principal. Her effort to create a supportive professional learning community that embraces high expectations for both adults and students has resulted in academic excellence. Under Traci’s leadership, the Eliot has progressed from a state identified under-performing school (Commonwealth Priority School) in 2007 to being named by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as a Commendation School in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and an Expanded Learning Time site in 2014! Over Traci’s time at the Eliot, the school’s popularity has grown so much that parents, neighbors, and community members began to campaign for its expansion. The school has grown from 150 students in 2007 to 470 this year with a plan to grow to over 1,000 students in three buildings by 2024. Even with this expansion, the wait list for enrollment in early childhood programs is double the number of spots available. Traci is committed continue to leading a thriving organization where everyone is committed to developing as lifelong learners. Educational Background: Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Educational Administration, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, Lesley University; Bachelor of Education in Elementary Education, Plymouth State University.

MARCH 2015

Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:30 – 8:30pm, Cash Bar

Speaker: Lynn Dunphy

Hidden Gems of Beacon Hill

Five hidden gems of Beacon Hill that inspire our sense of history and curiosity in learning will take the stage at the March 10 meeting of the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum.

Want to hear about the neighborhood’s memorable moments, such as the battles to save the bricks that never seem to end? Or, where you can take a course on ‘Triumphant Women: How opera divas changed the world?”

What’s inside the Congregational building on Beacon Street? Who is behind the transformation of the Brewer Fountain into a vibrant urban gathering spot, complete with food trucks and all? Did you know there are two historic farms in Rhode Island open to visitors?

Questions like these and more will be answered by representatives from five hidden gems much treasured by the neighborhood. The spotlight will shine on leaders of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, Beacon Hill Seminars, Congregational Library and Archives, Friends of the Public Garden and Historic New England.

And the dazzling Lynn Dunphy, a BHWF member, will moderate the question and answer session. “This program raises the profile of the institutions around us,” she said. “It will be really inspiring to hear what they are doing. Showcasing these jewels gives us an opportunity to connect, participate and cherish the wealth of rich and unique culture right here in our neighborhood.” The nonprofits will also talk about how BHWF members can join, support and participate in their organizations.

And, if you’re ever in the market for new and interesting places to take visiting guests, you won’t want to miss this program!

FEBRUARY 2015

Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:30 – 8:30pm, Cash Bar

Speaker: Lorna Lowe

LORNA LOWE is a filmmaker and lawyer based in Boston. She began her career in television and film in the early 1990’s, first in series development at MTV Networks, in publicity at E! Entertainment Television, then as a special-effects production coordinator at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Lorna left Sony in 1997 for law school at the University of Southern California. While at USC, she became judicial extern for the Hon. Consuelo Marshall, represented incarcerated adults through the Post Conviction Justice Project and completed an International Law Programme at the Sorbonne in Paris. As law clerk for the Alliance for Children’s Rights, Lorna represented American children seeking emancipation, and Immigrant minors seeking asylum in the United States. Herself having been in the foster care system for nearly a year before being adopted through Boston Children’s Services in the early 1970’s, the rights of children became a particular interest and eventually a professional focus, joining the Committee for Public Counsel Children and Family Law Trial Panel as a private attorney in 2003. In 2012, Lorna’s law practice expanded to include her passion for history and art. Inspired by the landmark case, United States v. Portrait of Wally, Lorna began partnering with a private New York based firm in representing organizations initiating policy change in Washington around cultural property losses during wartime and heirs seeking restitution of art looted during the Nazi-era.

While at the Alliance, Lorna formed Lorna Lowe|Documentary Films (formerly, Lowe Road), a production company focused on social issue documentaries and produced Shelter, a personal documentary on the after-effects of her search and reunion with her biological family as an adult. Shelter, premiered at the Boston International Festival for Women’s Cinema, was named Best Discovery by the Boston Society of Film Critics and was released theatrically. While producing her second film, Romeo, a film about a Cambridge man dedicated to rehabilitating batterers, Lorna became a Filmmaker-in-Residence at WGBH/ Boston and became the first recipient of the Accelerating the Creative production grant from Women in Film and General Motors.

