r(E)volutionary Woman:
a podcast by and about women

Tes is a long-time blogger and foodie. For the past 10 years, she’s focused her blog and work around women’s issues. Soon, she’ll launch a long-form interview podcast. She’s lined up women activists and volunteers from around the world to tell their stories and the stories of the women they work with.


Tes Silverman

Tes is a long-time blogger and foodie. For the past 10 years, she’s focused her blog and work around women’s issues. This is her long-form interview podcast. She’s lined up women activists and volunteers from around the world to tell their stories and the stories of the women they work with.

Carolyn Pinta – Teacher/Activist; Director of The Pinta Pride Project and BG Pride

Today, Tes talks with Carolyn Pinta. Carolyn is a teacher, mother and activist from the northwest suburbs of Chicago who is known for her ability to get the job done when it comes to making good trouble. Her biggest accomplishment is acting as Director of The Pinta Pride Project and BG Pride, her family’s nonprofit that has brought three pride parades of thousands to the Village of Buffalo Grove. Carolyn works for many Democratic causes, but by far, honoring her bisexual teenage daughter by fighting for the rights of the LGBTQIA community is her biggest passion. Carolyn and her family have been featured in the Chicago Tribune, on the TODAY Show and in many interviews, publications and podcasts.

To learn more about Carolyn Pinta and The Pinta Pride Project:
Carolyn Pinta- she/her/hers
The Pinta Pride Project Inc.
pintaprideproject.com
Facebook- BG Pride
Instagram- bg_pride

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Elsa W. Smith – Founder and Principal of the Law Offices of Elsa W. Smith, LLC

Today, Tes talks with Elsa W. Smith. Elsa is the founder and principal of the Law Offices of Elsa W. Smith, LLC. Elsa focuses her practice on wills and estate planning. She counsels individuals, families and business owners in the creation of wills, trusts, powers of attorney and advance directives. She has over 20 years’ experience as an attorney. She is a native Spanish speaker of Afro-Cuban descent. Elsa holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami. Elsa is licensed in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Elsa W. Smith belongs to the Maryland State Bar Association’s Estate & Trust Law Section, Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. In October 2020, she was a presenter on the Maryland Attorney General’s COVID-19 Access to Justice Task Force Virtual Life & Health Planning Community Forum, discussing the importance of estate planning. In 2020, Elsa published an article in the Maryland Bar Journal on how estate planning attorneys can leverage technology to serve more diverse populations.
Elsa is a proud member of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA), a professional development organization. She is the Vice President of the organization’s Maryland Capital Chapter. In 2020, she was chosen as a Top Ten Business Woman of ABWA – the fifth in Maryland Capital Chapter’s history.
Attorney Elsa W. Smith has been a guest on radio, television, webinars and podcasts. Elsa has a vibrant YouTube channel @elsawsmithlaw dedicated to providing free information on wills and estate planning topics. She also has an active social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
The Law Offices of Elsa W. Smith, LLC is proudly minority and woman-owned. Elsa’s passion is empowering women through estate planning. Another firm goal is to stem the loss of generational wealth through proper planning.
Elsa was recognized as a 2021 Maryland Super Lawyer in the area of estate planning.
To learn more about Elsa W. Smith:
Website: www.elsawsmithlaw.com
Email: elsawsmithlaw.com
Twitter: @ElsaWSmithLaw
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elsawsmithlaw/

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Heather Rogue – Stand-Up Comedian, Spoken-Word Poet, Activist

Today, Tes talks with Heather Rogue. Heather is a stand-up comedian based out of Sacramento, California. Formerly a traveling street performer and homeless activist, Heather settled in Sacramento in order to facilitate her gender transition. She worked as a journalist and writing tutor before discovering her true calling in stand-up comedy. She currently hosts shows at Sacramento’s oldest comedy club, Laugh’s Unlimited. She’s also a spoken-word poet and has published two poetry chapbooks. On top of hosting a news-comedy show during the Pandemic, she’s a two-time MC for the Sacramento Women’s March, served as board-member for the Trans and Non-binary housing alliance, and currently works as a barista at Starbucks.

