Sacred Promise is a collection of stories, led by Humanitarian, best-selling author and Oprah Winfrey’s all-time favourite guest, Dr. Tererai Trent and written by 36 phenomenal women, that inspires global women to honor who we are and reclaim our voices.
Sacred Promise has a profound message, if we are true to the inner voice that guides us we will find meaning, beauty, clarity and direction, even in the darkest of times as we navigate our way to our true purpose. This collection shares with us voices deeply embedded in diversity and unique perspectives, with each author sharing their own stories and the sacred promises they have made to themselves, each so different yet brought together by the collective sisterhood and a universal longing for hope and positive change for the world.
This book courageously explores the deeper meaning of existence, the journeys we travel and the challenges we overcome and invites us to consider the true purpose of our lives and how we can take action on our own sacred promises to ourselves.
Alice Kones
Alice grew up in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya where girls were traditionally considered part of family property and were not supposed to go to school but were to be married off at a young age. Most families were often reluctant to offer girls the same educational opportunity that the boys receive.
She witnessed many girls and women succumb to cultural believes and practices in her community (such as women being sole providers of the families, walking long distance to fetch water, working in the farm, and cooking while carrying their babies on their backs), that marginalize and depress women and girls.
She vowed to change all these, she wanted a better life for herself and to be a voice of women and girls in her community. She knew education would be the only way out, that would offer many opportunities.
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Brenda Kokiai
Brenda Kokiai is a proud Melanesian woman from Bougainville who now calls Cairns Australia home. Brenda was born and raised in the small village of Vito, surrounded by a mighty flowing river and the vastness of The Solomon Sea.
Brenda is the 8th born in a family of nine. Brenda loved village life and learning, until the Taim Saka, The Bougainville Crisis, called time on her schooling. The civil war not only disrupted her education, but shook the prosperity of her family, her village and the country as a whole.
Enduring the cruelty of civil war did not suppress Brenda’s joy for life and love for others. Brenda credits the determined work ethic of both her parents as an integral part of her success. Her compassion and empathy for others is unyielding, as is her generosity of spirit.
Caroline Bellenger
Caroline Bellenger is a passionate life coach, inspirational keynote speaker, and creator of ‘Be The Impossible’. Winner of The Gold Coast Women Of The Year Wellness Warrior & National Roar Award Best Advocate For Mental Health Caroline epitomises the philosophy of overcoming trauma through wellness and courage. From childhood sexual abuse to over twenty years of addiction and mental health issues, Caroline got sober in 2009.
Since then, Caroline has achieved incredible success in life and business. A few of her remarkable achievements include representing Australia in Triathlon at 50, climbing to Everest Base Camp, and going back to university in her 40s. After a successful corporate career ended through workplace bullying at the age of 48, she took back her life by becoming a successful entrepreneur with several businesses. These include a thriving fitness studio and life coaching business. Achieving entrepreneurial success over a few years is a testament to her courage and determination to not allow her past or age to define her future.
Gertrude Mudzingwa
was born and raised in Rhodesia now Zimbabwe in 1967 to peasant farmers in a village in the Reserves of Lower Gwelo. Studied at Belvedere Technical Teacher’s College in the capital city of Harare where she obtained a Diploma in Education, Home Economics major in 1992. She moved to the United States in 1994. In 2006 she joined and became one of the AIDS Ambassadors for the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund an organization that promotes awareness, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis around the world. Currently she works at a Retirement Home as a Home Care Aide. She lives in North Carolina with her husband. Has one grown daughter.
Getrude Matshe-Kanicki
Getrude Matshe-Kanicki is an inspirational speaker who has been described as a vibrant bundle of African energy whose zest and passion for life inspires everyone she meets. She is passionate about helping people achieve their full potential and find their individual life purpose. She is passionate about individuals’ success. This makes her an energetic, inspirational and enlightening speaker. Getrude has written several books and is now a book writing coach.
Kellie Hackney
Hope! Is the thread which is woven from the past and into the present, it tells my story of overcoming, triumph and possibility. Hope is found in the stillness and in the knowing. Hope grows through connection and belonging.
Kellie lives with her partner Glen, on the beautiful Worimi Country, Port Stephens on the East Coast of Australia. Kellie works for a small Not for Profit where she leads the organisation’s Family Work Team.
Kellie love’s learning and is a seeker of wisdom and understanding. She loves art and values curiosity and creativity. Kellie love’s people – She believes everyone has a place and a purpose and when they connect with themselves magic happens.
Comfort Dondo
Comfort Dondo is a seasoned Transformational Speaker who travels extensively around the world, advocating for the safety and empowerment of Domestic Violence victims and survivors.
Based in Minnesota USA, Comfort strengthens the voices, champions the rights and changes the lives of vulnerable women, restoring their hope and dignity.
Through keynotes, workshops and one-to-one consulting, she provides tools, techniques and strategies that help increase their morale, build confidence and work towards positive advancements of survivors.
