Dr. Marcy Cole, founder of Childless Mothers Connect Community, CMomA 501-c3 and First Tuesday LA, nominates Mary Ann Halpin for our Woman Making a Difference. Here is what Marcy has to say:
“Mary Ann Halpin never had a child of her own, but she has ‘mothered’ many.
I have been touched by her ‘Goddess Circles,’ where she creates a safe haven for women to reach into their hearts and heal what needs healing and to ‘birth’ the dreams we carry that await our manifestation. I was also fortunate to have the experience of a photo shoot with her, when she was able to see and reflect my essence in a way that was so authentic. I actually loved the pictures of me, to boot! How often do we as women allow ourselves to celebrate this?
Her first book, Pregnant Goddesshood: A Celebration of Life, so beautifully captures and celebrates the miracle of life carried within the physical womb. Her Fearless Women books and Global Movement honor the divine feminine warrior energy within us… emanating strength, courage, resiliency, wisdom, and the infinite well of love that resides. The messages embedded in all of Mary Ann’s work are a mirror of what lies within her. She has touched the lives and hearts of so many… making a ripple effect difference that is visual, palpable and everlasting.”
Mary Ann Halpin: Biography
Mary Ann Halpin is the CEO and Founder of Fearless Women Global, an acclaimed photographer, speaker, and workshop facilitator. Mary Ann has created four photography books, including Fearless Women: Midlife Portraits, which contains compelling black and white portraits of women holding swords. They are all women who have dared to approach aging with passion and fearlessness. The book features celebrities such as Joni Mitchell, Cybill Shepherd, Erin Brockovich and many other extraordinary women.
Mary Ann passionately focuses her lens on women’s issues. Her first book, Pregnant Goddesshood: A Celebration of Life, garnered national attention for its powerful images. Controversial at the time, it portrayed pregnant women as radiant and beautiful, and encouraged women to embrace and celebrate their pregnant bodies with a commemorative portrait. This book blazed the trail for the now-popular “pregnant portrait”. Images from Pregnant Goddesshood have been featured in LIFE Magazine, and Mary Ann appeared on television shows, such as The View in “Hot Topics”, Inside Edition, Extra!, and A Baby Story, where the book sparked heated national discussion.
Continuing with the “Fearless” theme, Mary Ann Halpin was a speaker on the “Fearless Women Panel” at eWomenNetwork International Business Convention, Dallas, 2008-2010. Having photographed over 150 women at the conferences, Mary Ann created her photo/essay book, Fearless Women, Fearless Wisdom, portraits and stories of forty amazing women who have transformed their life-challenges into life-triumph. These courageous women are mirrors and examples for us all. Their stories show us that in order to create conscious change within, we must face our fears and walk through them. Their portraits are visual reminders of their personal courage.
Inspired by the gathering of these fearless women for this book, a Fearless Women Day was created on August 26, 2010, in 10 cities around the US and Canada to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment being ratified to give women the right to vote. On that day, thousands of women gathered in Fearless Celebration to honor each other, raise money for local charities and gave a Fearless Women Award to a local woman for her contribution to her community and the world.
Mary Ann’s latest book and Amazon Bestseller, Fearless Women, Visions of a New World, features 50 fearless visionary women from around the world. Through their stories of inspiration, they gift us their fearless journey to heal the planet. They give us hope for the beautiful world that we have and the best of what is about to come. Some people believed 2012 would be the end of the world. But many of us continue to believe the world as we know it ended long ago. We are now in the process of creating a new world filled with vision, healing, love, peace and prosperity. In part, the inspiration for Mary Ann’s new book came from the Dalai Lama, who proclaimed at the Vancouver Peace Summit in 2009, “The world will be saved by the Western woman.” Mary Ann’s newest book is dedicated to that notion. To learn more about Mary Ann and her books, visit her website, Fearless Women Global.
Mary Ann Halpin and her husband, studio manager and partner, Joe Croyle, divide their time between their Los Angeles studio and their mountain home, where they hold life-changing Fearless Women and Creative photography retreats.
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