In the fall of 2011, Lorna was elected to the board of trustees of The Flaherty, a non-profit media arts institution dedicated to the support and exhibition of documentary and independent film. In the fall of 2012, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national not-for-profit organization devoted to improving adoption policy and practice and in 2013, to the Board of Trustees of the Chestnut Hill School.

Lorna is a member of the Massachusetts and New York Bar Associations.

JANUARY 2015

Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:30 – 8:30pm, Cash Bar

Speaker: Karen Cord Taylor

Karen Cord Taylor founded The Beacon Hill Times in 1995 and later The Charlestown Bridge and The Back Bay Sun weekly newspapers, serving as the editor and publisher of these entities through 2007. Prior to that she was a teacher and a professional writer, creating newsletters, corporate materials, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on topics as varied as banking, business, real estate, travel and design.

She is the author of Blue Laws, Brahmins and Breakdown Lanes: An Alphabetic Guide to Boston and Bostonians, published by the Globe Pequot Press, and, with Doris Cole, The Lady Architects, published by Midmarch Arts Press. She was the chair of the committee that produced the Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill: Creating Green Spaces in Urban Places for the Beacon Hill Garden Club in 2013. She authored Legendary Locals of Beacon Hill, which appeared through Arcadia Publishing in the fall of 2014. Her book, Getting to Grand Prairie, 100 Londoners and their Quest for Land in Frontier Illinois, is due for publication in the winter of 2015 by Weathergage Press.

She writes a weekly column, “Downtown View,” for the newspapers she founded and the Regional Review, as well as the websites www.NorthEndWaterfront.com and www.bostoncolumn.com.

She has lived with her husband, Dan, on Beacon Hill for more than 40 years and raised their two daughters in the neighborhood.

DECEMBER 2014

Speaker: Diane Darling
Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur, Darling Institute

The Networking Success of Diane Darling

Diane Darling knows the value of relationships and how to build them.  The author of McGraw-Hill’s definitive book on networking, The Networking Survival Guide. Diane speaks and trains thousands of people each year on ways to build relationships, leading to opportunities and growth.  She believes that now, more than ever, in today’s fast-paced competitive world, anyone can leapfrog their way to successful relationships once they master the art of networking.

Diane’s first book went into a 2nd printing just 90 days after the book hit the shelves. The book has been translated into Korean and Taiwanese. Two years later, McGraw-Hill published her 2nd book, Networking for Career Success which has since been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Portuguese, and Thai. More recently, The Networking Survival Guide was released in 2nd edition and Kindle format.

Hitting Bottom and Rising to Success

Diane lost an important business investor in the 9/11 disaster. In addition, her previous business went into serious debt after new security measures in the travel industry became commonplace. Reluctant to declare bankruptcy, Diane moved out of her home and began the difficult task of rebuilding her life and paying off the debt.

On March 6, 2009 she shared her story with the world about how she crawled out of serious debt through hard work and great networking relationships. What a shock when she found her life story on the front page of the Boston Globe. The President of the United States was above the fold and her story of challenges and resilience was below the fold!

A Media Magnet

Diane has appeared on NBC Nightly News, in The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe. A former columnist for the Boston Business Journal, Diane is currently a random columnist for a variety of publications.  She taught in the MBA program at Boston University and is a member of the CEO Club in Boston.

Helping People Everywhere Cultivate Better Relationships

Diane is in high demand by corporate clients because effective relationships, both internally and externally, are key to every business, for every employee. She coaches executives, junior managers and volunteers. She has worked with academic institutions, non-profits, large corporates, small associations, medium and small businesses, too. Networking doesn’t happen at events, but it happens with every interaction you or your employee experiences. Internal, external, creating joint ventures, closing the deal, managing conflict, and even chatting about sports over lunch or the office water cooler.

Diane’s travels include all seven continents and approximately 60 countries. Having lived overseas for several years and domestically, in several regions of the USA, Diane has acquired a keen appreciation and awareness of international cultures. She is able to support the complexities of cultural, gender and racial relationships.

