Janela Harris
Cincinnati, Ohio
Harris participated in the Kenyon College Young Writer's Program and led a Women Writing for (a) Change Foundation writing workshop.
Last summer, Harris spent two weeks participating in creative writing classes and workshops at the Kenyon Review Young Writers Program, her favorite of which focused on forms of poetry from the Far East. "For me, writing is a way to marry how I think and how I feel," says Harris. "I'm also fond of the idea that I'm creating a kind of record of who I am at different moments of my life."
Harris even finds a way to put writing towards another interest of hers, which is feminist leadership. She graduated from the Young Women's Feminist Leadership Academy in 2007. Her mentor there taught her about being a woman leader and helped her organize and lead a women's writing workshop. In that vein of feminine empowerment and expression, Harris has also dabbled in tribal belly-dancing, which she found "fun and fascinating."
Why is feminist leadership so important to her? "I think it's noble to tell young people, girls especially, that they are capable of being strong and effective leaders," she says. "But it is just as vital that we give them tools and support toward achieving any level of leadership."