Willa Shalit (born 1955) is an American social entrepreneur and
strategic
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
advisor. She is widely recognized for her work as an artist, theatre and television producer, photographer and author/editor.
Early life
Shalit was born in 1955 in New York City to film and book critic Gene Shalit and Nancy Shalit ( Lewis). Her parents were of Russian Jewish descent. Her name comes from the American author Willa Cather. She was born the second of six children. Shalit was raised in
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
–winning journalist
Anthony Lewis
Anthony Lewis (March 27, 1927 – March 25, 2013) was an American public intellectual and journalist. He was twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and was a columnist for ''The New York Times''. He is credited with creating the field of legal jour ...
; her aunt, and Lewis' widow, is retired Massachusetts Chief Justice
Margaret H. Marshall
Margaret Hilary Marshall (born September 1, 1944) is the former 24th chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and the first woman to hold that position. She was chief justice from 1999 to 2010. On July 21, 2010, she announced he ...
, who wrote the decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health resulting in the world’s first ruling in a court of final appeal legalizing same sex marriage.
When Shalit was 15, she was raped at knifepoint. She said of the experience, "I learned that life can change in the blink of an eye and that security is very illusory. I also realized there are some experiences that require a lifetime to recover from." She explained that this understanding would prove to be deeply constructive, if cruel, training for finding common ground with the women of
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
.
She graduated from
Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn)
, motto_translation = I seek higher things
, established =
, closed =
, type = Independent, nonsectarian day school
, status =
, category_label =
, ...
in 1974. In 1978, she graduated from
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
with a degree in Classics. After graduating, she moved to
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
and partnered with artist Richard Lee to create masks.
Career
Artist
Throughout the 1980s, Shalit created "lifecast" sculptures made from molds formed directly upon human faces and bodies. Her casts of five former United States presidents are in the collections of their respective presidential libraries. Other examples of her work are on display at the United States Olympic Committee's training center in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
,
Sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
.
In 1986, Shalit collaborated with Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison and
Gilbert Moses
Gilbert Moses III (August 20, 1942 – April 15, 1995) was an American director. He was also known for his work in the Civil Rights movement, as a staff member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and founder of the touring ...
to design masks and costumes for Morrison’s play
Dreaming Emmett
''Dreaming Emmett'' is the first play by the Nobel-winning African-American writer Toni Morrison. First performed in 1986, the play was commissioned by the New York State Writers Institute at SUNY-Albany. The play's world premier, which was direct ...
, directed by Mr. Moses.
In 1994, Shalit and her lifecasting art were featured in the
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning television documentary, ''Willa: Behind The Mask''.
She was artist-in-residence at the College of Santa Fe from 1989 to 1994.
In 1998, Shalit's exhibit "Incarcerated Women: A View From the Inside Out" was featured at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. The installation displayed life-cast facial portraits of inmates from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Producer
In 1985, Shalit produced James Lecesne's play ''One Man Band''
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress and director. Known for often portraying eccentric and distinctive characters, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as no ...
, and Cherry Jones and the landmark V-Day 2001 performance in
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
featuring
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
of the 2002
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
film of the show. She was an executive producer of ''
Until the Violence Stops
''V-Day: Until the Violence Stops'' (also known as ''World VDAY'') is a 2003 documentary film directed by Abby Epstein. It follows events marking 2002 V-Day — a grassroots movement inspired by Eve Ensler's 1996 play ''The Vagina Monologues''. ...
'', a documentary film about V-Day's 2002 activities.
She co-produced the 2002 off-Broadway run of Ensler's ''Necessary Targets'', produced Carol Kaplan's play ''Jocasta Rising'' at the
Artscape Theatre Centre
Artscape Theatre Centre (formerly Nico Malan Theatre Centre) is the main performing arts centre in Cape Town, South Africa. It was opened in 1971 and is located on reclaimed land in the Foreshore area. The inaugural performance was scheduled to ...
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'', ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'' magazine, ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...
Her 1992 book ''Lifecast: Behind the Mask'' () details her methods and experiences casting sculptures of the Dalai Lama and other notable persons. Proceeds from the book benefitted the Touch Foundation, which sponsors "Please Touch" exhibits of work for the blind and visually impaired.
In 2005, along with Yoko Ono, Shalit edited the HarperCollins book ''Memories of John Lennon;'' it features intimate glimpses from those who knew John, including Pete Townshend,
Sir Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
, and
David Geffen
David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 199 ...
, and artists who followed him such as
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...
. The book also contains photographs from Annie Leibovitz.