Speaking with contagious enthusiasm, Comfort ensures that her audiences are left with clear strategies to achieve their desired outcomes with guidelines to create sustainable solutions to their challenges. Due to lived-experience, her empathetic approach enables survivors and victims to get unstuck, motivating them to function more effectively.
Lupita Jaime
Lupita Jaime is a Spanish Language interpreter & translator, certified by the Judicial Council of California as a Court, Medical and Administrative Hearing Interpreter. She has extensive experience interpreting in legal, conference, medical, community, business and school settings.
Her extensive experience, coupled with her bicultural background have been valuable assets that have provided her with the necessary fluidity to bridge the language barrier in various interpretation settings, such as witness testimony, including trials, mediations and conferences.
Maria Mbanga-Mazvimavi
is a Women and Girl Child Empowerment Advocate, Community Builder, Leader, Philanthropist and Motivational Speaker. She is the Founder of Woman and Girls Arise Zimbabwe, Canada Woman and Girls Arise Foundation, Hope for Her Global and an upcoming author.
She has a podcast called Sisters Talk, Up Close and Personal with Maria where she interviews women from around the globe who advocate for women and girls’ issues varying from Education, law and justice and women advancement. The Alberta Black Gold Philanthropist of the Year award winner is Zimbabwean born. A secondary school English Literature teacher and Banker by profession. After graduation she sought to serve in the most disadvantaged communities in urban areas.
Maxi-Lee Machado
Maxi-Lee Machado is a South African born, of Portuguese decent, mom of 3 beautiful boys, multi-passionate social entrepreneur that is on a mission to make healthy easy and accessible! She is deeply passionate about children and is committed to ending childhood malnutrition and through the Happy Healthy Human Foundation she promotes Early Childhood Nutrition programmes benefiting the children from rural and underdeveloped areas in Southern Africa.
Dr. Saskia J.M. Harkema, MBA
I was born in The Netherlands but raised in South-America, where I lived throughout my childhood and adolescence. In Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. This has been very defining in my life. As a consequence I consider myself a world citizen.
I now work as an independent academic. Involved in adult education, but also as a Senior Expert for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support countries in igniting entrepreneurship to spur economic development. I have done projects in Colombia, Bangladesh and Nepal. I am also Global Goodwill Ambassador for Female Wave of Change and World Ambassador for The Netherlands for World Peace Tracts.
In 2018 I made my debut with a non-fiction book about my work with Syrians. Later I published a novel inspired on my life and I am in the midst of writing a novel based on my work in Eastern-Europe about the downfall of Yugoslavia and Europe and how it has impacted the life of ordinary people.
Rebecca Davidson
is a career mortgage professional financing homes nationwide in the US. She and her team are known as the #SmartestWomenInMortgage with sixty years combined experience in the industry. She’s an only child and a second-generation mortgage lender. From an early age, Rebecca has been a student of human nature. This study began with a voracious appetite for reading and weekly visits to the local nursing home from ages 5-13. She’s got a great love of history and is proud to know a woman who came across the prairie in a covered wagon when she was 5.
Sandy Davies
Long before writing books and formulating HappyPause™ Balm, Sandy Davies was born and raised in the American Midwest in the state of Kansas. Sandy immigrated to Australia to do her master’s degree in social policy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney as a Rotary Fellow and Ambassador of Goodwill for Rotary International.
When not packaging and processing HappyPause™ orders and heightening menopause awareness, Sandy enjoys writing and spending time with her husband and their rescue dog Karma along the fringing reef. Her book The Power to Rise Above about resilience and teenage bullying will be available in 2023.
Sarah Walko
Sarah Walko is an artist, director, curator and writer. She has her Master of Fine Arts degree from Savannah College of Art and Design and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland. She is currently the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey and has directed non-profit arts organizations for fifteen years.
Selina Cheshire nee Mugodi
is a mother of 2 and a grandmother of 2 who is a cancer survivor of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma stage 4 cancer. She is a public speaker and a Transformational and Wellness Coach. Life was never that exciting and easy for her from an early age but of cause life has its own way, which she had to take charge of and live authentically and walk tall in a world that seems to be full of pain and confusion.
I am now a public speaker, sharing stories of courage, resilience, and determination especially to women who find themselves in a situation where they are made to feel useless and not worthy. I am a Transformational and wellness coach, helping other women to love themselves from inside out for the joy of Life. Find me on Facebook, Instagram and on LinkedIn. Call me for a 45 minute free call.
Serena Dorothy Ryan
is an award winning Entrepreneur, Marathon Runner and Digital Marketing Strategist. Serena stepped into digital marketing in 2004. In 2005 Serena created an online training program for 10,000 retail employees. At the time Serena was living in regional NSW.