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

Elizabeth E. Barker
Stanford Calderwood Director, The Boston Athenaeum

Elizabeth E. Barker is the newly appointed Stanford Calderwood Director of the Boston Athenæum, the storied independent library and cultural institution located at 10 ½ Beacon Street. Before coming to Boston in October 2014, Dr. Barker (who goes by Lizzie) served as Director of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Director of Colgate University’s Picker Art Gallery, and Associate Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While in New York, Lizzie also held a visiting curatorship at the British Museum, and organized an exhibition for the Yale Center for British Art. Since moving to Massachusetts, she has volunteered for Labs4Rescue, the non-profit organization through which she adopted her own dog.

A native of Maine, Lizzie received her B.A. from Yale College and her Ph.D. from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, where her research focused on British art of the 18th and 19th centuries. As an art historian, Lizzie has participated in organizing exhibitions on a range of topics, including Filippino Lippi (1997, Metropolitan Museum of Art), William Blake (2000, Tate Britain), Childe Hassam (2004, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Samuel Palmer (2005, British Museum), Joseph Wright of Derby (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2006), and Chuck Close (2007, Amherst College). As an administrator, Lizzie is known for leading successful initiatives to enliven programs, raise funds, deepen community engagement, digitize collections, and spur research. Here on Beacon Hill, Lizzie is working to ensure that the Boston Athenæum’s future is as brilliant as its past—inviting to all, intellectually and creatively engaged with the world, distinguished by its curious, committed, and diverse members, nationally prominent, fiscally sound, in step with the times, and respectful of its glorious traditions.

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Dr. Annekathryn Goodman
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School

In Bangla, There is no word for Vagina: Reflections on Language, Gender Violence, and Women’s Health

Global Health expert Dr. AK Goodman, an obstetrician and gynecologist, will discuss sexual and gender violence around the world at the October 14 meeting of the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum, an organization formed last year to connect and inspire neighborhood women.

A West Cedar Street resident, Goodman’s presentation, ‘In Bangla there is no word for vagina: Reflections on language, gender violence and women’s health,’ stems from her extensive work in third world countries. She is a member of the national disaster team, IMSuRT (International Medical Surgical Response team), a branch of the US department of Health and Human Services, and has deployed to various international disasters including Bam, Iran 2004, Banda Aceh 2005, Haiti 2010 and the Philippines 2014.

She received the 2012 ACOG International Service Award for service to pregnant women after the Haiti earthquake. Since 2008, she has been consulting in Bangladesh on cervical cancer prevention and the development of medical infrastructure to care for women with gynecologic cancers.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

Vivien Li | President, The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA)
“Take a Walk on the Harborside”

Vivien Li is President of The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA), where for more than 20 years she has been working on making Boston Harbor clean and swimmable, and has also been a major force behind completion of the 40-mile HarborWalk public access system.  Vivien and TBHA convened the first-ever “Boston Harbor Sea Level Rise Forum” in 2010, and Vivien was named by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh to co-chair the City’s Climate Action Plan Steering Committee.

Vivien also chairs MassDevelopment’s Brownfields Advisory Committee, and is an overseer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a trustee of Eastern Bank Corporation, a trustee of the Boston Foundation for Architecture, and a member of the national Sierra Club’s Finance Committee.  Earlier this year, she completed a three-year term on Princeton University’s Committee to Nominate Alumni Trustees.

Vivien has degrees from Barnard College and from Princeton University.  She has been recognized by a number of organizations, including by the Women’s Lunch Place’s as its 2014 recipient of the “Women Who Give” Award.  Vivien and her family live in Boston’s Back Bay.

