Saphir Lewis

Just five years old when she walked through Boston Commons with her grandmother to go shopping, Saphir Lewis witnessed a "Love-In" and suddenly grasped that "if we all would take care of each other, we could live in paradise, it's that simple." Determined to find or build that vision, she studied with Maharishi at 12, read Ram Dass at 14, and at 18 left home to tour the USA visiting communes to discuss how to build the world we know is possible.

In 1979, she was invited onto the organizing team for the West Virginia Rainbow Gathering and was hooked. She went on to co-direct gatherings for 25 years - the NW Herbal Faire, the Okanagan Barter Fair, the Sustainable Communities Conference and many others. After 9-11, two things changed her path. The "people" began to lose hope and become despondent, and the main stream began looking for something more meaningful. She founded a website called World Peace Emerging to showcase the vast array of good projects going on, and more recently launched Girl Powered Planet to showcase the rise of women taking charge.

Part of the Oregon Country Fair Family for more than 25 years, Saphir will speak about one of the most exciting projects she has seen yet: Humanity Unites Brilliance, a community based company designed specifically to generate sustained funding for change, delivering food, water, education and micro-loans through full package aide programs; empowering nonprofits and people with passionate work; and promoting a caring and compassionate "new paradigm for humanity" through HUB's eAcademy.

Saphir currently lives in NW Washington. She has 6.5 billion people in her family. www.WorldPeaceEmerging.com, www.GirlPoweredPlanet.com.