August 2019 by Austin Woman Magazine

AUSTIN WOMAN MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2019

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” —Malala Yousafzai

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BOTOX AND DERMAL FILLERS CAN HELP BELL’S PALSY AND CANCER PATIENTS BY CORINA CORBEILLE

Botox and dermal fillers are proven to be safe and effective. And

treating breast-cancer and Bell’s palsy patients is no exception. These are just a few of the medical diagnoses Botox can help when it comes to aesthetics. Botox and dermal fillers are becoming mainstream and more popular tools to create facial balance when treating patients with facial asymmetry and volume loss due to a medical diagnosis. There can be physical, emotional and social changes, which can impact a person’s daily life. Social interactions can be daunting, especially with people who knew the patient when her or his appearance was considered “normal.” Botox and dermal fillers can be used to improve facial symmetry, easing the lifestyle changes that come with such a diagnosis.

Corina Corbeille, registered nurse and certified aesthetic nurse specialist

A breast-cancer patient can benefit from Botox and dermal-filler injections while going through such a difficult time in her life. These minimally invasive products offer minimal downtime, if any, are safe, effective and the perfect answer for someone who wants facial rejuvenation without having surgery. In fact, with the rapid weight loss, collagen depletion and aging that can occur with these types of patients, Botox and dermal fillers are a great solution to helping improve the facial contouring and reestablish youthful vectors. They can also help boost the patient’s self-esteem Respecting the natural and confidence, knowing they are putting their best contours others face forwardfacial when going through keeps such an experience. I am also a guessing huge advocate of preventative treatwhether you’ve ments and starting early to stay a step ahead of the had any treatments done. aging process, which starts after the age of 30, when collagen production slows down. We are all aging daily and collagen depletion is inevitable, but with Botox and dermal fillers, we can preserve, maintain and prevent the aging process from being severe. Bell’s palsy is the paralysis or severe weakness of the nerves that control the facial muscles, usually on one side of the face. When it comes to Bell’s palsy patients, Botox is a great treatment for restoring facial symmetry. The paralyzed side of the face can create distortion when the patient is making facial expressions. Relaxing the unaffected side of the face with Botox, where the muscles are strong, can help to create symmetry and a normal appearance until the condition resolves, although both sides of the face are often treated to preserve facial balance. Doses can vary, depending on the intensity of the muscles involved. Botox injections can help relieve the pain and suffering that comes with the symptoms of Bell’s palsy, easing the patient through this difficult time. Botox can start giving relief within 24 hours, with a maximum effect at two weeks, lasting approximately three to six months. Dermal fillers can also be used to help balance facial volume loss, which can occur due to asymmetrical muscle movement over time. Botox and dermal fillers are great for anyone who is interested in aging gracefully and naturally, including Bell’s palsy patients and breast-cancer patients and survivors. Book an appointment at Tru-Skin Dermatology and create a skin-care plan that’s right for you!

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ON THE COVER

THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NEXT DOOR BY COURTNEY RUNN

FEATURE

WOMEN ON THE MOVE

Photo by Keith Trigaci.

BY JENNY HOFF

CONTENTS

Photo by Niki Jones.

AUGUST

58 SAVVY WOMEN

STYLE + HOME

18 C OUNT US IN

38 S EE HER WORK

Melony Rodwell’s Balloon Creations

40 A LOOK INSIDE

The Commune

20 GIVE BACK

Women in Numbers

Gina Chavez’s Niñas Arriba

22 F ROM THE DESK OF 24 S TART THE CONVO

Kaneisha Grayson School Shootings

ATX WOMEN TO WATCH

GOURMET 56 R ECIPE REVEAL

28 D R. AMBER BURGESS

58 F OOD NEWS

29 MORGAN ILES

WELLNESS

30 FELICIA WRIGHT ROARK 31 YOLANDA LEE CONYERS 32 TAMMY SMITTLE

DISCOVER 36 TEAS TRIPPIN’

Baked and Boozy

60 W AITING ROOM 62 H ER ROUTINE

The Dangers of Vaping

Scuba Instructor Shannon Coleman

POINT OF VIEW 64 O N THE MONEY

Big Spring

Olamaie’s Field Peas With

Red-eye Gravy

Joy-based Spending

66 ASK LUCY Local Dog-training Programs 68 I AM AUSTIN WOMAN Ann Beeson

ON THE COVER Photo by Keith Trigaci keithtrigaci.com Hair and makeup by Alicia Beller aliciabellermakeup.com Styled by Niki Jones Shot on location at Fifth & West Residences 5thandwest.com

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GUIDE TO GOOD HEALTH

VOLUME 17, ISSUE 12

DAWN WESTON

Publisher NIKI JONES

CHANTAL RICE

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Managing Editor COURTNEY RUNN

Assistant Editor MADILYN BISCOE

Marketing and Events Manager AMBER CALLAHAN, MONIKA KELLEY, CHRISTINA RINKEN-FABIANICH

Account Executives POONAM PATEL

Operations Manager CONTRIBUTORS

Editorial: Harshita Avirneni, Ann Beeson, Jordan Burnham, Brianna Caleri, Jenny Hoff, Sabrina LeBoeuf, Lindsey Logan, Hannah J. Phillips, Lucy J. Phillips, Courtney Runn, Gretchen M. Sanders Art: Alicia Beller, Madilyn Biscoe, Eryn Chandler, Molly Culver, Nicola Gell, Lucy Greenlee, Kara E. Henderson, Niki Jones, Brenda Ladd, Jennifer Lindberg, Alison Narro, Moyo Oyelola, Hannah J. Phillips, Melony Rodwell, Courtney Runn, Cory Ryan, Gretchen M. Sanders, Keith Trigaci, Madison Weakley, Jessica Wetterer, Bonnie Wright INTERNS

Harshita Avirneni, Jordan Burnham, Marlen Iruegas, Lindsey Logan, Isabel Rosenstein, Bailey Shelton

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Austin Woman is a free monthly publication of AW Media Inc., and is available at more than 1,000 locations throughout Austin and in Lakeway, Cedar Park, Round Rock and Pflugerville. All rights reserved. For submission information, visit atxwoman.com/jobs. No part of the magazine may be reprinted or duplicated without permission. Visit us online at atxwoman.com. Email us at info@awmediainc.com. 512.328.2421 | 3921 Steck Ave., Suite A111, Austin, TX 78759

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FROM THE ASSISTANT EDITOR COMMUNITY

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Publication of Austin Woman would not be possible without the support of our monthly advertisers and sponsors, who believe in the impact we are making in the Austin community. The following businesses have stepped up their support of our efforts beyond traditional advertising and we are proud to recognize them as our partners. The team at Austin Woman is grateful for these businesses that have shown their commitment to the advancement of women in Austin and hopes you, as readers, recognize their efforts and support these businesses and all our regular advertisers.

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hen choosing a cover woman for our Politics and Education issue, we decided against a politician to avoid adding to an already tense partisan environment and instead selected someone at the intersection of politics and education: a journalist. And few other women are leading in this sphere on a local and national level as successfully as Emily Ramshaw. The editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, a member of the highly prestigious Pulitzer Prize board and the mother of a rambunctious (and equally adorable) 3-year-old, Ramshaw is proving women can have high-level careers and be present parents. In an era of “fake news” and the persistent trend of newspaper layoffs, Ramshaw and The Tribune are examples of the way forward. Plus, her spot-on tweets about politics and parenting—and everything in between—earn her a place on the cover. While a politician didn’t make the cover, two political activists did make our inside pages. Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez and Wendy Davis, of respective nonprofits Jolt and Deeds Not Words, formed a joint initiative called Movement Mujeres, which aims to uplift women of color in Texas and increase civic participation. Its inaugural fellowship program launched in February with the goal of investing in women of color and helping them secure positions in local government and nonprofit organizations. Politics and education go hand in hand, and we didn’t forget about the incredible women leading the way in education. From local musician Gina Chavez’s college-scholarship fund for young women in El Salvador to Kaneisha Grayson, who helps students apply for and get into grad school, it was not difficult to find women in our city making a difference through education. If politics isn’t your thing, I hope you’ll give this issue a chance before holding out for the September issue. While policy and parties can divide us, we curated stories about women who are working in spheres in which we can all find common ground. And to balance out the heavier topics, we’ve included some fun pieces you won’t want to miss, including those on Lacey Pearce’s Baked and Boozy pies, a local scuba instructor’s wellness routine, a co-working space for creatives, a travel guide to Big Spring, Texas, and more. We also are excited to welcome Dawn Weston as our new publisher. She officially joined the magazine in July, making this the first issue under her helm. With her background in media and advertising, we know she’ll be an incredible asset to our team, and we’re looking forward to continuing our mission of celebrating Austin women with her. As always, we hope this issue inspires you, informs you and equips you to continue the conversations started in these pages with our community.

COURTNEY RUNN

Assistant Editor

Join the conversation @AustinWoman #TheEducationandPoliticsIssue

12 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

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MAGAZINE

This month, we asked our contributors:

What teacher had the biggest impact on your life and career?

KEITH TRIGACI

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER, “THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NEXT DOOR,” PAGE 42

Keith Trigaci is an Austin-based photographer who was lucky enough to recently move back to Texas from Los Angeles. When he isn’t doing commercial photography, he enjoys documenting life’s moments, including weddings and day-in-the-life family sessions. “Burton Pritzker was probably the most influential professor. He was the first teacher I came across that had a passion for photography and could truly inspire you to push the needle and strive for something more. His work is also incredible.”

JENNY HOFF

WRITER, “WOMEN ON THE MOVE,” PAGE 50

Jenny Hoff is a certified financial educator, life strategist and former managing editor with Bankrate, where she hosted a financial podcast with notable guests such as Tony Robbins and David Bach. Before a five-year stint in Europe, where she obtained her Master of Business Administration degree and worked for Germany’s public international broadcast-news station, Deutsche Welle, she was a reporter and anchor for KXAN-TV in Austin. Her work has also been featured on CNN and NBC, in Forbes and on money.com. Additionally, she has a holistic-lifecoaching business, hofflifehealth.com. “My broadcast-journalism professor at Mizzou, Greeley Kyle, taught me the most important moments of your career will be the hard ones, the ones that make you want to cry, the tasks that feel impossible. Those are the moments to cherish because they will later define your character.”

ALICIA BELLER

HAIR AND MAKEUP, “THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NEXT DOOR,” PAGE 42

Alicia Beller is a freelance makeup artist who has lived and worked in Austin for more than 20 years. After college, Alicia started working in cosmetics to utilize her artistic ability and ended up absolutely loving it. She now works for several cosmetic brands as a freelance artist and is building her own business providing makeup for private clients, photo shoots and weddings.

it.” —Est ée Laud

“My 10th-grade psychology teacher, Mr. Williams, probably had the biggest impact on me. He always projected a positive attitude and consistently held his students’ attention. He was an excellent example of what it looks like to truly love what you do.”

