January 20th | 6:00 to 7:30 PM

Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, AT&T Auditorium (Map)

Panelists will discuss the model provided by Minga Peru and, through conversation with the audience, discuss how it can be applied to benefit women and girls of Arkansas and the U.S.

PANELISTS 

Eliana Elias, Founder and Executive Director of Minga Peru, has dedicated her life to the empowerment of impoverished, disenfranchised indigenous women of the Amazon Rainforest.   Eliana has always been interested in strategic communications and health issues.  Working for CARITAS, an international humanitarian organization Elias had responsibility for the Project on Health, Environmental Sanitation and Cholera.  She recognized the importance of producing materials in simple language that the people could understand; and, in 1998, she founded Minga Peru to empower women in the rural Amazon jungle by creating culturally appropriate messages about domestic and community violence, sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and other issues facing indigenous women and their families.

Melanie Masino is a filmmaker and president of the Jane Howard Foundation. Melanie currently sits on the Advisory Council for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.  She began her career in documentary film after 15 years in television journalism. Masino worked as a journalist here in Little Rock at KARK-TV, Channel 4, as well as in Mexico and Europe.  She began her studies at UALR, and completed them after attending Harvard University and Boston University.  Masino began her documentary film making as a career when she returned to Hot Springs.

Evangeline Parker is the public affairs coordinator for Comcast Cable of Arkansas, host of the award winning Comcast Newsmakers television program, and is a member of the "Broadway Joe Morning Show" on Power 92.3 FM, known affectionately to listeners as "Ms. Parker." She is also founder and executive director of the Miss Teen Promise Female Preparatory & Scholarship program. 

Tracie L. Pasold, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Director of Psychological Services in the Adolescent Clinic and the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders Specialty Clinic at Arkansas Children's Hospital. She is very passionate about prevention efforts in the area of eating disorders and actively strives to be involved in prevention activities.  

The evening will be moderated by Meg Matthews, Public Relations Director for the City of Little Rock.  Matthew's extensive background in radio and television will add much to the discussion as she poses the questions to visiting panelists.