NO+ POSITIVE: A Panel on the Empowerment of No

A bit about the panelists…

Panelists (left to right): Diana Azaryan, Megan Blomquist, Dr. Obari Cartman, Alexandra Lively, Diana Rose Harper.

Diana Azaryan – Azaryan received a degree in International Studies with a concentration in Diplomacy, Security, and Peace. She is a client success manager at Infor and a volunteer medical advocate at Rape Victim Advocates. She has previously interned and volunteered at International Rescue Committee, where she mentored two refugee families. She proudly identifies as an intersectional feminist.

Megan Blomquist – Blomquist, Director of Education and Training, began working at Rape Victim Advocates in August 2009.  Megan graduated from University of Illinois-Chicago with a degree in Applied Psychology, focusing in Gender & Women’s Studies. She is 40-hour certified in both Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention (2009) and Domestic Violence work (2011) in the state of Illinois. Through the Illinois Attorney General’s Office Megan has also completed the 40-hour Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner training (2012). She is an active rape crisis counselor and community educator. Megan is also a leader in the Illinois Imagines project, a statewide collaborative which strives to improve the systemic response to people with disabilities who have experienced sexual assault. Megan is passionate about the pro-consent movement, and working within communities to end sexual and gender-based violence.

Dr. Obari Cartman – Dr. Cartman is a father, son, brother, uncle, thinker, writer, therapist, photographer, and drummer. He is a Chicago native, where his cultural and educational foundations were firmly planted by several African-centered institutions and communities. He received his undergraduate degree from Hampton University and a Ph.D in clinical & community psychology from Georgia State University. He has worked as a therapist is a variety of settings ranging from a family center to a women’s prison. He has worked as a professor of psychology at Georgia State University and the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern University.  Currently Dr. Cartman works as a restorative justice coach with H.E.LP., LLC (Healing Empowering and Learning Professions) in Chicago Public Schools. He also conducts trainings for adults and workshops with youth about maintaining good mental health, critical analysis of hip-hop and media, racial and cultural identity, developing authentic manhood, and healthy relationships. Dr.Cartman’s new book is called “Lady’s Man: Conversations for Young Black Men about Relationships and Manhood. It is a critical thinking guide that addresses historical trauma, hip hop, emotional intelligence, intimacy, communication, power, purpose and a variety of other topics. The book is a tool for families, teachers, mentors, and coaches to help young men think critically, and build character, discover their purpose, love themselves and each other, communicate with clarity and intention, understand the need for proper education, relate to women with integrity, express their emotions, understand their place in history, develop healthy coping strategies, and learn how to build a world where all people are truly free. To learn more please visit: www.DrObariCartman.com.

Alexandra Lively – Lively serves as an OSMTH United Nations Delegate, Board Member of the International STEM Society for Human Rights, the Leadership Council of the Explorer Program and as an Advisory Board Member at DePaul University. Working with the United Nations, she helps their mission facilitating conflict-prevention & resolution for disaster relief, domestic charity & international humanitarian aid, human trafficking, peace building and sustainable development. Alexandra was previously the Chicago News Bureau Chief reporting from the trading floor of the CME Group covering global financial markets. Lively is an advocate for Disabled American Veteran’s, Feeding America, the Alzheimer’s Association, PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, among other charities. She holds her Bachelors & Masters from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, completed her Masters in 1 year, graduated with institutional high honors, and speaks German & Brazilian Portuguese. Some of her studies included: improving peacekeeping operations, enhancing perceptions of multilateral organizations, international agricultural policy, news media framing, and the EU sovereign debt crisis.

Diana Rose Harper – Diana Rose Harper is a writer, reader, and healer-in-training currently living in Chicago, IL. Her ideas on wholeness and integration have been influenced by ecology, feminism, transpersonal psychology, bodywork, mythology, and a broad range of spiritual traditions. As a descendant of African slaves, Roma wanderers, and German immigrant farmers, she considers the reconciliation of conceptual divisions to be an especially fertile area for self-knowledge, community building, and healing.