HANNAH J. PHILLIPS

“Find something

you’re passionat e about and keep

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WRITER, “KANEISHA GRAYSON,” PAGE 22 AND “SMALL TOWN, BIG HISTORY,” PAGE 36

tremendously interested in it.” —Julia Child

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Call 512.328.2421 or email sales@awmediainc.com atxwoman.com

Hannah J. Phillips is a freelance writer based in Austin with her pit bull, Lucy (who also contributes to Austin Woman through her monthly pets column, “Ask Lucy”). Covering food, culture and travel, Hannah enjoys writing stories about people who are making the world a better place. On weekends, Hannah and Lucy love taking day trips and exploring state parks. “My eighth-grade literature teacher expanded my writing skills while holding me to high standards, and I appreciated both his encouragement and critical eye.”

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CONNECT WITH US! IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… Check us out at atxwoman.com.

➥ Mélat. The Austin-born singer/songwriter challenging the Live Music Capital of the World’s

predominantly country and rock scene is playing her soulful rhythm and blues, and embracing her natural hair texture in the hopes of promoting a more diverse music culture. Through her music, Mélat has cultivated self-acceptance and come to the conclusion that being different (and fabulous) is much more natural than trying to fit in.

➥ Austin Woman’s New Publisher. We welcomed Dawn Weston as our new publisher in July. With her career in media and advertising, she will be an incredible asset to the magazine, and we’re looking forward to continuing our mission of celebrating Austin women with her at our helm. Get to know Weston in our digital Q&A, in which we asked her about everything from her vision for Austin Woman to her favorite coffee shops in town. being hailed as the Big Little Lies for the #MeToo era and was Reese Witherspoon’s July pick for her monthly book club. Set in corporate Dallas, the thriller dives into the complicated world of sexual harassment at work and the challenges women face in the workplace. With the addition of a murder with several potential suspects, you won’t be able to put it down.

➥ Pumping in Texas. Following the passage of House Bill 541 in the most recent legislative

session, there will be one less barrier to overcome in the breastfeeding process. The bill, which allows women to pump anywhere, goes into effect Sept. 1 and adds Texas to the list of relatively few states with breastfeeding laws.

WIN THIS!

TEXAS TRIBUNE FESTIVAL TICKETS In September, The Texas Tribune will present its ninth annual Texas Tribune Festival, a weekend-long event bringing together politicians and thought leaders from throughout the country to discuss policy and politics. Last year, more than 350 speakers descended upon downtown Austin, including presidential hopefuls, media mavens and leaders at all political levels. This year’s festival is sure to make just as big—if not a bigger—splash. In honor of our cover woman, Editor-in-Chief Emily Ramshaw, we partnered with The Tribune to give away two tickets (valued at $250 each) to one lucky Austin Woman reader. To enter to win, follow us on Instagram @austinwoman and stay on the lookout for the giveaway announcement. A winner will be chosen and notified by the end of the month.

DON’T MISS Niñas Arriba Benefit Concert Aug. 3, 8 to 10 p.m. Antone’s Nightclub, 305 E. Fifth St. ginachavez.com/college-fund

@austinwoman

16 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

GirlForward’s Evening of Art, Education and Multicultural Community Aug. 15, 6 to 9 p.m. Google Fiber, 201 Colorado St. bit.ly/2SbO0MF

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Mélat photo by Moyo Oyelola. Dawn Weston photo by Courtney Runn. Chandler Baker photo by Eryn Chandler. Texas Tribune Festival photo courtesy of The Texas Tribune.

➥ Whisper Network. Local author Chandler Baker’s summer release is already

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WOMEN IN NUMBERS

Throughout the world, education contributes to bigger paychecks and a better quality of life for women. BY JORDAN BURNHAM, ILLUSTRATIONS BY JESSICA WETTERER

1855 Mary Gentry Kavanaugh graduated from Baylor University in 1855, making her the first woman to graduate from the school and the first woman in Texas to graduate from a major university. Women would not be fully integrated at Baylor for several more years. While the University of Texas allowed both male and female students from its inception in 1883, Texas A&M University did not allow female students until 1963, 80 years later.

$71,196 949 Girlstart, a nonprofit that offers STEM programs for K-12 girls, served 949 girls in its after-school program in Central Texas in 2018. Ninety-seven percent of young women who participated in the program were able to do so at no cost, allowing them to develop a passion for fields in which women are underrepresented.

Higher ed doesn’t come cheap. The average annual cost to attend a four-year public university in Texas in the 2016-2017 school year was $17,799, amounting to $71,196 to complete an undergraduate degree with room and board, $6,756 less than the national average. A four-year degree from private institutions in Texas averaged $167,916, $2,000 more than the national average.

45.9 Percent

14 to 19 Percent According to a 2018 World Bank study, women who receive a primary education will earn 14 percent to 19 percent more money throughout their lifetime than women with no education. Those who go on to receive a secondary education will earn twice as much, and women who complete tertiary education will earn almost three times as much as those who were never educated.

18 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

According to a 2017 Austin Community Foundation report, 29.7 percent of women in Travis County have a bachelor’s degree and 16.2 percent of women in the county hold a graduate degree. This means 45.9 percent of women in Travis County hold some form of higher-education degree. A variety of socioeconomic factors, from economic security to teen pregnancy to safety, impact women’s ability to attend and stay in school. And though more women graduate than men, women are more likely to experience poverty.

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EDUCATE GIRLS, CHANGE THE WORLD

Austin musician Gina Chavez is sending girls to school through her Niñas Arriba college fund. BY SABRINA LEBOEUF

Austin musician Gina Chavez and her wife, Jodi Granado, lived in this suburb of the capital city for eight months from 2008 to 2009. They taught English at Escuela Salesiana María Auxiliadora, an all-girls Catholic school full of students with that very dream. “At one of our Saturday morning classes, we polled the senior class and asked who wanted to go to college. All of their hands went up,” Granado says in a video on the project’s website. “Then we asked a follow-up question and asked who was planning to go to college, and all of their hands went down. I think in that moment, that’s when the mission began for Niñas Arriba.” After their trip, Chavez and Granado co-founded the Niñas Arriba college fund, a college-scholarship fund for women in El Salvador. So far, they have helped four young women graduate: Xiomara and Vanesa Córdova, Marta Ventura and Rosmery Choto. When Vanesa Córdova learned she’d be receiving a scholarship that covered her tuition, books and food, as well as a paid internship with Glasswing International after graduation, she couldn’t believe it. “We thought, ‘How could someone who didn’t share the same blood as you pay for your college?’ ” Vanesa Córdova says. “When we saw that it was really happening, we saw it like a blessing and, like I tell Gina and Jodi, they and all the people that support this family are our angels on earth.” Because of the scholarship, Vanesa Córdova has earned more than a degree in marketing. She has traveled to countries like Guatemala and Honduras, something she never thought would happen in her wildest dreams. After getting the opportunity to attend college and explore her interest in teaching, Ventura came out of her shell, Chavez says. For Xiomara Córdova, the scholarship aided both herself and her second child. During her internship with Glasswing International, she received the health insurance she needed, saving both their lives. After her internship ended, the company hired her as a full-time employee.

2019 NIÑAS ARRIBA BENEFIT CONCERT Aug. 3 Antone’s Nightclub, 305 E. Fifth St. VIP reception starts at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Show starts at 8 p.m. To learn more about Niñas Arriba and purchase tickets for the upcoming benefit concert, visit ginachavez.com/college-fund.

20 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

As for Choto, she now has the opportunity to have a different life. Growing up, she sold candy to earn money for herself and her epileptic mother. With a degree in international business, her plan is to leave Soyapango, El Salvador, and start her own business. Norma Zelaya is the newest student for Niñas Arriba, kicking off the program’s second group. She’s studying food and nutrition. “We’re really excited to welcome our newest student. Her name is Norma. She’s a little bit older. She’s actually starting college at age 23 because she’s had to put it off because she essentially has been the breadwinner for her family of nine and had to put her dreams of going to school aside,” Chavez says. “So, now she’s really excited. She’s already started school.” Unlike the previous graduates who attended Universidad Don Bosco, Zelaya will attend Universidad Centroamericana as part of the Romero program. With Niñas Arriba as a funding arm for the school’s Romero program, scholars can now receive housing and mentors as part of their funding. Zelaya says finding out about her scholarship made her emotional. She sees an education as a means to have better job opportunities, as well as become a source of change in the community. “Lots of studies have shown that when you educate women in developing nations, you literally uplift entire communities, whereas often, in developing nations, when you educate a man, you are just educating a man,” Chavez says. “That’s not to say that that’s a bad thing, but it’s because of the way that women function in society, their role in the family and their role in the larger society that it has almost an immeasurable impact to educate women.” Niñas Arriba receives its funding from concertgoers at its annual benefit concerts, individual sponsors and local businesses. The eighth annual Niñas Arriba benefit concert and silent auction will take place Aug. 3 at Antone’s Nightclub. The concert will feature Chavez, The Wind + The Wave and Shy Beast. This year, the fundraising goal is $20,000. In the future, Chavez hopes to expand the scholarship program beyond El Salvador and continue the mission of changing the world one girl at a time.

Photo by Nicola Gell.

Soyapango, El Salvador, has a reputation for violence, but amidst the landscape of gangs and poverty, there are young women who dream of going to college and building a different future for their community. For most, those dreams never become reality.

