NOW Action Center staff members, clockwise from top to left: Chris Myers, Stefanie Richards, Doris Steppe and Rebecca Farmer. Photo by Lisa Bennett-Haigney.
The purpose of this regular feature is for NOW members to get to know the staff at the National NOW Action Center. These are the people who write the stories in this paper, keep membership records updated, help raise money for the organization, make sure NOW's name is in the press, and all the other functions that bring our members' grassroots work together. Come meet staff members at the National Conference in Miami Beach June 30-July 2 (register online). Previous staff profiles can be found at www.now.org/actionct.html and more will follow in upcoming issues.
Lisa Bennett-Haigney, Publications Manager
As NOW's Publications Manager, Lisa edits the National NOW Times and produces brochures, issue reports and conference program books. She is responsible for maintaining all of NOW's national resolutions in the Policy Manual. Lisa is also coordinating the Watch Out Listen Up media activism campaign currently in progress. After toiling in television research for years, Lisa came to NOW to find more fulfilling and purposeful work. When she's not at work, she writes fiction, cooks, watches too much TV and visits friends in New York City. Lisa plans someday to have her novels published and to run her own magazine.
Rebecca Farmer, Communications Associate
Rebecca works with both media relations and publications at the Action Center. She responds to media inquiries, schedules interviews for the national officers and generates media interest and visibility for NOW. She was also a NOW organizer on last year's Lilith Fair Tour and assists with editing and production of the National NOW Times, brochures and conference program books. Rebecca is originally from Sacramento and went to school in Oregon. She moved across the country to join the NOW staff in spring 1999 after interning at the Action Center the previous summer. Rebecca has future plans to be a published writer and feminist state legislator.
Cindy Hanford, Equality Action Fund Manager
Cindy runs NOW's sustainer program to which
dedicated donors give monthly pledges, thus providing a predictable income
that allows NOW to take action on urgent issues. Cindy also works in the
chapter and state development department, bringing her experience as a
NOW activist since 1978 in North and South Carolina and on NOW's national
committee on Ending Violence
Against Women. A former college instructor, Cindy left a Ph.D. program
after being told she could not write a dissertation on women's history
because it was "insignificant." In her spare time, Cindy is an activist
against size discrimination and collects music from the '50s and '60s.
NOW Action Center staff members, clockwise from top
to left: Chris Myers, Stefanie Richards, Doris Steppe and Rebecca Farmer.
Photo by Lisa Bennett-Haigney.
As NOW's graphic artist and a member of the Fundraising Team, Chris provides design and artwork for direct mail, materials promoting actions, NOW Foundation projects and some product designs for the NOW Store. She feels honored to be the Staff Liaison to the national Ending Violence Against Women committee. Chris was previously a NOW chapter leader in Key West, Fla. She was also active in Florida NOW and as a victim advocate for same-sex domestic violence survivors before moving to Washington, D.C., to work full time on feminist issues with NOW. In her free time Chris likes to horseback ride, whitewater raft, and practice rock-climbing.
Alpa Patel, Administrative Assistant
While serving as the administrative assistant to NOW's Executive Vice President Kim Gandy and Membership Vice President Karen Johnson, Alpa is also responsible for handling outside requests for legal referrals and acknowledging NOW's donors. After completing her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Asian American Studies at Loyola University in Chicago, Alpa returned to Northern Virginia, where she was born and raised. A lifelong feminist, she felt it was only natural to become active with NOW and help advance an agenda of equality for all women. With plans to marry this June, most of Alpa's free time is spent making wedding preparations.
Stefanie Richards, Products Coordinator
Stefanie's days are spent in NOW's very busy catalog store constructing bundles of feminist paraphernalia to ship out and inspire feminist activity worldwide. She also keeps the catalog pages peppered with exciting new feminist merchandise, fills chapter requests for organizing materials and ships NOW's out-going mail. Stefanie arrived at NOW's door in September 1999, a Tennessee-spawned feminist, fresh from graduation at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a B.S. in Women's Studies and Political Science. It was Stefanie's passion for the women's movement and her desire to be immersed in active feminist energy that led her to Washington, D.C.
Doris A. Steppe, Membership Systems Manager
Having long dreamed of using her computer skills for NOW, Doris is responsible for overseeing the processing and use of our member and supporter database. Doris was converted to feminism by a long, toxic early marriage, the job market's response to her search for meaningful work, and the eventual discovery that she was not the only one but, in fact, part of an epidemic. Doris was chapter president of Beaver Valley NOW, Pa., for five years, and her partner still works near Pittsburgh. Doris is committed to making a difference, commenting that in a civilized society, no one should ever suffer what she did.