Serena relocated to Sydney in 2006 and commenced working as a Trade Marketing Manager for a Complementary Health Care Company. The focus was on B2B selling and Serena identified a need to train Pharmacy Assistants on the benefits of the products being sold using online tools. Serena went on to be the Internet Business Manager for Skin Doctors (2007-2010).
In 2010, Serena completed formal study in Digital Marketing via ADMA (Australian Direct Marketers Association) this led her to work for Visa and write draft Social Media Guidelines for Visa, including managing their online presence for one of their key projects in the payments sector.
Terri Weems
is a novice author. She is debuting as collaborative author.
Terri and her husband, John, currently reside in Indiana. Her degrees are in business education. Realizing the many changes in the educational system, Terri became a lifelong student. She continues to seek knowledge and develop skills in a variety of areas. She boldly steps into arenas that she has only read about and experiences that broaden her horizons.
In no particular order, Terri’s experiences include teaching, accounting/bookkeeping, various committee chairings, executive assistant, business development consulting, academic dean of students, motivational speaking, political campaign manager, workshop facilitator, charitable foundation executive director, board president, conference coordinator, assistant living coordinator, and a caregiver.
Being grounded in her faith, Terri prays that she could use her many talents to help whomever, whenever. Her purpose is to be of service sharing what she knows freely.
Zvisinei Dzepasi Mamutse
Zvisinei Dzepasi Mamutse is originally from Zimbabwe, currently residing in Cincinnati, Ohio since 1998. She is a wife to Honest Mamutse, a mother of three children, two girls and one boy. Thandi, Hama, and Namatirai. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University 2014, a master’s degree in nursing with a focus in Adult Gerontology Acute Care from Walden University, 2017. Currently she is studying towards a PhD in nursing with a focus on global health at Walden University. She is also certified in Addiction medicine, Menstrual Health Education, and Developmental Programs. Professionally she works as a nurse practitioner.
Lorri O’Brien
Lorri O’Brien is a Mother of Three and married to her Husband Paul for 23 years. Lorri lives in a seacoast community in the southern tip of Maine.
Lorri earned her MBA from Southern New Hampshire University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bryan University. Currently, Lorri works for a top cybersecurity global firm who is paramount in the war against cyber attacks. Lorri has held numerous sales and business positions within the technology industry since graduating college. Lorri has sat on the Board of Directors for BirthRight Organization starting immediately after college; an organization that protects the sanctity of Life and urges women to carry through with their pregnancies regardless of hardships, worries, lack of funds or anything that would prevent a woman from giving birth to their child. Lorri also enjoys skiing, nature, dancing, and finding ways to invest her time and energy on projects that will help others in their Life Journey. Work in progress!
Nicole Doherty
Nicole Doherty has always been someone that epitomises the word resilience.
A highly regarded disability and mental health advocate, Nicole has worked with people from all backgrounds, with varying disabilities, mental health, the elderly, homelessness, youth, addiction issues, as a counsellor, trainer, and mentor, and employs over 40 people across her 3 companies, Empowered Liveability, Wyngate Care and Sharnic Connect.
Having lived through childhood trauma and the resulting addiction issues that came after, Nicole has always somehow taken everything in her stride. Hailing from a small town on the Australian coast, Nicole grew up surrounded by salt of the earth blue collar families like her own, and learned incredibly hard life lessons early on.
Judy Cheung-Wood
Award-winning entrepreneur Judy Cheung-Wood’s vision is for people to feel confident and well with acne free skin. She founded SkinB5™, a global brand offering natural easy everyday skincare treatments for healthy skin and acne control.
Today Judy continues her grandfather’s legacy. She’s here to make a real difference, by helping those to heal and flourish. Judy’s courage to hold her vision, build a successful global company and move beyond all doubt – her own and others – is at the very heart of the SkinB5™ brand. The SkinB5™ journey gives the confidence and self-belief to present your full face and vision to the world and help others.
Thresette Briggs
is a keynote speaker, trainer, facilitator, and executive coach who has authored numerous articles. This is her first debut as a collaborative book author.
Raised in Wichita, Kansas, the youngest of three siblings, Thresette overcame intense bullying to find her voice, and as a single mom she learned to use it to advocate. She worked in an aircraft factory for two years before going to college and receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The Wichita State University. She left Kansas soon after graduating due to lack of opportunities in her field, to pursue a better life for her and her son.
Dr. Vickie Aultmon
is a retired assistant principal with over thirty- five years of educational experience. She is the Director of Education for the Wanda Durant Real MVP Foundation.
Dr. Aultmon attended Bowie State University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and her Master of Education in Reading. Dr. Aultmon attained her Doctor of Philosophy from The National University of Science and Technology, in The Republic of Zimbabwe in South Africa, for her original research in the fields of Genealogy, Pedigree Analysis, Heritage and Africology, under the direction of Dr. Freedom Cheteni.
She is currently writing her dissertation in pursuit of her second Doctorate in Educational Leadership from City University of Seattle.