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KANEISHA GRAYSON

The founder of The Art of Applying shares her top tips for securing a spot in the country’s most coveted graduate programs. BY HANNAH J. PHILLIPS, ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON WEAKLEY

In the summer of 2009, Austin native Kaneisha Grayson was interning with Nestle USA and heading into her third year at Harvard Business School, working on her Master of Business Adminstration degree. With a Master of Public Administration degree already under her belt from Harvard University’s Kennedy School, Grayson remembers fielding questions from friends about how she got into grad school twice without high test scores. After hosting a conference call to share her strategies, she turned it into a business, and The Art of Applying was born. This month marks 10 years since she took on her first clients, growing her company from her own laptop into an international million-dollar business. In a decade, Grayson and her team have helped more than 1,000 clients get accepted and win more than a combined total of $12.3 million in scholarships to their dream schools. With application season in full swing, she sat down with Austin Woman to share her tips for getting into grad school. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. “As women, we sometimes downplay our achievements or career ambitions because we don’t want to brag or sound unrealistic. I tell my clients, ‘Avoid we speak. Detail the contributions you made, not just your team.’ Describe your achievements using numbers to quantify the results of your efforts, then be specific about [what] you can do in [the] future. Help the school buy into a vivid, clear vision of what you can achieve with that education. Do they want to miss out on the next Sheryl Sandberg? No, so outline immediate, midterm and long-term career goals. Naming specific companies and specific roles gives the admissions committee an opportunity to buy into the greatest vision for your career.” AIM HIGH. “You wouldn’t wait to apply for a dream job until you feel fully qualified, so don’t wait to apply for the best schools until you have every single box checked. Because they aren’t desperately clinging to their rankings, the most prestigious schools often take more risks on what I call wild-card or beauty-mark candidates. After getting several rejections, one client recently came to us with a low GRE [graduateschool entry exam]. Through our signature applicant accelerator, our team helped secure her a full scholarship to [the University of Texas]. She could have taken that initial rejection and applied to lower-ranking schools, but she just needed a different strategy.” WEAKNESSES CAN BE OVERCOME. “Our flaws and weaknesses are what make us interesting, so rather than concealing that beauty mark, I encourage my clients to write the optional essay. Concisely and unapologetically address each weakness in your profile that may be a concern, proving what you learned from that misstep. Outline the challenge you faced and what support systems you’ve since set up for your success in grad school and beyond.” ESSAYS ARE (ALMOST) EVERYTHING. “We have very little control over most parts of the application. We cannot change our GPA or the jobs we’ve had, but we can tell our story in a compelling and authentic way to stand out. Make sure 22 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

your essay incorporates what I call the juicy-story framework, where characters have thoughts and feelings. Describe the alternatives you considered and why you chose the path you did, and give yourself time to write. Drafting your essays early gives time to reflect and get feedback during the process.” INVEST IN MENTORSHIP. “Create an application board of advisors, a group of people invested in your gradschool success, bearing in mind that this may not include your current supervisor if telling them would compromise your job. Choose people who know you professionally, personally and academically, who will read your essays, answer questions and cheer you on. Working with a professional can also make the difference between getting into a higher-ranked school. You’ll get a better return on your investment, which means you can command a higher salary after graduation.”

“Don’t you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds.” —Rumi

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THE SCHOOL-SHOOTING EPIDEMIC

This month marks 53 years of mass shootings in the United States. BY BRIANNA CALERI

approach mostly reserved for children 8 years old and younger that lets children communicate their emotional needs naturally and indirectly. When addressing a traumatic event through play therapy, Lomme might engage a child in a puppet show that reenacts the incident. Then they’ll revise the event in the show to include different character reactions, coping skills and actions taken to get to safety. A similar practice is used by Inuit families in raising children, employing storytelling and playacting to access complicated emotions in children too young to verbalize them, encouraging them to avoid reacting to bad behavior with anger. Lomme admires the Netherlands for its attitude toward mental health and violence, with social-emotional curriculum in school taught as any other academic subject would be. As the new school year approaches, there are ways for students, Texas has laws to address parents and involved community bullying and cyberbullying that members to make a tangible differmay result in jail time and fines, ence. Uniting students, experts and HOW TO START THE CONVO but Lomme worries financially volunteers can better prepare compunishing families stresses munities to address the topic, respond Take care of your own stress. Remind yourself there are them and only exacerbates to credible threats and create safe people whose job it is to create change on a larger scale. bad behavior. environments for youth. It’s most important you do your best for yourself and the Kathy Martinez-Prather, director “Kids aren’t bad—ever,” she individuals around you. of the Texas School Safety Center, says. “Their behaviors and emoGet tools and tips. Visit the webpage for the Texas School says most agreed-upon best practices tions come from something.” Safety Center to download PDFs about warning signs, the are already part of state legislation. Family dynamics are so most helpful ways to make youth of all ages feel safe and The organization acts as a mediator important in addressing behavadvice for reacting to a crisis. between the state and schools, proioral issues that when working viding technical assistance, training Communicate. Make sure students and youth around you with a child showing anger or and research to K-12 schools, charter know you’re willing to provide nonjudgmental support if signs of animosity, Lomme first schools and community colleges. they feel overwhelmed or want to report something they orders a background report heard or saw. Most of the center’s efforts are spent that includes prenatal, birth on prevention, but a comprehensive and postnatal history, focusing Volunteer. Ask your local police department for informaapproach is encouraged, acknowlon anything that can affect tion about volunteering for victim services or other trainedging school safety involves school nervous-system development. ing and certifications that might help in a crisis. climate issues like mental health, Events early on in a child’s dating violence, drugs, bullying and development can also interrupt cyberbullying. It’s not just a matter of attachments and neurologitarget hardening. cal development and must be addressed very differently than when a To enforce that comprehensive approach, Martinez-Prather says child or teenager is acting out because of more direct and recent social the center has been training school police, who report they receive causes. Lomme says the healthiest environment for children is one with “less than 1 percent of juvenile-justice training in the traditional police a stable routine and verbal communication as soon as they can talk. If academy.” Police officers are most useful to students who trust them, plans change, explaining why the change is occurring and even giving a providing a reliable destination for tips about threats. heads-up can make a big difference in helping children feel safe. One of the center’s most promoted best practices is the Behavioral Before parents and therapists have a chance to intervene in violence Threat Assessment Model, a preventative approach to addressing at school, teachers provide unique adult access to the student populacredible threats of student violence and providing helpful, nonpunition. Unfortunately, they can get caught between the responsibility of tive intervention. Introductory literature states the majority of school school administration and the firsthand experience of incidents when violence is targeted, and many attackers have talked about their plans. they slip through the cracks. Some argue teachers should be armed but Martinez-Prather says students are often left out of prevention efforts, others insist a teacher’s job shouldn’t be to act as a bodyguard. and through the center, she hopes to offer them more involvement with “The notes [students] leave me when they graduate and daily reprograms such as the Youth Preparedness Council. minders of the struggles they overcome are why I keep going back,” “We need to have a fine balance between hardening our schools and Felipe A. Trimiño says about the responsibility of facing potential not hardening our students,” she says. One expert offering safe communication with youth about trauma is violence every day as a teacher. “That said, I am not sure I would have licensed play therapist Loren Lomme at Just Mind. Play therapy is an been able to go back were it not for the counseling help I got.”

This month marks 53 years since the tower shooting at the University of Texas shocked civilians into the realization that school campuses are not safe from mass shootings. In 2012, the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut crossed an incomprehensible line by making mass shootings relevant at elementary schools. While databases disagree about what constitutes a mass shooting, Education Week found that last year was the worst on record since 1970 for school shootings, with a shooting occurring, on average, every eight school days throughout the United States. Every day children go to school, it’s a relevant topic.

24 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

Several years ago, Trimiño witnessed a teenager die by suicide. First-aid support came immediately, and in the following days, the district sent counselors and social workers to the school. Communities in Schools, an organization that offers support to encourage students to stay in school, provided long-term support to see the community all the way though the complicated process of healing. “We can and do educate ourselves on best practices to remain safe [and] we practice potential events yet know we are vulnerable no matter how much we try,” Trimiño says. “When I think about what our students need and deserve, I think that there is no way I’d leave them for a false sense of security.” Similarly dedicated teachers at the University of Texas can volunteer in a new program partnered with the campus police department called the Victims Advocate Network. When police respond to an incident, they can offer to dispatch a plainclothes VAN volunteer who has undergone 40 hours of initial training, including police ride-alongs, to provide calm and nonjudgmental support while the officers gather reports. With a volunteer present, a victim or witness can avoid sitting with intrusive thoughts about an incident or answering intimidating questions alone. Since its initiation in January, VAN has only been called to non-life-threatening accidents and has 20 volunteers, with a goal to recruit 20 more. Program coordinator Marica Wright recommends civilians, who are not eligible to volunteer for VAN, seek out similar opportunities, such as Travis County Integral Care Mental Health First Aid training, or training through the Austin Police Department or Travis County Sheriff’s Office’s Victim Services. People in need of help should look online for resources and hotlines, and most importantly, they should ask for help when they need it. Wright’s philosophy is to make a difference one person at a time. “Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming when we look at the big picture of trauma,” she says, noting we can make the most difference “when we center ourselves back into the moment and we remember how much of a difference each effort makes for each person we’re helping.”

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS BY THE NUMBERS

1966 The 1966 mass shooting at the University of Texas was the first of its kind in the country.

8 According to Education Week’s tracker, there was, on average, a school shooting every eight school days in the United States in 2018.

1,165 According to The Washington Post, 1,165 people have been killed in mass shootings since 1966.

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DR. AMBER BURGESS

CO-OWNER OF ORTHO 360 ORTHODONTICS

r. Amber Burgess is a board-certified orthodontist and the co-owner of Ortho 360 Orthodontics, a practice for children and adults with five offices in and throughout the Austin area. Burgess believes you can change a life by changing a smile. She speaks about orthodontia the way many women talk about shoes, full of excitement and affection. Burgess earned her degree from the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine and because she always wants to offer the latest and most advanced care to her patients, she completes more than 50 hours of continuing education every year, attending intensive dental-education centers like the Kois Center in Seattle and Spear Education in Arizona. She moved her family to the beautiful city of Austin in 2009 and joined forces with Dr. Stanton Henry and the offices of Ortho 360 in 2010. Burgess is a busy wife and mother to two girls and also an avid runner. ortho360.com

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MORGAN ILES

L I C E N S E D C H I R O PR ACTO R A N D OW N E R O F T R U LY C H I R O PR ACT I C

organ Iles is a chiropractor, family-wellness advocate and owner of Truly Chiropractic, located in South Austin. She designed Truly Chiropractic with community in mind. From open adjustment rooms, community events and local coffee and kombucha on tap to the passion of the staff, you can feel the difference when you walk through the doors. Iles has a passion for educating and empowering families and their children to take control of their health naturally through chiropractic care. Her goal is to balance the nervous system and unleash the power of the bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innate ability to heal from within. Iles is a graduate of the University of Texas and holds a doctor of chiropractic degree from Parker University. She has additional certifications in the Webster Technique, training through Epic Pediatrics and the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association and instruction with Birthfit. Iles invites you to start your healing journey and path toward experiencing life to the fullest degree. trulychiropractictx.com

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FELICIA WRIGHT ROARK S T R AT E G Y E X E C U T I O N C O N S U LTA N T

s a business consultant, Felicia Wright Roark helps businesses effectively execute their growth strategies using experiential learning methods that accelerate implementation and deliver measurable results. With BTS, a global professional-services firm, she collaborates with leaders to design and deliver custom programs that optimize innovation, digital transformation, leadership development, business acumen and strategy alignment for Fortune 500 companies. Previously, Roark was a registered lobbyist representing businesses at the Texas Capitol. As a passionate public speaker, Roark has had the pleasure to keynote at company events about topics ranging from resiliency to change management. She earned her Master of Business Administration degree from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas and loves living in Austin. As a board member for a Municipal Utility District in Travis County, Roark aims to make an impact on the growth and development in our thriving city. linkedin.com/in/feliciawrightroark