MAY 14, 2014

Martha McNamara | Beacon Hill Women’s Forum

“’Sisters of the brush and palette’: Women Artists of Beacon Hill, 1870-1920” 

Martha McNamara is an art and architectural historian who specializes in eighteenth and nineteenth-century New England.  She is Director of the New England Arts and Architecture Program in the Department of Art at Wellesley College where she teaches courses in American architectural history, the history of cities and material culture studies. McNamara is the author of From Tavern to Courthouse: Architecture and Ritual in American Law, 1658-1860 (Johns Hopkins, 2004) and co-editor (with Gigi Barnhill) of New Views of New England: Studies in Material and Visual Culture, 1680-1830 (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2012).  She lives with her husband, Jim Bordewick, and their two children on Pinckney Street.

MARCH 5, 2014

Allison Byrne | Marathon Runner & Bombing Survivor

April 15th marks the upcoming anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing.  As the city remembers the devastating events that occurred almost a year ago, come hear what it was like to be affected first hand by marathon runner and bomb victim, Allison Byrne.  Allison had been running the 2013 Boston Marathon as a way of grieving the recent loss of her only sibling, her younger sister, who had recently passed after a difficult battle with breast cancer.  Compounding the grief of losing her only sibling, Allison’s 3 year old dog was run over less than one month after her sister’s passing.  Allison decided to run her first marathon to honor them both.  While the training and race were intended to help in the processing of this grief, no one could have foreseen the unlikely end to her quest to make the finish line.  Just roughly 200 yards away from the Boston Marathon finish line, while sprinting down Boylston Street, one of the bombs got in the way of her achieving this goal.  Suddenly this active young marathoner found herself unable to move, facing multiple surgeries and uncertain of her future.

Despite the tragic events that spanned 10 months of her life, her spirit is bright and she continues to thrive and enjoy life. If you are dealing with difficulties in your life, or are trying to make sense of the Boston Marathon bombings, come to learn some coping skills and hear a fresh perspective!

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Michelle Karol, author of Ripped, an award-winning Jack the Ripper time travel mystery, will thrill and inspire Beacon Hill Women’s Forum members at their February 4th meeting.

Ripped is Karol’s first novel, a young adult thriller published last year under the pen name of Shelley Dickson Carr. Ever since as a child she first read He Wouldn’t Kill Patience, the classic mystery written by her grandfather John Dickson Carr, Karol’s been hooked on the genre and dreaming of the mystery she’d someday write.

Now that she has, she’ll share with her audience ways they, too, can write and publish the book they’ve have always dreamed of.

January 7, 2014

Randi Lathrop has been appointed to be the first Director of Business Development at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which is the planning and economic development agency for the City of Boston. Randi was the former Deputy Director of Community Planning at the BRA for 10 years. She managed the planning staff for the department which oversees planning initiatives, and rezoning for the neighborhoods of Boston. She personally have been focused on the redevelopment of Washington Street in Boston’s South End/Lower Roxburyfor the last 20 years. Currently she is leading team of professionals at the BRA on the identity and branding strategy for Boston‘s Downtown Boston BID area and also worked closely with the property owners on creating the first businesses improvement district for Boston; adopted the new zoning and the planning the Fenway neighborhood; adopted the new zoning and the planning for the Harrison/ Albany area in the South End, City of Boston Food Truck Initiative and the Christian Science Plaza Revitalization Project. Lathrop was also the co-director of the award-winning master plan for the Massachusetts Turnpike Air Rights, paving the way for Fenway Center – the first air rights project built in the last two decades.

Lathrop, a former teacher and arts gallery manager, moved to Boston’s South End in 1985 and took on an active role in her neighborhood’s revitalization efforts. She was past president of the Blackstone Franklin Square Neighborhood Association and a founding member of the Washington Street Neighborhood Association. She later chaired Mayor Thomas Menino’s Washington Street Task Force and was named the first president of Washington Gateway Main Street Inc., a business development and neighborhood improvement organization dedicated to developing and sustaining the economic vitality of the 1.4-mile district along Washington Street in the South End and Lower Roxbury.

Lathrop served as president from 1997 to 2007. Since the organization’s formation, more than $650 million has been invested in Washington Street from public/private partnerships. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and its National Trust Main Street Center awarded Washington Gateway Main Street with its 2005 Great American Main Street Award for its successful revitalization efforts. American Planning Association also named Washington Street one of its Great Places in America in 2008.

