October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Greetings from LA, fellow FCW worldwide.

I wanted to share some more info about a great event I was recently invited to participate in by the luminous Sabrina Taylor (http://www.sabrinataylormusic.com) and the Artists United Live group at the Artist Palooza Warehouse Space in Santa Monica, CA.  Also performing were Kirrily Keys & Allison Geddie, along with Sabrina Taylor.  DJ King James spun between sets.  Survivors of breast cancer and their caregivers were on hand to share their own stories, and beautiful art and installations decorated the space.

ARTISTS UNITED LIVE 10*10*09 ~ AMY CLARKE

BELIEVE! breast cancer survivors & their projects

AMY CLARKE ~ ARTISTS UNITED LIVE 10*10*09

inspiring installation, quotes clipped to the lingerie, great paintings too

ARTISTS UNITED LIVE 10*10*09

SABRINA TAYLOR hugging a survivor, ARTISTS UNITED LIVE 10*10*09 ~ AWARENESS

Prevention through diet, exercise, and lifestyle are some of the most helpful ways to ward off conditions! In addition to hearing from the survivors there who beat the odds, my mother is a two time mastectomy survivor, and after her first diagnosis, was told by her first doctors she would not live to see her children grow up.  Well, she ignored the dire predictions, sought a second opinion and alternative care, and is still alive and teaching today.  May her story, the stories of those at the AWARENESS event, and the stories of those yet untold inspire others to believe in HOPE FOR A CURE ~ and remind all of the brave women out there to never give up.  KEEP BELIEVING in the resilience of your own body and mindpower to heal ~ it can be your best ally.

Also, LOVE YOURSELF EXTRA! take care of yourself, do regular breast self-exams, eat healthy whole foods and those high in anti-oxidants, and make sure to get regular mastectomies…use this month to educate yourself about breast cancer and how to stay safe, healthy, and strong.

http://www.nbcam.org

http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org

Hope these photos and the stories inspire others.

Peace, Amy

http://www.amyclarke.com

FCW are Spiritual Gurus!!!

Yes, we already know this … and last week, in the SUNDAY 9/20 NY Times finally reported it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/fashion/20Guru.html

CIRCLE OF TRUST Serving as personal guides are, clockwise from lower left, Sera Beak, Kris Carr, Meggan Watterson, Gabrielle Bernstein and Jennifer Macaluso-Gilmore.

Excerpt …

Other self-styled young gurus focus less on diet and more on spirituality. Before she began counseling other women, Jennifer Macaluso-Gilmore was a hand and foot model with alcohol, financial and relationship problems. After three people close to her, including her mother, died within months of one another in 1999, she wrote a one-woman show about coping, “Making the Best of It,” which attracted strong reviews. Her career picked up, she gave up drinking, and she married a man she had previously been keeping at a distance.

Soon friends were asking how she managed to turn her life around. She offered advice from some of the “600 self-help books” she said she has read. She decided to organize a class at her apartment. “Three friends showed up,” Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore said. “And a week later there were nine women, and seven years later I have seen over 700.”

She charges $100 an hour for private sessions. The core of her message, she said, is, “When you step out into the unknown anything is possible in your life.”

Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore’s meeting space in Midtown is decorated with framed collages of thank-you letters from women who have attended her sessions. “Some of them call me an oracle,” said Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore, 36. “Some call me a guru. But I’m just a girl like anyone else.”

It’s so great to know that there are women reminding other women that Women are so fucking cool! YEAH!!

FCW spotlight!

Lauren Fairbanks is a Brooklyn-based writer hailing originally from that far away land known as the deep South. She has covered lifestyle, small business and personal finance topics for various online publications including Young Money, Gen X Finance, Gowanus Lounge, Good Plum and Eating Well Magazine. Prior to her writing career, she worked in nonprofit management.

In August of 2008, she launched LifeStyler, a New York City-centric guide offering tips to young adults in order to promote financial responsibility and fiscally responsible lifestyle choices. LifeStyler offers tips on furnishing your apartment without breaking the bank, where to find the cheapest beers in NYC, how to set up a retirement account, how to flesh out the wardrobe for next to nothing, and tips on sprucing up that resume and charming your way into your next interview.
www.lifestylermag.com

What does being an FCW mean to me? To me, being a Fucking Cool Woman means not adhering to certain stereotypes and having the courage to really grab life by the balls and mold it into exactly what I want (all the while not taking any shit from anyone).

Lauren Fairbanks
Founder/Editor
LifeStyler (NYC on a Budget)
212.729.6120
laurenfairbanks@gmail.com

If you or a FCW would like to be spotlighted – email trickydame@yahoo.com
Why are YOU a FCW?!

FCW hosts FCW Networking Event!

Kathlin Argiro (FCW!!) hosts so many amazing events in her luscious design studio nestled in the heart of NYC’s Fashion District and this FCW is so grateful she attended Fashion, Business, & Sustainability Cocktails and Connections with Womensphere and designer Kathlin Argiro on Thursday, August 13

My friend and I met so many FCwomen who are building sustainable businesses, working in the “green space”, and creating brands with a social impact. We were introduced to Womensphere’s L.I.V.E. WORLD SUMMIT: Leadership + Innovation + Vision for the Earth!

Womensphere is a unique global community of leaders with the dual mission of inspiring, empowering and connecting women to succeed, and of bringing together leaders to solve global and local issues.