Shalit edited ''Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female'', a collection of essays and reminiscences by notable women including Meryl Streep,
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...
Hyperion
Hyperion may refer to:
Greek mythology
* Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans
* ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios
* Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam
Science
* Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn
* ''Hyp ...
in April 2006.
Social entrepreneur
To bring economic advancement to women in post-trauma zones, Shalit has worked to create markets in the United States for products manufactured jointly by Palestinian and Israeli women, and by women survivors of the Rwandan genocide.
Shalit's company, Fair Winds Trading, became an importer of handmade goods from
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
; it partnered with Macy's for the Rwanda Path to Peace project to market handwoven Rwandan baskets in the United States, and produced hand-beaded gemstone and glass bracelets in partnership with ''O, The Oprah Magazine''. In 2015, Macy's and Rwanda Path to Peace celebrated a 10-year partnership.
In 2010, Fair Winds Trading launched the Heart of Haiti line working with Macy's and the
Clinton Foundation
The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...
and the
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded on January 16, 2010, by former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, to aid the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The organization was formed in response to ...
. The line included handcrafted products made by Haitian artists and was part of an effort to help rebuild from the
2010 Haiti earthquake
A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...
. Shalit organized a trip to Haiti where Macy's leaders, joined by Martha Stewart and
Rachel Roy
Rachel Irene Roy (born January 15, 1974) is an American fashion designer.
Early life and education
Roy was born in San Bernardino County, California, and raised in Seaside, California, as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She grad ...
, met with local artisans. In 2010, Macy's was the biggest U.S. retailer selling handmade Haitian goods, followed by the West Elm and Anthropologie chains.
In 2011, Shalit co-founded the communications firm Road to Market, ltd where she develops global branding strategies and continues to work with social justice missions and worldwide movements.
Shalit also co-founded an online platform for women designers called Maiden Nation. The site features work designed by
Rachel Roy
Rachel Irene Roy (born January 15, 1974) is an American fashion designer.
Early life and education
Roy was born in San Bernardino County, California, and raised in Seaside, California, as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She grad ...
Lustgarten Foundation
The Lustgarten Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization foundation dedicated to advancing the research related to the diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of pancreatic cancer while raising public awareness and providing support to pa ...
and others. The team developed ''Let’s Win'' - an online community for sharing new science-driven treatments to help patients and families fight pancreatic cancer. Shalit is the co-founder and digital director of ''Let’s Win''.
Shalit serves as President of the Board for Indigenous Ways, an advocacy organization based in New Mexico. She also is a team member a 18by.vote a non-partisan youth-led organization developed to support teenage voter registration and voting.
Philanthropist and activist
Shalit's Touch Foundation created an exhibit of touchable lifecasts of the faces of celebrities and other notable individuals, for the purpose of making those faces accessible to the blind and visually impaired, which toured American museums from 1990 to 2000, including the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...
and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee.
Shalit was a member of the
Board of Trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
at the College of Santa Fe from 1990 to 1995.
She co-founded V-Day with Ensler and served as its first executive director. V-day is a non-profit organization that distributes funds to grassroots, national, and international organizations and programs that work to stop violence against women and girls. During her time as executive director, Shalit traveled with Ensler on a "harrowing undercover journey" to chronicle the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan's fight against the Taliban in 2002. More than 2,000 members of this clandestine network provide shelter, education and medical services to Afghan women and girls—all in defiance of the Taliban.
Shalit served as a special advisor to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and The United Nations Ethical Fashion Initiative. In 2007, Shalit joined the Board of Directors of the
Hadassah
Hadassah () means myrtle in Hebrew. It is given as the Hebrew name of Esther in the Hebrew Bible.
Hadassah may also refer to:
* Hadassah (dancer) (1909–1992), Jerusalem-born American dancer and choreographer
* Hadassah Lieberman (born 1948) ...
Foundation. She currently serves on the Board of the Israeli Palestinian Peace organization, American Friends of the Parents Circle, (Parents Circle Family Forum) and on the Advisory Board of Feminist.com.
in 2014, Shalit was one of the first sponsors of ''Women and Men as Allies'', an initiative founded by Feminist.com in partnership with The Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook University.
Awards
'' Women's eNews'' named Shalit one of "21 Leaders for the 21st Century" in 2006.''The Holmes Report'', a magazine for public relations professionals, gave a 2006 Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation Award to Shalit's Rwanda Path to Peace project, which was also "highly commended" by the judges of the International Chamber of Commerce's 2006 World Business Awards in support of the United Nations Development Programme's Millennium Development Goals.