She has been named the Boston Municipal Research Bureau’s 2011 Henry L. Shattuck Public Service Award in recognition for her outstanding contributions to the City of Boston and the Fenway Alliance Exceptional Spirit Award 2011. Randi is on the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District board representing the Mayor of Boston and was past President for 10 years of Washington Gateway Main Street in the South End of Boston.

Links from Randi’s Presentation:

New Retail in Downtown Crossing

Downtown Business Improvement District Development FACT SHEET

DECEMBER 3, 2013

Amy E. Ryan, who became the first female president of the Boston Public Library in 2008, will headline the December 3 meeting of the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum.

With unwavering dedication and a commitment to all citizens, Amy’s vision for the BPL is twofold: to set the course that will keep it at the forefront in both research and service delivery at the neighborhood levels; and to advance a premier library system that welcomes people from all over the world by responding to the changing needs of library users. She values partnerships and collaborates with the schools, universities, youth organizations, senior centers, literacy groups and others to leverage tax dollars to expand the input of library services.

Amy has over 35 years of public library management experience. Before being named to lead the Boston Public Library, she was the director of the nationally recognized Hennepin County Library in Minnesota for 3 years. Prior to that, she served in leadership positions for over 28 years with Minneapolis Public Library.

She is on the national Steering Committee of the Digital Public Library of America, a groundbreaking project that seeks to digitize and bring together the contents of American libraries and archives, and make them freely available online.

Amy, who serves on several boards, has received numerous awards and recognitions, as has the Boston Public Library under her tenure. A former resident of Beacon Hill, she now lives in Brookline. She has two grown daughters.

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Heather Liddell is the Head of Industry for Google’s Banking & Lending Sector where she oversees the sales and account management teams for banks, lending, and investment firms. During our discussion, Heather will share thoughts on how digital technology continues to change our lives, what it is like to work for Google, and what innovative “Moonshot” ideas Google is launching in the market. She will also offer thoughtful perspective on diversity in the workplace and work-life balance – two very important values at Google.

Previous to current role, Heather headed Google’s mid-market sales teams for the financial services, healthcare, and agency sectors with responsibility for over $400M in annual revenues. Heather has been in the technology industry for 14 years in operational as well as consultative roles.  She has held leadership roles at various technology companies which will add to her depth of discussion and succeed in this industry.

Heather is a graduate of Colgate University and holds a MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. In addition to her leadership role and demands at work, Heather is a Boston native,  and  currently resides in downtown Boston with her husband and two daughters. She will share her insights on balancing all of her important roles while raising her children in the city.

Come and be inspired by the energy, enthusiasm, smarts and focus of this dynamic tech executive, mom, wife and neighbor.

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Kristen Gresh was appointed Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) in January 2012. She first discovered the work of many contemporary photographers from the Middle East while working as a curator in both Paris and Cairo, and has brought her expertise to the MFA as curator for the exhibition She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World.

During her presentation, she will share the process of discovering much of the work she chose for the exhibition as well as discussing the preparation the exhibition, interviewing the artists, etc.

A contributor to the auction book and catalog The Photo Diary of John G. Morris (2010), she has also contributed to the books On Display: Visual Politics, Material Culture, and Public Education (forthcoming), and Getting the Picture: The History & Visual Culture of the News (forthcoming). She has taught history of photography at the Ecole du Louvre, Wells College in Paris and the American University of Cairo. Her Ph.D. dissertation from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales was titled, “The Family of Man: A Critical History of an American Photographic Exhibition,” parts of which have been published in the academic journals Etudes Photographiques and History of Photography.

Kristen grew up in Andover and went the University of New Hampshire and Sarah Lawrence College in Paris. Her graduate degrees are from Paris where she lived for almost fifteen years. She now lives in Davis Square with her husband and two small children.

Please join us to hear about her exhibition and work at the MFA as well as her experience living and working abroad, and homecoming with family in tow.