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YOL ANDA LEE CONYERS

VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES AND CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER AT LENOVO

Photo by Pan Shiyi.

olanda Lee Conyers is the president of the Lenovo Foundation and the chief diversity officer and vice president of global human resources for Lenovo, a $50 billion global Fortune 500 company and leader in personal computers, smartphones, tablets, servers and gaming technologies. In her role as chief diversity officer, Conyers sets researchbased, industry-leading inclusion initiatives and leverages her years of experience working in engineering and operational roles in high-tech companies to lead HR strategies globally. Conyers co-authored the work of Lenovo’s transformation from a Chinese heritage company to a successful, culturally integrated global brand in her bestselling book, The Lenovo Way. As the president of the Lenovo Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm, she’s leading the mission to provide greater access to technology and STEM education in under-resourced communities throughout the world. In 2018, the organization committed $14.4 million in partnerships, charitable giving and volunteerism to empower minorities in STEM. lenovo.com

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TA M M Y S M I T T L E

C E O AT T H E H O S P I TA L AT W E S T L A K E M E D I C A L C E N T E R AND ARISE AUSTIN MEDICAL CENTER

ammy Smittle is the CEO of two independent physician-owned acute-care hospitals. Despite the local and national trend of most hospitals being absorbed into larger corporate entities, Smittle’s leadership has allowed these two locally owned facilities to remain independent and also to thrive. Her hospitals have become industry leaders in providing acute, surgical and general medical care. Smittle’s background as a registered nurse for more than 22 years has driven her passion for a patient-centered care model that focuses on exceptional outcomes, patient satisfaction and cost effectiveness. As CEO, Smittle oversees all aspects of operations, physician recruitment, financial matters and market development. Despite her busy schedule, Smittle is an avid cyclist but her most enjoyable and rewarding endeavor is being a baseball mom to her rising 9-year-old son, Slate. westlakemedical.com

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TEXAS TRIPPIN’

SMALL TOWN, BIG HISTORY

Big Spring, Texas, blends its small-town roots with modern charm. STORY AND PHOTOS BY HANNAH J. PHILLIPS

Few small towns blend the varied roots of our state heritage quite so seamlessly—and surprisingly—as Big Spring, Texas. Out on the plains, the cultural remnants of Native American, Spanish, pioneer, railroad and oil histories converge at the crossroads of Highway 87 and Interstate 20. The town takes its name from a natural water source that served as a Comanche meeting place, a respite on Cabeza de Vaca’s expedition in 1535 and a campsite for the area’s first settlers. With the renovation of the historic Hotel Settles, the modern traveler still answers the call of the West. A trip to Big Spring is an invitation to step back in time, slow down and take in the view.

Hotel Settles lobby

36 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

Leaving Austin, nothing kick-starts vacation mode faster than the 85 mph speed limit on the Highway 183 toll road, but Burnet and Llano, Texas, ease travelers into a slower weekend pace. After Brady, Texas, Hill Country roads shift to endless stretches of flat farmland on the Panhandle Plains. As red canyon rims surface outside San Angelo, Texas, the first hints of West Texas arise. Sudden summer squalls slide across the highway, evoking Comanche creation legends of an earth-formed people “with the strength of mighty storms.” Sometimes, the sinking sun creates golden sheets of rain on the rim of these dark thunderheads, as if to veil the clash of ancient spirits in clouds and lightning. The mystic scene whets the appetite for Big Spring, where Comanche lore lingers, despite the rising tide of Texas industry.

Municipal Auditorium

A product of the oil boom, Hotel Settles towers above the horizon downtown. Built after the Settles family discovered oil on their ranch, the 15-story hotel was the tallest building between El Paso and Forth Worth, Texas, when it opened in 1930. With wood-paneled walls, marble floors and a grand ballroom, the Settles drew visitors from throughout the country in the 1940s and ’50s, even boasting a visit from Elvis Presley for his 1955 gig at the Municipal Auditorium. The hotel fell into disrepair after the oil crash of the 1980s, but an extensive renovation from Big Spring native G. Brint Ryan restored the boutique property to its former glory in 2012. Check in with the friendly staff and unpack before enjoying a drink at Pharmacy Bar & Parlor, named for the hotel’s original drugstore. A jalapeño margarita is both a jolt and a relaxing treat after a long drive. For dinner, snag a bite from the Settles Grill or sample the same menu from the comfort of a guest room while watching the famous West Texas sunset fade from pink to purple above the Texas and Pacific Railway tracks. If feeling adventurous, grab a nightcap at The Train Car or watch the stars come out while soaking in the hotel’s outdoor pool. In the morning, it’s time to trace the history of the spring itself, located at Comanche Trail Park. Eight new bronze markers tell the story of the spring’s significance through the centuries, from its use as a watering hole and gathering place for indigenous tribes to visits from Spanish explorers, the arrival of the first ranchers in the area and the emergence of the railroad and oil industries in the 20th century. Standing on the edge of the pool while the stream trickles through two cracks of limestone, it’s remarkable to realize that such a small but vital water source changed the course of both state and national history. Take in more of the outdoors at nearby Big Spring State Park, where the 2.5-mile Scenic Mountain trail provides panoramic vistas across the plains. At the ranger station, grab a self-guided-walking-tour pamphlet for a fun plant-and-wildlife scavenger hunt, and while hiking, keep an eye out for historic carvings etched in stone. The park’s pavilion and scenic drive were built in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Commissioned to employ young men looking to support their families during the Great Depression, the CCC is responsible for many of the structures in Texas state parks today. Enjoy a picnic at the pavilion before digging into more history at the Hangar 25 Air Museum and nearby Big Spring Vietnam Memorial or head downtown to the Heritage Museum of Big Spring before relaxing back by the pool at Hotel Settles. Along with local artifacts and a gallery of Western works by artist H. Wallace Caylor, the Heritage Museum houses an impressive collection of longhorn horns; mementos from the first celebrity female bull rider, Patricia McCormick; and photos of prominent female homesteaders like Dora Roberts, who paved the way for local pioneers. Regroup downtown with a stroll through the historic town center, browsing antiques and local boutiques like Famous Elle and The Wardrobe before dinner at Lumbre Bar and Grill. In the morning, snap a farewell selfie at the Big Spring mural and check out the architecture at the Municipal Auditorium before hitting the road. As the Settles slips from view, the highway unfolds across the plains back home and to our modern century.

GET OUTSIDE Aside from Big Spring State Park, two other state parks are within an hour of Big Spring, Texas. To the south is San Angelo State Park. With 50 miles of multiuse trails, including one with fossilized dinosaur tracks from the Permian age (ask the park ranger for the access code), the park is also home to the Official Texas State Longhorn Herd. West of Big Spring, Monahans Sandhills State Park is an otherworldly mirage of nearly 4,000 acres of Sahara-like desert. Rent disks to ride the 50-foot dunes or just stare across the vast expanse of this geological wonder. Beyond the park, the sea of sand extends almost 200 miles north into New Mexico.

Comanche Trail Park

VISITING BIG SPRING, TEXAS Hotel Settles, hotelsettles.com Municipal Auditorium, mybigspring.com The Train Car, thetraincar.com Comanche Trail Park, mybigspring.com Big Spring State Park, tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/big-spring Hangar 25 Air Museum, hangar25airmuseum.org Big Spring Vietnam Memorial, thebigspringvietnammemorial.weebly.com Heritage Museum of Big Spring, heritagebigspring.com Famous Elle, shopfamouselle.com The Wardrobe, facebook.com/thewardrobe.bs Lumbre Bar and Grill, lumbrebarandgrill.com

Comanche Trail Park

ATXWOMAN.COM | 37

TYLE

SEE HER WORK

POP OF COLOR

Melony Rodwell’s whimsical balloon creations are the life of every party. BY COURTNEY RUNN

Rodwell grew up loving balloons. Her parents would fill the living room with balloons for birthdays, and she’s carried on the tradition with

her own kids. Once she started bringing balloons to school events, she realized she had a “knack for over-the-top balloon installations.” “With the internet at my fingertips and an abundance of inspiration, my balloon designs became an art form for me and quickly integrated into my floral-design business,” she says. With larger installations, Rodwell can use anywhere from hundreds to thousands of balloons. For an upcoming project, she’s expecting to use more than 50,000—the largest amount yet. “I tend to be most captivated by the magic of movement,” she says. “With the right design elements in place, it only takes a slight breeze or even a passing car to bring the installation to life.”

“My why to all of this is 100 percent witnessing the literal joy these brightly colored latex bubbles bring to everyone who encounters our installations. ... It’s like a crazy, universal, happy love language we just can’t get enough of.” —Melony Rodwell

38 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

Top left photo by Jennifer Lindberg. Headshot by Cory Ryan. Other photos by Melony Rodwell.

From boats to business openings to bachelorette parties, Melony Rodwell’s balloon creations are popping up everywhere. Encountering her creations is like stepping into the last scene of a chick flick: Colorful balloons spill into the sky, arch over doors and crowd the sidewalk, evoking smiles as bright as Jennifer Garner’s or Reese Witherspoon’s. All that's needed is a Sixpence None the Richer song playing in the background to complete the movie magic.

ATXWOMAN.COM |â&#x20AC;&#x201A; 39

OME

A LOOK INSIDE

THE COMMUNE

Peek inside North Loop’s newest co-working space, designed specifically for artists. BY COURTNEY RUNN

The North Loop neighborhood welcomed a new commune this April, but at this shared space, the artists leave at the end of the day.

Photo by Molly Culver.

After returning to Austin from a stint in Shanghai for her husband’s job, artist and graphic designer Lauren Cunningham was ready to work again but couldn’t find the right studio space. Motivated by necessity and inspired by the desire for community, she created her dream studio and named it The Commune, an ambiguous name hopefully edgy enough to pique interest while pointing back to its communal purpose. After finding the perfect home for her budding venture in a longdormant building, Cunningham hired Hunt Architecture to renovate the space and her friend Claire Zinnecker to design it. The result is 3,600 square feet of natural light, minimalistic furniture and Zinnecker’s signature palette of blushes and earthy tones, with a scattering of plants.

Intentionally designed for artists, the space includes art storage, easels, mess sinks with oil traps, printers for larger-scale projects and a library of design resources, along with the traditional co-working amenities like coffee, snacks and a conference room. Currently, the workshop offers private permanent studios (for which there’s already a waitlist), dedicated desks and community co-working availability on a daily or monthly basis. “Creatives need to be surrounded by other creatives,” Zinnecker says. “Not only does it allow for incredible collaborations to happen, but also helps us to continue being inspired by others’ creativity and drive.” Cunningham also designed the co-working space with events in mind, offering it for event rental and hosting a variety of art workshops and classes. “I feel like [co-working spaces] are taking over the world,” Cunningham says. “But, of course, most of them tend to be more tech-geared, more male-dominated, and so it’s kind of refreshing to have something that’s more geared for creatives, and we have a lot of women members.”