To learn more about Heather Rogue:
IG: @heather_comedy_rogue

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Cynthia Changyit Levin – Author and Activist

This week marks r(E)volutionary Woman’s 1 year anniversary. Since airing this podcast a year ago, many of my guests have gone on to create incredible initiatives that are benefiting their communities. With that in mind, I thought I would invite my very first guest from a year ago, Cynthia Changyit Levin, to talk about what she’s been up to since she was on my show. Cynthia is a mother, advocate, writer, and speaker. A rare breed of non-partisan activist who works across a variety of issues, she coaches volunteers of all ages to build productive relationships with members of Congress. She advocated side-by-side with her two children from their toddler to teen years and crafted a new approach to advocacy based upon her strengths as a mother. Cynthia’s writing and work has appeared in The New York Times, The Financial Times, the Washington Post, and many other national and regional publications. She received the 2021 Cameron Duncan Media Award from RESULTS Educational Fund for her citizen journalism on poverty issues. When she’s not changing the world, Cynthia is usually curled up reading sci-fi/fantasy novels or comic books in which someone else is saving the world.

To learn more about Cynthia Changyit Levin:
she/her/hers
www.changyit.com
Twitter: @ccylevin
Facebook: cindy.c.levin
Instagram: @ccylevin
Author of forthcoming book “From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started” launching February 2022!

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Ginger Leopoldo – Founding Member of Pintig Cultural Group & Artistic Director of CIRCA (Center for Immigrant Resources & Community Arts)

Today, Tes talks with Ginger Leopoldo. Ginger is an educator, actor, director, and community organizer. She is a proud founding member of Pintig Cultural Group and the founding Artistic Director of the Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts (CIRCA). Her work includes performing, directing, producing, and facilitating theatre productions and workshops of all ages. Ginger has helped to create a youth heritage curriculum with techniques that utilize a basic integrated theatre arts workshop methodology, as well as a facilitator of Activism & Art workshops for college students. She received her B.A. and M.A. in theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ginger has collaborated with other theatre organizations around Chicago such as Old World Theatre Company and A-Squared Theatre Workshop. With over 20 years of experience as an educator and literacy coach for public school teachers through a nonprofit that engages at-risk youth with arts-based literacy programs, she has also been the Program Director for America’s Children’s Museum on Wheels: StoryBus, delivering an interactive hands-on literacy experience for young learners throughout Chicago. Most recently she has taught ESL to students in China and is an adjunct lecturer with the ESL program at the University of the Potomac. In 2020, she led CIRCA Pintig to adjust to global virtual events and productions for the community. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in organizational and educational leadership.

To learn more about Ginger Leopoldo:
IG: gingerenergy

The Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts – Pintig, or CIRCA-Pintig (CP) for short, is a 30-year Chicago-based organization whose mission is to engage community members in addressing critical needs of immigrant communities in creative, participatory, and empowering ways. As its name underscores, CP’s mission is two-pronged. The Immigrant Resources (IR) focus is on providing much-needed resources and services as well as access to these through grassroots activities and campaigns primarily for, from, and by immigrant communities. The Community Arts (CA) focus is on developing, nurturing, and popularizing community arts aesthetic and pedagogy that speaks of the immigrant experience within the changing multicultural American landscape as well as celebrating the histories and artistic legacies of America’s diverse cultural terrain through participatory art creation. Pintig is a Filipino term for “heartbeat” or “pulse”. CP’s almost three-decade practice and tradition were borne out of and honed through Pintig’s active cultural work since 1991. CP’s work may be summed up in three foundational principles – educate-organize-mobilize (E-O-M).
Vision: We believe in the power of the arts for engaging community members in building and nurturing thriving communities that are fully empowered to determine their collective destinies. Our vision of a just and humane society rests upon our core belief that our communities can play a significant role and can contribute meaningfully towards upholding human rights for all and uplifting the human ideals that value life, freedom, justice and nurture individual human potentials to the fullest.
Mission: In the light of our vision, we will educate, mobilize, and organize community members, primarily immigrants and their families, through community arts-based and community-centered intergenerational programs and services.
Website: www.circapintig.org
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/circapintigtheatre
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnFfHeOUDlePtzh9Yb8p98Q
Intagram:@circapintigtheatre
Twitter circa_pintig

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Rita Dave – Esq; Dave Law PC

Today, Tes talks with Rita Dave. Rita is a first generation immigrant who arrived from India at the age of 7 years old. After graduating from Queens College with a Psychology undergraduate degree, she attended New York Law School and began practicing law in 1992. Having always worked for lawyers since the age of 14, she’s participated in large tort and products liability litigation, and as a lawyer, her practice includes real estate, estate and immigration. She received an honor in the United States Congress and this tribute was read into the record on the floors of Congress. Rita’s dedication to justice resulted in her practice focusing on actual innocence work, and she strives to help those who are innocent, falsely accused and wrongfully convicted to regain their freedom. Her mission is to see that there is in fact true justice and that “presumption of innocence” is not just a premise but a reality.

To learn more about Rita Dave:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davshelat
IG: Daverita2015

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