This March, as part of our month-long celebration of female creativity, we are pleased to invite you to an evening of storytelling, advocacy, and music, honoring the trailblazing writer, activist, and librettist Nina Smart. Nina’s powerful memoir, "Wild Flower: The True Story of a Romanian Girl in Africa", recounts her breathtaking life as African-Romanian woman who, after escaping Ceaușescu’s terrible dictatorship, and the harmful traditional practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sierra Leone found her call, as activist and spokesperson, in the fight against FGM. Now, her exceptional story inspires not just readers, human rights leaders, and politicians, but also composers, who are bringing it to life as an opera-in-the-making. Join us for an intimate portrait-event celebrating an exceptional woman and championing female voices and resilience through a conversation with Nina, an exploration of her book, and an exclusive presentation of scenes from the upcoming opera. With special guests Sharon Fisher, past president of Soroptimist International, composer João MacDowell, opera singers Kyaunnee Richardson and Rachel Deatherage, and pianist Mireia Frutos Fernandez. The event is organized in partnership with the International Brazilian Opera Company – IBOC.
Dr. Nina Smart is a human rights activist, sociologist, and author with a unique biography, serving as an example of tenacity, strength, and determination that inspires generations of young women around the world through her unexpected trajectory. Her life story starts from growing up as a Romanian-African girl in totalitarian Romania, to her decision to move to Sierra Leone, where she discovers a world anchored in violent ancestral practices (Female Genital Mutilations), revelations that lead her to choose to flee to America where she will pursue her studies, obtaining a PhD in Sociology at Irvine in California and she will begin her career as an activist and representative of the fight against FGM in major international institutions such as the United Nations. In 2004, Dr. Smart founded Servicing Wild Flowers – SWF International, a Los Angeles based non-profit NGO that raises awareness about FGM through lectures and presentations for students and socially conscious groups. She currently works directly in rural areas of Sierra Leone, together with SWF partners, who facilitate community meetings, operate the only safe house for FGM survivors and educate women and children about human rights. Her organization supports projects that protect girls and women from FGM. In November 2014, she launched her memoir, "Wild Flower – the True Story of a Romanian Girl in Africa", used in numerous universities across the US to teach courses in the social sciences, peace, and conflict studies, literary composition, media, law, and society, education and women’s studies and has served as an inspiration for the International Brazilian Opera Company that decided to commission an opera based upon Dr. Nina Smart’s memoir "Wild Flower".
