This year we will honor TWO ({V})agina Warriors - Val Richman and Haley Baird. Haley will be recognized during an upcoming live benefit performance of “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer” (February 17 & 18) at Pelican Art Gallery, in celebration of February being Teen Dating Violence Awareness month. Val will be recognized during a live benefit performance of “The Vagina Monologues” (March 1, 2 & 3) at Pelican Art Gallery. The ({V})-Warrior award honors a person of any gender identification who embodies the spirit of equality and empowerment and assists in the effort to end violence against women and girls.
Val Richman, a V-Day Petaluma cast member in the 2009 production of The Vagina Monologues and 2010 production of A Memory a Monologue, A Rant & A Prayer, is the Executive Director of Mentor Me Petaluma, a local non-profit organization that matches at-risk youth with long-term caring adult role models. Mentor Me Petaluma has served over 750 youth since its’ founding in 2001 and currently over 225 youth are matched with adult mentors, with over 70 youth on a waiting list to be matched. In addition to being the Executive Director, Val also mentors an 11-year-old girl at La Tercera Elementary School, personally carrying out the vision and mission of Mentor Me Petaluma. Prior to Mentor Me, Val served as Girl Scout leader for 12 years encouraging young women to embody their truest selves and hone their own leadership potential. She is also a founding member of Le Cercle Français de Petaluma, a french conversation group. Val has lived in Petaluma for 25 years with her husband Abram and their two daughters Sarah and Phoebe. She enjoys travel and jazz.
Haley Baird, a senior at Casa Grande and the first teen to receive the ({V})-Warrior award from V-Day Petaluma, is a campus leader in political and feminist causes. She is the organizer and leader of the anarcho-feminist club called the Emma Goldman Knitting Club. She participated in organizing and implementing the campus version of V-Day and has taken a major role in organizing Occupy Petaluma. Haley attends a self-selected after-school Women’s History class, taught by Todd Siders (a former recipient of the V-Award), for her own personal enrichment. She has shed her shyness and embraced her inner activist, exemplifying youth activism and peer leadership. Haley is described as having analytical skills “on par with any adult” and helps to hold students and adults, alike, accountable.
Congratulations to Val Richman and Haley Baird for their leadership, activism, community involvement, and their commitment to improving our world for women and girls!
