Sandi Klein's Conversations with Creative Women

Sabriye Tenberken gives new meaning to activism and inspiration. Born in Cologne, Germany, she became blind at age 12. A trip to Tibet as a young adult was life-changing. Sabriye, along with Paul Kronenberg, founded Braille Without Borders, a world-wide organization that creates training programs and Braille book printing houses. The two are also the co-directors and co-founders of Kanthari, an international institute for social visionaries based in Kerala, South India.

Photo by Paul Kronenberg

Melissa Silverstein has one helluva resume. She's a writer, lecturer, founder and editor of Women and Hollywood, one of the most respected and go-to-sites when it comes to women, film and other areas of pop culture. She's also the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Athena Film Festival at New York City's Barnard College. Clearly she has plenty to talk about!

Meet modern day explorer, pioneer, author Milbry Polk who among her travels, led a camel expedition retracing Alexander the Great's route across Egypt. Polk co-founded WINGS WorldQuest, a non-profit organization that serves as the leading resource and advocate for female explorers world-wide. She is extra-ordinary!

New Mexico's Teresa Loveless was born into a family of artists. When she was 4, Teresa's grandmother, Rachel Brown, known for her work creating and promoting weaving and textile arts, gave her a loom and taught her to weave. In 1980 Brown began Weaving Southwest, a gallery and yarn-dyeing business outside Taos. Teresa currently runs the business - carrying on Rachel's legacy. She hand dyes an array of weaving and knitting yarns, teaches contemporary tapestry weaving and represents several local artists in the gallery. Her's is a true labor of love.

Even the most successful senior executives hit roadblocks.  That's where Ora Shtull comes in. An Executive Coach for more than 15 years, she's been working with professionals in leading New York companies, helping them to enhance their leadership presence - their ability to engage, connect and influence in the workplace. She's also the author of The Glass Elevator: A Guide to Leadership Presence for Women on The Rise.

Valerie Steele, PhD. has been described as one of the fashion industry's most influential women. Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), she has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies as well as raise public awareness of fashion's cultural and social significance.

With $50, vision and determination, Amanda Kraus, founded Row New York in 2002 and serves at its Executive Director.  What began as a pilot program has grown into a thriving organization serving more than 2,000 middle and high school boys and girls a year in Queens and Manhattan. Kraus was named a 2012 Community Leadership Award winner by the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.

You'll never look at ice sheets the same after you "meet" Robin Bell, PhD. The PGI Research Professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University has, among her many accomplishments, coordinated nine major aero-geophysical expeditions to Antarctica and Greenland. A passionate sailor, she and her family have crossed the Atlantic twice and recently chased icebergs in the Labrador Sea.

A committed feminist, Brooklyn College Professor Barbara Winslow teaches in the School of Education and the Women's Studies Program. She is also the founder and director of the Shirley Chisholm Project of Brooklyn Women's Activism (1945-present).