40 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

“Since I’ve lived [in the North Loop neighborhood] for quite a few years, I didn’t want to just stick something new onto such a special street. We wanted to honor the existing building and its history. We made each design detail count and add to the building instead of [taking] away from it, using natural, warm materials and finishes.”

Photos by Molly Culver. Photo of Lauren Cunningham and Claire Zinnecker courtesy of Son of Rand.

-Claire Zinnecker

ATXWOMAN.COM | 41

42 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019 2019

THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

NEXT DOOR As the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, Emily Ramshaw is on the cutting edge of the nonprofit-journalism model and at the helm of one of the most successful newsrooms in the nation. As a leader and a mom, she is proving having it all together is overrated and that there’s value in vulnerability. BY COURTNEY RUNN PHOTOS BY KEITH TRIGACI HAIR AND MAKEUP BY ALICIA BELLER STYLED BY NIKI JONES SHOT ON LOCATION AT FIFTH & WEST RESIDENCES

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t 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning, Emily Ramshaw is upside down—literally. Her hands firmly planted on the ground, she inches her Outdoor Voicesclad legs up the wall as her toddler looks on, not fully convinced she should join Mommy. Soon, the two switch places, toddler legs up in the air with her mom guiding them.

This June morning at The Little Yoga House, there are five moms with their toddlers. Throughout the room, moms are upside down or flipping their toddlers upside down, singing along to “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Some are regulars. Some, like Ramshaw and her daughter, are first-timers. One mom takes her daughter regularly, supplementing the yoga the girl learns in preschool. Another mom chimes in, saying her child’s preschool encourages similar techniques with breathing lessons and exercises to identify emotions. Despite Miss Meg’s best efforts, her students do less emotional work and more running around the room, alternating between shrieks of joy and shrieks of frustration. The moms, however, are A-plus students, quickly identifying their spirit animals, gamely playing Ring Around the Poses and folding themselves into unicorn pose and turtle pose. Ramshaw’s daughter is content to watch her peers while munching on a Lärabar, but by the end of the class, she’s performing downward dog with the best of them. After a closing namaste singalong, Miss Meg opens the door, releasing the toddlers like a pack of puppies into the accompanying play area. Did the class stretch their growing limbs, provide an outlet for their boundless energy and bring Zen to their little minds? Who knows, but it is incredibly adorable. After a child handoff to her husband, Ramshaw heads off to get a facial. She’s had a busy week. As the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, she finished overseeing the publication of a slew of stories ranging from the vaccine crisis to what bills passed during the legislative session, briefly sparred with Gov. Greg Abbott on Twitter about faulty statepublished data, taped a podcast and had her daughter projectile vomit all over her and the car on the way to day care.

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f you Google “Emily Ramshaw,” two women pop up, forever locked in the battle of search engine optimization. The other Emily Ramshaw (the “hotter, younger” woman, according to The Tribune’s Ramshaw) works for dating app Bumble in Canada and is also an editor. So, if you stumble upon a beauty-product review or fashion editorial by Emily Ramshaw, know that the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune is not a closeted fashion freelance writer, but the two Ramshaws switching lives for a week à la Freaky Friday would make for an instant success on Netflix. The Ramshaw of The Texas Tribune has been training for her current role her whole life. She grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the daughter of two high-profile reporters, and followed in her parents’ and grandparents’ footsteps by attending Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and U.S. history. “Honestly, I grew up with two parents who were political journalists who were in the middle of every presidential campaign and every war and every major decision on Capitol Hill, and their careers were thrilling,” Ramshaw says. “I think it was in my DNA; it was in my bloodstream. And the moment I knew that I could pursue

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journalism, it was the path that I chose.” After a string of internships ending at The Dallas Morning News, she graduated with a job offer from the Dallas publication and moved to Texas. She was met with questions like, “What are you doing?” “How long will you be gone?” and “When are you coming back?” from her East Coast friends, but Texas and Ramshaw got along just fine. She quickly fought her way up the ranks, working night shifts then coming in the following days, continuously pitching articles and fighting for front-page stories. From covering the cop beat at night to city-council meetings, she was willing to write about anything and everything, and caught the politics bug after getting assigned to cover city hall. Through her investigative reporting, she exposed sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers and went undercover in a polygamous West Texas cult. “I love the horse race. I love the personalities. I love the negotiations,” Ramshaw says. “Maybe what I love most of all are the strange bedfellows. I thought before I came to Texas everything was black and white, everything was red or blue. ... So, I find Texas politics to be delicious.”

Her sharp reporting and grit caught the eye of then Texas Monthly Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith. In the oft-repeated origin story of The Tribune, Smith and Ross Ramsey created the “equivalent of a fantasy baseball draft list” of reporters they wanted for their new digital-based news nonprofit. Ramshaw was at the top of the list. When the opportunity came to join a team of well-known Texas journalists and reinvent the business model of journalism, Ramshaw was ready to jump. By 2009, when she left The Dallas Morning News, daily regional newspapers were laying off staff members in droves and the Great Recession was in motion. Ramshaw had already considered law school but two failed LSATs primed her to join The Tribune. For her, it was riskier to stay than leave traditional journalism. The risk paid off. The Tribune’s nonprofit model is now one of the leading national examples of

how journalism can move forward in an age of increasing layoffs and paradigm shifts. With a diversified stream of revenue—major gifts, foundation support, individual member donations, events and corporate sponsorship—and extreme transparency (visitors can see The Tribune’s strategic plan through 2025, staff salaries, donor contributions and more on its website), the long-held separation between journalists and the accounting department dissolved. The journalists, Ramshaw says, are responsible for the financial bottom line, and she believes that makes them stronger, more creative, more invested reporters. The Tribune has grown to include almost 70 staff members at its downtown Austin headquarters and Washington, D.C., Dallas and El Paso, Texas, bureaus. The staff produces more than 50 events per year, including its annual Texas Tribune Fest, a political festival featuring high-profile Texas and national politicians and thought leaders from both sides of the aisle, everyone from John Kerry to Sen. Ted Cruz. (Ramshaw is still holding out for Beyoncé.) The publication’s articles are nationally syndicated, and when Texans run for president or make headlines, the national gaze shifts to Texas and to The Tribune. As the migrant border crisis reached a feverish peak in June, The Tribune’s coverage went viral on social media, its story about migrant detention centers turning down donated hygiene products retweeted more than 16,000 times. Politicians and journalists throughout the country regularly point to the publication’s coverage. For Ramshaw, though, the moment she knew The Tribune had truly made it was in 2016, when she received a phone call while in the parking lot of Cherrywood Coffeehouse notifying her she had been nominated to the board of the Pulitzer Prize. Her first reaction was disbelief (“Is this a prank?”), her second, pride. “It was the greatest honor of my career to be selected, and more important than that, it signified that The Texas Tribune was really, truly on the map,” Ramshaw says. “If they wanted someone on the 18-member board of the Pulitzer Prize who represented a scrappy, nonprofit digital news startup in the center of the United States, it meant that The Texas Tribune had made it. For me, that was the best part of it all.” Under Ramshaw’s leadership, The Tribune had made it. Regardless of whether she saw leadership potential in herself when she joined the team, Smith always had. “The generational moment for journalism is now. The overturning of the mulch is now. And Emily is the absolute leading edge of that in Texas and nationally,” Smith says. “I think if you asked around the country who are the most important women in media, not just news and not just in Texas, her name would be on anybody’s list. And the reason is she has demonstrated over and over and over that she has absolutely perfect judgment, that she is a terrific journalist and a great and inspiring leader that people want to follow. … We would not be here but for her. We will not be where we go next but for her.”

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n 2019, female-led newsrooms are still rare. Smith offered Ramshaw the position of editor-in-chief in 2016, while she was on maternity leave, a decision she describes as a “pretty bold move to say to a woman who has giant black circles under her eyes, is covered in spit up and hasn’t slept for, like, three months.” In 2017, the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies explored the persistent trend of more women than men graduating from journalism schools but a subsequent lack of female representation in the industry. Numbers haven’t improved much in the past two years, with a 2019 Women’s Media Center study reporting men write 60 percent of online news and 59 percent of print news and represent 63 percent of prime-time anchors and correspondents. Globally, violence against female journalists is prevalent. In its 2018 study Attacks and Harassment: The Impact on Female Journalists and Their Reporting, the International Women’s Media Foundation found “nearly one-third of female journalists consider leaving their profession due to online attacks and threats.” ProPublica and New York Times Magazine reporter Pamela Colloff tweeted, “One of the great things about officing at the @TexasTribune is that I get to walk through a female-led newsroom every day. Editorin-Chief @eramshaw—journalist extraordinaire + mother of a toddler—sets the tone. Put more women in charge and this will be less of a problem,” she noted, referencing a Columbia Journalism Review article citing the news industry as “notoriously hard on moms.” When Ramshaw returned to work after maternity leave, she was suddenly in charge of a newsroom and an infant. Her daughter wouldn’t take to a bottle, so she nursed in her office, her nanny driving back and forth throughout the day for feedings. Some days, it was hard to even get off the couch. About 10 months after giving birth, she tweeted, “I fell into darkness after having a baby this year. Took months to climb out. I should’ve asked for help sooner.” She had joined a large sorority of working moms, her initiation involving pumping at work behind curtained windows, scrambling when the babysitter is sick, working through cries, changing plans when her daughter projectile vomits on her in the car. If journalists are “servants and slaves of information,” as Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya once wrote, then journalists with infants are doubly enslaved. When Ramshaw was pregnant, she turned to journalists Katy Vine and Colloff, both then with Texas Monthly and working moms. She remembers their advice as being invaluable as she prepared to become a mom. Vine and Colloff don’t remember offering anything extraordinary to Ramshaw, but their presence alone was significant, proof it could be done. When Colloff was pregnant with her first child, she remembers fearing her career as an investigative reporter would be over. “I think what’s changed is that people are very open and candid about raising children now on social media, and Emily certainly is, whereas I remember when I had my son, which is almost 12 years ago, that I felt like that was something I sort of needed to hide if I was going to be taken seriously, whereas now, serious journalists post baby pictures all the time,” Colloff says. Economist Emily Oster recently wrote in The Atlantic about the trend of “secret planning” and how it affects parents in any given industry. “When work and parenting seem at odds—because our culture tells us they’re at odds—mothers and