Kathlin shared her secrets of creating and maintaining a business in the fiercely competitive world of Fashion. (JUST WHAT I NEEDED TO HEAR!! its so important to share and that’s what makes a FCW so cool … she easily shares!!)

If you are looking for a special dress for any occasion- FCW Society recommends Kathlin Argiro!

http://www.kathlinargirochic.com/

GIRLCORE are FCW!

FCW are everywhere … here’s another group of creative women doing their thing … it’s amazing time to be a women!

GIRLCORE, all girl collective expands its strength and launches GIRLCORE MAG

This is the first edition. Girlcore Magazine will grow, evolve, and be published monthly.
SUBMIT: submissions@girlcoremag.com

As Girlcore has always been about supporting female talent, all submissions must be by female artists (unless you are a guy who happened to create your art while in drag?)

http://www.girlcoremag.com/

What is *GIRLCORE*?
It’s hard to define.
So rather than go to lengthy explanations we thought it might be better to let this blog be a window into what *GIRLCORE* and its ‘members’ are all about. There is no censoring, editing or selecting of what every girl writes, when they want to do it and what they write about. Everyone always has something interesting to say.

FCW: Gaia Grove / Indiegrrl Night LA! 7/31/09

(FCW ~ while this event is the “East Side” version of two Indiegrrl events happening in the last week in July in Los Angeles (Mon Jul 27 is “West Side” in Venice CA) it is the WEST COAST version of the FCW brunch date (in tandem w/Aug 2 Governor’s Island brunch on the EAST COAST in NYC!)  and who knows, spontaneous FCW brunch may happen Sunday Aug 2 – after all, there was one Sun June 7th in Las Vegas of all places!, and a mini version Sunday July 5 in Westwood, Los Angeles . . .

XOXO ~ Amy Clarke, FCW, Gaia Grove, Indiegrrl, MAAT Music…

http://www.amyclarke.com

http://www.myspace.com/amyclarke

http://www.facebook.com/amyclarke

http://www.twitter.com/amyclarke

FRIDAY JULY 31 2009

Indiegrrl 2009 Women in the Arts L.A. Conference :: Hollywood – Theatre District

FRIDAY JULY 31, 2009
9PM –11PM at Café Muse LA ~
9PM-9:30 networking, mingling
9:30-11PM round robin sharing of individual talents

Cafe Muse, 323-464-MUSE
6547 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90038
http://www.cafemusela.com
East of Highland Ave, btwn Las Palmas & Wilcox Aves.
Street Parking/Valet Available Some Nights

Gaia Grove presents Indiegrrl Night
Networking, music, spoken word, conversation, art & more…

Gaia Grove (http://www.gaiagrove.org) presents an evening with Indiegrrl – Independent Women in the Arts! As a prelude to the Nashville Conference coming up Aug. 20-23 at the Hotel Preston, (http://www.indiegrrl.com), join other Indiegrrl artists, creatives, innovators, musicians & entrepreneurs in a relaxed evening of networking, music, art and conversation. Indiegrrl works to create networking, educational, and showcasing opportunities for women. We are an international members organization that supports women in the arts regardless of race, religion, or sexuality. Indiegrrl welcomes, with open arms, songwriters and musicians with all genres of music, spoken word and poets, story tellers, comedy, visual arts, film, music production, radio, dance and more. Indiegrrl is working hard to produce various events including an annual conference, community festivals, individual showcases, contests and more for our members to get involved with and is working to build a community of women to support each other in their artistic careers. We partner with various community groups & charitable organizations to produce events supporting and showcasing women and to bring more awareness to local women artisans & to donate to various charitable causes.

If you would like to perform, introduce yourself, your entrepreneurship, creative skill, service, or artistry, email gaiagrove@gmail.com

Scheduled to perform/present: Amanda Abizaid, Amy Clarke, Athena Reich (in from NY), Genevieve, Julie Chadwick, Lisa Turner, Melinda Ortner, Michael Ann Azoulai, Nance Broderzen, TK Promo

http://www.gaiagrove.org
http://www.indiegrrl.com
http://www.cafemusela.com

She Writes

Kamy Wicoff, Nancy K. Miller and Deborah Siegel have just started agreat online community for women writers: http://www.shewrites.com

Check it out!

June 19 – PHOTO OF THE DAY

as promised …every once in awhile, a photo will be chosen for the FCW SOCIETY PHOTO OF THE DAY from our Flickr group….

Here is one by Penny Richards … check out her ETSY PAGE too!

FCW PHOTO of the DAY 6.6.09

If you would like YOUR photo to be part of the FCW PHOTO of the DAY. This is a new FCW Project – there’s the video, the email, the brunches and now PHOTO OF THE DAY!

This will happen as often as I get submissions from FCW – the criteria…
a really cool shot of a FCW in your life!! Her name and that’s it!

COOL!? FUCKING COOL!

email trickydame@gmail.com

#1 Fem Appeal & Tom, NYC 2009

FCW Artists support Jazz 4 Peace

a few FCW Society NYC members are donating their art for a benefit for Jazz for Peace …

Sharon (Mama) Spell

Tug of War
2009, Oil on Canvas
3 1/2′ x 3 1/2′






Janet Restino
THE HIGHLINE BLOCK PARTY
CPRINT 11 X 14″ IN 14 X 20″ FRAME
signed artists proof




Joanne MortonFeel Peace Energy, acrylic 20 x 30