Theme: Use The Time You're Given

The organizers of TedxVenetaWomen hope is that it becomes a local forum for ideas within our community that inspires people to change their lives, their futures and ultimately their world.
Our theme, "Use The Time You're Given, reflects the ways each speaker uses their time to pursue what they're passionate about. Whether it's as a vintner, an artist, a comedian, a pastor, or a scientist, these speakers share their gifts in entertaining talks.

Applegate Regional Theater
87230 Central Road
Eugene, Oregon, 97402
United States

Beth Robinson

Mediator and Art Curator at The University of Oregon

Before finishing a BFA degree from Oregon College of Art and Craft as a Ford Restart Scholar, Robinson was a certified picture framer and paper restorer for 14 years. In 2007, she was awarded an opportunity with the University of Georgia to live and travel through Italy studying the conservation of books and art as a conflict dispute resolution tool during the Renaissance. Her artwork has been celebrated in the public view for over ten years in both the United States and Europe. Showing her artwork publicly lead her to a Masters program at the University of Oregon Law School in Conflict and Dispute Resolution and working as a private practice mediator and conflict/grief coach to find alternate ways of expressing grief and mourning during disputes. She cares for cultural property as an art conservator and museum technician for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon. Also, she is restoring a Chandler and Price Letterpress machine.

Danuta Pfeiffer

Author, Winery owner

Pfeiffer is an author, winemaker, and co-owner of Pfeiffer Winery and Vineyards in Junction City, Oregon. Her first book, Watersafe Your Baby In One Week, was the first book approved by the American Red Cross on teaching water survival techniques to infants. Her international award-winning memoir, Chiseled, details her life as an idealistic journalist who becomes the unlikely co-host to a television evangelist bent on becoming the president of the United States. Her talk is titled "How to Love Your Cow by Living a Balanced Life."

Eilidh Lowery

Pastor, United Methodist Church

Lowery, a pastor committed to change who is also a bit of a shoe collector, will speak on creativity and imagination and how the way we define things can limit us.

Evelyn Searle Hess

Author, Homesteader

WILLA-award-winning writer Evelyn Searle Hess is the author of To The Woods and Building A Better Nest, praised by critics and readers for mindlfuless and integrity. Her topic is "In Praise of Complexity."

Kathleen Cremonesi

Entrepreneur, author, volunteer

Cremonesi is an entrepreneur, author, former circus performer, and humane society volunteer. Her memoir, Love in The Elephant Tent: How Running Away with the Circus Brought Me Home, called "sobering" and "enthralling" by critics, was awarded a Gold Medal in the 2016 IPPY Awards. Her talk is titled "Where Guidance and Gratitude Converge."

Leigh Anne Jasheway

Comedian, Teacher

Jasheway is a stress management and humor expert, comedy writer, stand-up comic, and comedy instructor/coach. Her talk, “Won’t You Play with Me?” focuses on the power and importance of play.

Liz Vollmer-Buhl

Watershed Expert, mother

Vollmer-Buhl worked for a watershed council in western Oregon for eleven years including as the executive director. She served on the Board of Directors for the Network of Oregon Watershed Councils. She will be presenting "Knowing Your Place: Understanding Where You Are and Why It Matters."

Megan Malone

Learning Specialist for Student Athletes, University of Maryland

I recently moved 3 thousand miles from good old Oregon to Maryland to be a Learning Specialist for student-athletes at the University of Maryland. My background ranges from the food service industry to the mental health well-being of young girls. I have a Master's from the University of Oregon in Conflict and Dispute Resolution where I studied the power dynamics that play out in the mediation process for People of Color. At the University of Washington I completed a Master's in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership where I studied the systemic racism that exists at the intersection of athletics and education. In my free time I can be found on the platform lifting heavy things and putting them back down. I also like to knit and hang out with my cat. Secretly I am an old lady.

Patricia Edwards

Speaker, Publisher, Editor

Edwards, editor and part owner of Groundwaters Publishing, will speak about how putting on a different hat approximately every 10 years can experience and fulfill the need for growth.