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fathers feel forced to demonstrate their commitment to one (the work side) by minimizing their concern for the other (the parenting side),” she wrote. Unlike the decades of women who went before her and toed the line of strict separation between parenting and reporting, Ramshaw regularly takes to Twitter to share the lows (and highs) of learning to be a mom. Her Twitter bio cuts to the chase: “Balancing a toddler and a newsroom with only occasional grace.” When Ramshaw first began tweeting more openly about her daughter, she was surprised by how much engagement her tweets generated. Now she’s known for her “parenting fail” tweets, which her followers often correctly point out are not fails, but the experiences of parents everywhere. One recent donation to The Tribune was made in honor of “Emily Ramshaw’s kid tweets.” When Ramshaw was at the playground earlier this year, she saw Greg Fenves, the president of the University of Texas, and approached him expecting to talk shop. Instead, he told her how much he loved her parenting tweets. Ramshaw has found her digital sweet spot: hard news mixed with stories of mistakenly pulling her daughter’s underwear from her purse instead of a business card. What could have been perceived as a professional weakness became a professional strength, in some cases literally generating income. While social media can lead to bullying and toxicity, it simultaneously rewards vulnerability, serving as a powerful conduit for connection and reassurance. In this case, it provides reassurance that all toddlers are equally adorable and exhausting. Social media also serves as a platform to elevate the work of women. As prospective moms worrying about their journalism careers can look to women like Ramshaw on Twitter to know they are not alone, women graduating from journalism school and looking upon a bleak job market can see a vast network of women performing the work they dream of. “It feels like women are supporting each other’s work more online and promoting each other’s work,” Vine says. Chipping away at the phenomenon of “fake news” and perceived declining credibility of journalists is a “persistence game,” she says. Journalists doing the hard “work to be well-sourced to have enough sources and good sources and to know the difference between good and bad” will earn their stay. The Tribune is known for its trailblazing in the nonprofitjournalism sphere, but a contributing element of its success not discussed enough is Ramshaw’s vulnerability as a leader. While some of her tweets are lighthearted, she’s doing more than making people chuckle as they pause in the endless scroll; she’s offering them space for shared human experience. She’s reminding people she’s a real person, reminding people who might otherwise think she’s “fake news.” As the editorin-chief of a successful political-news organization and a member of an exclusive, prestigious board, Ramshaw could be intimidating. But if Twitter is the modern window into the soul, Ramshaw is just like you: She’s a devoted—and tired— mom who loves her husband and cares deeply about the same issues you do. She is warm and kind and humble. Above Ramshaw’s standing desk in her office, the message “The closer you are to people, the better you can serve them” is scrawled on a whiteboard. She lives close. Her love for The Tribune and its staff runs deep; she’s emotionally invested in the stories they tell and the readers who receive them. “Many of our reporters’ stories moved me to tears, still move me to tears,” she says. “And as painful as experiencing those stories is and reporting those stories and editing those stories is, it’s so crucial we don’t lose our humanity as we tell those stories.”

“MANY OF OUR REPORTERS’ STORIES MOVED ME TO TEARS, STILL MOVE ME TO TEARS.”

efore social media, Ramshaw had a more immediate role model: her own mom. “She busted through the glass ceiling,” Ramshaw says. “She’s a total badass and she was just a crucial reminder to me that you could have a family and a phenomenal career, and you didn’t have to choose.” Her mom started in the women’s section of a newspaper and worked her way up to an editor position at a major daily newspaper. Ramshaw says she still vividly remembers calling her one day while in middle school in search of her soccer cleats. Her mom, in the middle of a breaking news story, paused the newsroom to help her daughter. When Ramshaw was in high school, her mom took Wednesdays off to make sure she was home with her daughters. Those memories guide Ramshaw now as she parents and leads. Besides helping her gain followers, Ramshaw credits her daughter with helping her be a better boss. Before, she had no boundaries, working through the weekend, her phone always nearby. Now, she’s strict about leaving the office in time for dinner and bedtime, and the phone goes in the other room. She also gives her employees four months of parental leave: three months paid, one month unpaid, all four with job protection. “That’s probably a dirty little secret. … I didn’t have the patience I needed to have for parents before I had Sophie,” Ramshaw says. “I didn’t have the separation between home and work, the work/ life balance that I think truly makes you a better employee, not to mention a better human being. She’s made me see leadership in a different way, and I think she’s turned me into the kind of boss that people really want to work for.” Ramshaw wakes up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. every day and catches up on the news before her daughter wakes up, which triggers the flurry of getting two adults and a toddler to work and day care on time. Ramshaw then spends her day in meetings and podcasts, tracking the news, tracking how many migrant children are separated from their parents. Then she goes home to her own child, tending to dinner and the dog and bath time. Sometimes she gets back online to keep working after her daughter falls asleep or she watches TV with her husband. The cadence of her life ebbs and flows with the news cycle, but Ramshaw’s feet are firmly planted, stones in her hand ready to create ripples. ATXWOMAN.COM | 49

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WOMEN M ON THE O V E WENDY DAVIS AND CRISTINA TZINTZÚN RAMIREZ JOIN FORCES IN MOVEMENT MUJERES, AN INITIATIVE TO DIVERSIFY TEXAS POLITICS, CHANGE PUBLIC POLICY AND EMPOWER MORE WOMEN OF COLOR TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD.

BY JENNY HOFF | PHOTOS BY KARA E. HENDERSON

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At first glance, Wendy Davis and Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez don’t seem to like an obvious match. A former state senator representing Tarrant County, Davis gave birth to her first daughter the same year Tzintzún Ramirez was born. One woman is blond-haired and light-eyed, while the other jokingly describes herself as purebred Mexican Irish. (Tzintzún Ramirez’s mother is Mexican. Her father is white and of Irish descent.) Davis is a seasoned politician who just launched a campaign against Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, in the hopes of winning his congressional seat in Washington, while Tzintzún Ramirez has dedicated her career to making change at a grassroots level, spending much of the legislative session at the Capitol in Austin to keep elected officials in check.

Even the organizations that brought them together have opposing origins: Davis started her nonprofit, Deeds Not Words, in March 2016 to help propel the progressive agenda of what she anticipated would be a Hillary Clinton presidency, whereas Tzintzún Ramirez started her organization, Jolt, in November 2016 to help build Latino political power, in part as a response to the newly elected Trump administration. Yet one only needs to visit with Tzintzún Ramirez and Davis at the small Deeds Not Words office in a hip new warehouse-style complex in East Austin to quickly realize these two women were destined to meet. They are almost like two sides of the same coin. Both the activist and politician were raised by moms who grew up in poverty, came from large families (nine or more siblings) and never completed high school. Both women also individually credit their fathers’ influence for pursuing their passions versus paychecks. And both are constantly traversing the state, fighting to change the demographic makeup of the Texas Legislature, whether from the inside or the outside. “When we don’t have the diversity of ideas and representation in government, we don’t get the diverse solutions we need,” says Tzintzún Ramirez, laying out the demographic makeup of the state versus that of the Texas Legislature. Between the two chambers in the state Capitol, there are currently 136 male and 42 female legislators, even though women comprise slightly more than half of the Texas population (50.4 percent, according to 2010 census data). And while Texas is a majority-minority state with 58 percent of residents identifying as nonwhite, only 36 percent of state lawmakers are people of color. “When people think of Texas, they think of a majority of cowboys,” Tzintzún Ramirez says. “But actually, what they should be imagining is a state that is young, brown and black. That is who Texas is.” While Tzintzún Ramirez was named by Southern Living magazine as a New Hero of Civil Rights and regularly marches on the Capitol in support of women and immigrants, Davis gained national recognition as a politician on the rise after she donned pink sneakers and stood for 11 hours straight on the Senate floor, hoping to thwart passage of an abortion bill she felt would restrict women’s rights. In short, they are women on the move, which makes the organization they founded together, Movement Mujeres, a fitting choice for their first collaboration. “Because we don’t have that diversity of representation in every level of policymaking, what we see are that women are on 52 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

the receiving end of hostile legislation,” Davis says. “Until we have women at the table, they’ll continue to be on the menu.” The purpose of Movement Mujeres is to help young women of color who hold values most often associated with the Democratic Party and have demonstrated leadership potential to become more active players in social and policy change, both within government and as a part of philanthropic organizations. Every two years, Movement Mujeres leads will choose 25 fellows whose duties will include meeting quarterly in cities throughout the state. They will learn skills such as fundraising, networking and producing op-eds from journalists and current state leaders. They will then be matched with other successful women of color, who will act as mentors as they forge their paths in the public-policy sector. The aim of Movement Mujeres is to give the fellows the network and fundraising abilities they need to pursue roles they may have previously thought were out of reach. “We are hoping to provide young women with the confidence and the tools and skills to show up and be successful when they try out for the team,” Davis says. One woman who plans to be in the game is current Movement Mujeres fellow Erika Ramirez, who finished her Master of Public Administration degree at George Washington University and came back to Texas after the 2016 election, determined to concentrate on helping her own community first. “I was going to start on my own work as being an advocate for women’s health for the legislative session,” she says. “Then I saw this opportunity and I realized it was geared toward women exactly like me. I’m especially excited to find a mentor who can help guide me to the right path.” Ramirez is part of the first cohort of fellows chosen after a brief call for applications at the end of 2018. Even though the fellowship opportunity was announced near the holidays and came with only a short window to apply, Davis and Tzintzún Ramirez were surprised to receive almost 250 applications from women throughout the state who were already active in their communities and ready to take the next step as leaders. The chosen fellows were announced in February, right in the thick of the 2019 legislative session, giving the women the opportunity to jump right in to advocacy and policy discussions, and showing them that whatever path they choose, they can be a part of shaping Texas. “Running for office is something I would consider,” Ramirez says. “Or I may want to start my own nonprofit that focuses on women of color in the health space.”

“Until we have women at the table, they’ll continue to be on the menu.” —Wendy Davis

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“You’re never going to learn if you’re cut out for something until you just do it.” — Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez

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HOW TO GET INVOLVED Not everyone can qualify for a Movement Mujeres fellowship, but that doesn’t mean every Texan can’t contribute to making this state a better place for all. Wendy Davis and Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez offer up their suggestions for identifying the tools any woman needs to get into politics.

Davis says she wants to show the fellows that change isn’t as impossible as it seems. After all, she’s living proof. When she won her state Senate seat in 2008, she turned a longtime Republican stronghold blue. However, change also takes grit. Even though she lost in her 2014 bid for Texas governor by more than 20 points, despite national recognition and an enthusiastic fan base, she’s ready to show getting knocked down doesn’t mean you’re out of the game. While she admits she doesn’t have another statewide race in her at the moment (she’s letting fellow Democrats challenge Republican senator John Cornyn in 2020), she does believe she has a chance to win, even though the 21st Congressional District, represented by Roy, has been red for the past several decades. “Beto [O’Rourke] got 49.9 percent of the vote in this district,” she says. “I think we’re positioned to tip it over the edge.” While she may have been out of the political headlines for the last couple years, Davis has been working with her Deeds Not Words team, as well as with Tzintzún Ramirez, to influence legislation in Austin. During the last legislative session, Davis and Tzintzún Ramirez both helped write and push for bills related to women’s issues, including those involving sexual harassment, sexual assault and maternal mortality, as well as broader issues that especially affect low-income communities, such as student debt and voting rights. Ultimately, their teams helped pass more than 18 bills into law, including SB 37, which reversed a law that allowed the state to ban professional license holders, like teachers and nurses, from renewing their licenses if they were in default on their student loans. Davis and Tzintzún Ramirez’s teams argued the law disproportionally punished women, who are more likely to work in industries requiring these licenses. “All of our fellows ended up leading groups, and we brought them all to the Capitol, 200 young women, for a Movement Mujeres advocacy day and really advocated for these bills,” Tzintzún Ramirez says. “You’re never going to learn if you’re cut out for something until you just do it.” For Tzintzún Ramirez, it was a lesson she learned at 24 years old, when she became the executive director of Workers Defense Project, an initiative she co-founded at 21 while still a full-time student. “In the first two years, I nearly failed,” she recalls. “I remember calling my mom and telling her I wasn’t cut out for it, that I wasn’t meant to be a leader. She told me, ‘Cristina, no llores—don’t cry—and more importantly, don’t doubt yourself. You were born to do this.’ ” Under Tzintzún Ramirez’s leadership, WDP went from a small, two-person volunteer organization to a nonprofit with 30 staff members hailed by The New York Times as “one of the nation’s most creative organizations for immigrant workers.” Tzintzún Ramirez and Davis are now putting that energy into prepping the next generation of female Democratic leaders, hoping to pass the torch of advocacy and policymaking to women who, at first glance, may have thought they didn’t look the part to play a role in forging the future of their state. What Tzintzún Ramirez and Davis have seen so far gives them hope that their mission will be a success. “I think Texans are on the front lines of every major issue our country is facing,” Tzintzún Ramirez says. “But I also see a generation of bold young women of color in the state who are ready to make a difference.”

1. Find an issue you care about and get involved with advocacy groups working for that cause. “We find our ways into effective advocacy when we follow a passion that we have,” Davis says. “I think it’s artificial to put wanting to be an office holder ahead of wanting to make change on something.” 2. Find a mentor. “If you want to try to do something, go and find a mentor who has already done it and learn from them,” Tzintzún Ramirez says. 3. Look for groups supporting women who want to be involved in policy. “Outside of what we’re doing with Movement Mujeres, there [are] organizations dedicated to helping all women who are thinking about running for political office [to] crystallize whether that’s something that is right for them,” Davis says. 4. Believe in yourself and take action. “I don’t think you need to have any specialized training,” Tzintzún Ramirez says. “If you see something that is not being done in your community, I think the most important thing to do is not wait for someone else to respond or believe that someone else will respond, but just respond yourself.”

MOVEMENT MUJERES AT A GLANCE • Movement Mujeres is a joint initiative through nonprofits Deed Not Words, a women’s advocacy group started by former state senator Wendy Davis, and Jolt, a nonprofit dedicated to building the leadership capacity of millennial Latinos in the policy space. The goal is to get more women of color into policy discussions and creation through developing mentorship opportunities, introducing them to state leaders and helping them create their own organizations within their communities. • The fellowship is open to Texas women of color between the ages of 21 and 35. The first fellowship group was announced in February and those selected represent more than 14 cities in Texas. All fellows have demonstrated leadership potential through previous work, a belief in progressive values and a dedication to creating change. •M ovement Mujeres offers fellows a modest stipend to continue their leadership work in their communities, covers travel costs for fellowship-related events and offers funding for child care if needed. • Movement Mujeres received a $2 million grant from the NoVo Foundation to fund its fellowship.

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OURMET

RECIPE REVEAL

SOUTHERN SUMMER COMFORT

Olamaie Chef de Cuisine Bonnie Wright shares her recipe for field peas with red-eye gravy and summer squash. BY COURTNEY RUNN

Photo by Bonnie Wright.

Olamaie is known for its elegant Southern fare, and this summer dish is no exception. Inspired by an abundance of leftover country ham, Chef de Cuisine Bonnie Wright created this recipe as an ode to one of her childhood favorites. Suited for an evening dinner outside or a hearty serving of comfort, Wright’s recipe is the perfect addition to any summer menu.

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“Peas cooked with smoked pork were a staple in my house growing up, and field peas are in season right now, so this seemed like a good way to use all of our trim. Squash and zucchini are also prolific in the summertime and are mild enough to pair well with the strong flavors of country ham and black coffee.” – Olamaie Chef de Cuisine Bonnie Wright

FIELD PEAS WITH RED-EYE GRAVY AND SUMMER SQUASH Ingredients for the Peas

Directions for the Peas

1 pound fresh field peas (purple hull, creamer, black-eyed or whatever you prefer)

1. Rinse the peas and place them in a pressure cooker or instant pot. If cooking on a stovetop, place them in a heavy-bottomed pot.

1/2 cup country ham trimmings (or smoked jowl or bacon)

2. A dd the country ham trimmings, garlic, most of the onion, bay leaf and water.

1 3/4 tablespoons garlic 3/4 cup onion, quartered and peeled 1 bay leaf 5 cups water

3. C ook on low pressure for 28 minutes, then season with salt and pepper. If using the stove, simmer until tender. 4. D ice the remaining onion and zucchini, charring the zucchini in a very hot cast-iron skillet until it’s black on one side. Cook the bacon in the oven until it’s very crispy and, once cool, pulse it in a Robot Coupe, chop or crumble it by hand or leave it in larger pieces. Set the leftover parsely, bacon and cold cubed butter aside for final assembly.

Salt to taste Pepper to taste

Directions for the Red-eye Gravy

Zucchini to taste

1. Sear the ham or bacon in a pot on high heat to brown and coat the bottom of the pan with a layer of fond, or dark matter. Turn the pieces and watch carefully for about 15 minutes.

Parsely, finely chopped, to taste Bacon bits 4 ounces cold butter, cubed

Ingredients for the Red-eye Gravy 2 1/4 cups country ham trimmings (or smoky bacon) 5 cups black coffee 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed 1/4 cup sorghum

Ingredients for the Summer Squash Purée 1 3/4 cups yellow squash 1/4 cup yellow onion 1 tablespoon garlic 2 1/4 tablespoons benne seed 2 1/4 tablespoons butter Salt to taste Lemon juice to taste

Ingredients for the Squash Rose 1 zucchini 1 yellow squash Photo by Alison Narro.

Salt Olive oil Lemon juice

2. Deglaze with coffee and reduce the liquid by half. 3. Strain out the meat and whisk in the sorghum and the cold cubed butter.

Directions for the Squash Purée 1. Peel the squash and dice it. 2. J ulienne the yellow onion, mince the garlic and combine the ingredients in a pot with the squash, benne seed, butter and a little salt. 3. C ook on low heat with a lid so it does not caramelize and does not lose too much moisture. 4. O nce everything is tender, blend it in a blender until smooth and adjust the seasoning with more salt and lemon juice. Strain everything through a chinois to make sure it’s very smooth.

Directions for the Squash Rose 1. Using a mandoline, shave long strips of the zucchini and squash, about 1/16-inch thick. 2. S pread the slices out and sprinkle them with salt so the strips release liquid and become pliable. Let them sit five to 10 minutes. 3. S hingle three to four slices of alternating squash and zucchini, then roll them up into a rose and secure it with a toothpick. 4. D ress the rose with olive oil and place it under a broiler for a few minutes until the edges start to brown (watch it closely). 5. Right after removing, drizzle a little bit of lemon juice on top of the rose.

Directions for Assembly 1. Warm the squash purée in a pot and set aside. 2. W arm up the peas in some of their liquid until it mostly evaporates, then add a few ounces of the red-eye gravy along with 4 tablespoons of cold cubed butter, stirring to emulsify. 3. Stir the red onion, charred zucchini and parsley into the peas. 4. P lace the squash purée in the bottom of the bowl, then add the squash rose and spoon the peas and gravy on one side. 5. Sprinkle the bacon bits on top of the peas.

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OURMET

FOOD NEWS

BAKED AND BOOZY

Lacey Pearce’s new baking biz brings alcohol-infused pies to Austin. BY LINDSEY LOGAN, PHOTO BY NIKI JONES

“Delicious,” “flavorful” and “heavenly” are just a few words that come to mind after taking a bite of Baked and Boozy’s Guinness chocolate pie. The perfect combination of sweet and salty, its creamy, smooth filling is complimented by a crunchy pretzel crust, topped off with Baileys-infused whipped cream and finished with a drizzle of Jameson-infused caramel.

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Baked and Boozy is a new baking business in Austin specializing in alcohol-infused pies. It was started almost accidentally by owner and baker Lacey Pearce. After moving to Austin from the small town of Navasota, Texas, Pearce had planned to become a dog walker for the app Wag. As part of the onboarding process, she created an account on the social-networking site Nextdoor to get to know her neighbors. While Pearce did not end up working for Wag, she did become an active user of Nextdoor, through which she channeled her passion for

baking. In November 2017, Pearce posted a message to Nextdoor asking if any of her neighbors were interested in ordering a bourbon pecan pie from her. Pearce was stunned when only three days later, she’d received 37 orders. After tasting her pecan pies, Pearce’s neighbors were eager for more. Before she knew it, Pearce had a budding business. Prior to the birth of Baked and Boozy, Pearce was a jillof-all-trades. She had dipped her toes into everything from caretaking to housekeeping to managing a Domino’s Pizza location. Yet nothing fueled her soul the way baking does. While Pearce has always loved to bake, she never thought she would be able to sustain a career in it, and as a mother of two, she was nervous to take the risk. “I kept [baking] as a hobby because I loved it and was passionate about it,” Pearce says. “From one post, [my pies] took off and opened so many doors and opportunities. … I’ve gotten to meet so many cool people and do so many cool things.” She credits Baked and Boozy for finally providing her with the chance to live out her dream of working in a kitchen. Pearce’s personal pies of choice are the Mexican-hotchocolate pie topped with tequila-infused whipped cream and the peach, raspberry and strawberry pie with limoncello and

Disaronno. Some other showstoppers include a margarita keylime pie with Cointreau-infused whipped cream and coconut crust, and a blueberry and basil goat-cheese pie with limoncelloinfused whipped cream. Her favorite part of the process is getting in the kitchen and inventing new recipes. Sometimes she gets it right away but other times it takes her several tries to get the perfect finished product. She draws inspiration from a variety of places, turning cocktail recipes into pies and also looking for creative ways to fit alcohol into already established pie recipes. Pearce’s boozy creations are available by the pie and by the slice at Royal Blue Grocery downtown and Flightpath Coffeehouse. Custom orders can also be placed through Baked and Boozy’s Facebook page. Currently, the most popular flavors are available year-round. However, Pearce has plans to offer seasonal and monthly flavors as well.

ATXWOMAN.COM | 59

ELLNESS

WAITING ROOM

THE TRUTH ABOUT E-CIGARETTES

Vaping is marketed as a healthy smoking option, but electronic cigarettes can still get you hooked on nicotine. BY HARSHITA AVIRNENI alertness and muscle movement. Since nicotine is “shaped” similarly to acetylcholine, it fits the same receptors and replaces it. This causes the body to reduce the number of receptors and released acetylcholine E-cigarettes and vaping have become a widespread phenomenon into the synapse, which ultimately develops the body’s the need for in the past decade, masquerading as a safe smoking option. Although nicotine, leading to addiction. e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, nicotine and carcinogens still exist, “If a younger person or teenager starts with e-cigarettes, they are four and can cause immense damage to the body. times more likely to use other tobacco products later in life or as they An e-cigarette is an electronic device that heats a liquid solution of get older,” says Jessica Cardenas, program manager for the American chemicals, often flavored, to produce an aerosol, or vapor. E-cigarettes go Cancer Society. “And as we all know, tobacco is the leading cause of by many names, including Juul, vapes, vape pens, e-cigs and electronic [preventable] disease and death in the United States. So, I think from our nicotine delivery systems, and come in a variety of flavors often perspective, that’s a concern, the fact that it does lead to using tobacco appealing to younger smokers, from cotton candy to mango. products and cigarettes later.” Since the use of e-cigarettes is fairly new, a lot of the While vaping is marketed as a tool for smokers to quit long-term side effects are unknown. Vaping does have “A lot of kids cigarettes, David Kolovson, director of communications for many documented short-term effects, such as insomnia the American Cencer Society, worries teenagers who never and nosebleeds, and known long-term effects can include are going to smoked are now turning to e-cigarettes. high blood pressure, lung inflammation and “popcorn try it and get “This isn’t something that kids are going to try once or lung,” the nickname for bronchiolitis obliterans. twice after school and be cool with it,” Kolovson says. “A “Lung cells don’t repair as well after e-cigarette smoke, hooked on it.” lot of kids are going to try it and get hooked on it, and that’s but it’s basically the same as any kind of smoke that causes – David Kolovson really where the problem is. I think it’s really problematic inflammation, whether you’re talking about normal too in just the way e-cigarettes have been marketed to youth…when you tobacco or vaping e-cigarettes,” says Laura Q.M. Chow, a professor at Dell Medical School and the research director for Livestrong Cancer Institutes. have flavors like cherry crush or cotton candy. … Health organizations, generally over the past 40 [to] 50 years, have done a really good job in “People think it’s better, easier because it’s more convenient and it seems making cigarettes seem like something scary. But e-cigarettes, on the safer because it’s not typical tobacco. But [e-cigarettes are] just a vehicle other hand, are vape pens…which seems much more accessible to kids.” for nicotine and it still causes lung, bladder and heart [problems].” Recently, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill raising the smoking age in Although there has been no proven research that links vaping to cancer, Texas. Consumers will have to be 21 to purchase tobacco products, e-cigarettes contain dangerous chemicals. The base of vapor is propylene including cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The bill goes into effect Sept. 1. glycol, an FDA-approved food additive that can cause damage to the body when consumed in high quantities. E-cigs also contain diacetyl, which causes inflammatory lung disease, and probable carcinogens formaldehyde and acrolein. “[Carcinogens] cause inflammation, cell turnover and they cause cells to change,” Chow says. “Unfortunately, a lot of these chemicals are called carcinogens because they can cause cancer, but some of them are also what we call mutagens, where they can cause mutations in cells that are replicating. And obviously, if there is a lot of inflammation that can occur with the smoking itself, then [with] all these chemicals, there is a lot of cell turnover and there is a higher chance that these cells become abnormal and form cancers over time.” Vaping also causes disruptions in the normal relationship between the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and its receptors. It carries messages related to respiration heart rate, memory

Nearly 11 million adults and 3 million high schoolers share the same addition: vaping.

60 | AUSTIN WOMAN | AUGUST 2019

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ELLNESS

HER ROUTINE

UNDER THE SEA

Scuba instructor Shannon Coleman is your ticket to a spectacular underwater world. STORY AND PHOTO BY GRETCHEN M. SANDERS

Some people do yoga to relax. Shannon Coleman prefers plunging toward the ocean floor. The 50-yearold water lover started scuba diving in 1987 and has spent the last three decades swimming with eels and octopuses 50 feet underwater. Coleman—who has dived in Belize, Bermuda, Grand Cayman, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos Islands—wanted to show others the gems of ocean life, the sharks, stingrays and barracuda that stir her soul. In 2015, she became an instructor at Tom’s Dive & Swim, a local diving shop through which she offers scuba-diving-certification classes for teenagers and adults in her backyard pool in Pflugerville, Texas. Her students perform their open-water checkout dives at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, formerly known as Aquarena Springs, in San Marcos, Texas, and at Windy Point Park on Lake Travis. They can take her advanced diving classes to learn additional skills. “You don’t have to be extremely fit or a great swimmer to dive,” Coleman says. “You are weightless in the water, and you can ask for help getting in and out.” She notes that scuba is also a good activity for couples. “You can dive together all over the world,” she says. Here’s how this fish keeps flipping her fins. THE A.M.:

“I wake up at 7 a.m., and coffee is thing No. 1. I also have a supplement drink in the morning. I practice intermittent fasting, so I don’t eat food until lunchtime.” THE WORKOUT:

“I dive three to four times a week, and I’m usually at a dive site for at least two hours each time. Diving is labor-intensive, with lots of gear to schlep around. One tank of air weighs about 40 pounds, but I might haul three tanks per student. Divers also wear weights to control their buoyancy. I will carry 4 extra pounds when I dive, in case students need the weight. The hardest part of diving is getting into and out of the water with all the gear. The easiest part is being in the water. When I’m not diving, I love to be outside. I spend about five hours a week pulling weeds, watering, mulching and trimming in my huge backyard garden. I also do three hour-long Camp Gladiator classes a week, which are held outdoors at different locations around Austin.”

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THE DIET:

“Diving makes me hungry. On some dives, I will burn more than 700 calories an hour because my body is working so hard to stay warm. People say I have strong willpower because I don’t eat processed or junk food. Illness has led me to eat cleanly. I tend to have lots of vegetables, lean meat and very few grains. I follow a mostly low-carb diet with no sugar, which I don’t even crave anymore. Wine is my dessert. Very seldom do I eat out. I cook six days a week.” THE GEAR:

“I wear a 3-millimeter full-sleeve Aqua Lung wetsuit when I’m diving in the ocean. It protects my skin from barnacles and fire coral, and it keeps me warm, especially if I’m doing multiple dives a day. Every diver needs fins, a snorkel and a good mask. An ill-fitting mask causes stress underwater. I use a Tusa Freedom Elite Mask that I bought from a dive shop. I never buy diving equipment online because I can’t be sure where it came from. You don’t want to be underwater with faulty equipment. I wear a dive computer, which fits like a wristwatch and monitors my depth, dive time and how long I can safely stay at a specific depth. I also have a primary and secondary regulator, which are attached to a tank and allow me to breath underwater; a pressure and depth gauge, which tracks my depth and remaining air; and a buoyancy compensator, which fits like a backpack and controls my buoyancy on the surface and underwater. Aqua Lung is my go-to brand for gear.” THE MOTIVATION:

“There is nothing more freeing to me than diving. I can forget about everything else when I drop beneath the surface.” THE MINDSET:

“Just keep swimming.” THE P.M.:

“I go to bed around 11 p.m. My husband and I will unwind by watching movies together in our home-theater room. We watched Murder Mystery last week. It was cute.”

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OINT OF VIEW

ON THE MONEY

HOW TO SPEND WITH MEANING

This joy-based budgeting method will help you spend your money with more purpose. BY JENNY HOFF

If you find yourself looking at your credit-card bills every month and wondering, “Where did all my money go?” you’re not alone. The simplicity of swiping, clicking or even just holding up your phone to pay for an item has made it easy to lose track of what you’re actually spending on a daily basis. The worst is when you look at that bill and can’t recollect a single moment in the month when you bought something that really made you happy or helped you create wonderful memories. If you’re in this situation, it may be time to Marie Kondo your money and learn the art of joy-based spending, a budget plan promoted by Manisha Thakor, founder of MoneyZen Wealth Management. “Slowing down and trying to reestablish that link between money and meaning can add so much joy in your life and relieve financial stress,” Thakor says. Luckily, unlike Kondo’s bestselling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, changing your mindset to joy-based spending doesn’t require you to go through every item you’ve ever bought, just the items you bought in the last month, to start this mindful practice of spending. If you’re ready, grab a pen, paper and a highlighter. Here’s how to get started.

2. Highlight all the things you purchased that brought you joy. There are no right or wrong answers in this exercise, just the requirement that you give each purchase some reflection. Unlike the “latte factor” principle, which says making your latte at home instead of buying it at a café can help lead to wealth if you simply invest that same amount of money in the stock market, the joy-based-spending approach doesn’t predetermine what is worth buying. The ultimate goal is to be the most efficient with joy-per-dollar spending. For example, maybe you nursed that $5 latte for an hour at the café while poring over a good book or having a great conversation with a friend. That hour of joy cost you $5. On the other hand, perhaps you spent $70 eating dinner out with another friend where the music was too loud to hear each other and the food was mediocre. From a numbers point of view, the latte was a better value. You got more joy for less money per hour. It’s not about what you bought, but assessing how much joy you experienced per dollar spent.

1. Write down a list of everything you bought last month or print out a creditcard bill or bank statement. Seeing everything in one place gives you a much better perspective of how you’re spending your money. You may immediately notice the majority of your expendable income is going to things like snack food, Amazon items, drinks with friends, etc. Don’t feel guilty that what you’re buying seems frivolous; the next step will help you determine whether the choices you’re making are serving your ultimate happiness.

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3. Assess the items you didn’t highlight and ask yourself whether they are purchases you can avoid in the future. There are some costs that are unavoidable but many that you may be surprised to find are pretty easy to avoid. It’s about being more conscious of the purchases you’re making and assessing their value based on the kind of satisfaction they bring you. “It’s all about helping you get clearer about your values, your beliefs, what really matters to you, what makes your heart sing and then to ensure that your hard-earned dollars are going in support of exactly those items,” Thakor says. If budgeting hasn’t worked for you in the past and you want to feel more confident that what you’re buying is a conscious and meaningful choice, try making joy your base line. Consider it the ultimate in money mindfulness.

Headshot by Edward Verosky.

Learn the art of joy-based spending.