Ravi Karkara

Episode Description:
The program may contains material that is very disturbing. ­ Listener Discretion is Advised. Content May Not be Suitable for Younger Listeners In this episode, we featured Felena Hanson, who shared with us her journey putting passion into action by creating Hera Hub, named after the greek goddess for women. This spa­like working environment has become an essential networking and collaboration site for female entrepreneurs in San Diego. With a goal of franchising across the nation and around the world, Felena hopes to reinvent the workspace for women entrepreneurs. Ms. Hanson, Co­Chair of the Inaugural San Diego Women INVESTING in Women Summit, also shares a few words about their upcoming event on July 18th­19th, 2014. We also had the opportunity to interview Mr. Ravi Karkara, concerning the brutal rapes of young women and girls in India which have come to the attention of the international media over the course of the past year. We discussed the role of men and boys in mitigating social discrimination and gender discrimination and what UNWOMEN is doing with their #HEFORSHE Campaign. Another focus of this interview was the need for proper water and sanitation for young girls and women given that 60% of Indians lack basic sanitation in both homes & schools. Female fetocide, infanticide, and the shocking statistic that every hour two women are raped are highlighted – parental discretion are highly encouraged for young audiences listening to this show. Finally, Mr. Karkara shares a CALL TO ACTION from both local citizen in India, male accountability demanding gender equality, and a growing movement of girls investing in other girls.

Ravi Karkara
Ravi Karkara is a trained Social Worker with commitment to advancing human rights, gender equality, inclusion and social justice. Ravi has served as the Global Advisor on Youth + Partnership with United Nations Millennium Campaign and UN­HABITAT, based in New York. He is the lead author of the groundbreaking report “Youth 21: Building the Architecture of Youth Engagement in the UN System,” by UN­Habitat, which contributed to the creation
of United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth. Ravi represented UN­HABITAT as the Co­chair of the UN Interagency Network on Youth Development. Government of Sri Lanka appointed him as the Global Advisor to the World Conference on Youth in 2014, focusing on youth perspective in developing post­2015 development agenda. He has relentlessly supported United Nations SG’s My World 2015 survey in reaching close to 2 million youth. Ravi has been co­chairing the Policy Strategy Group for World We Want 2015 ­ a UN & CSO post­2015 data­curation­ visualization platform. He is serving as Strategic Adviser Partnership Beijing+20, Office of the Assistant Secretary­ General/Deputy Executive Director, UN Women. His has committed his lifetime to women’s empowerment, strengthening human rights of girls, young women and women, gender equality and social inclusion. He is a founding member of the MenEngage Alliance and Young Men 4 Gender Equality. He has worked with several organizations on gender equality with a specific focus on children, youth and women including UN­Women, UNICEF, UNMC, Save the Children – has been successfully advocating role of boys and men in gender equality from a life­cycle approach. He has extensive experience in facilitating and managing strategy processes with diverse range of audience ranging from policy makers to development workers to local communities.

Felena Hanson
Felena is a long­time entrepreneur and marketing maven. Her latest venture, Hera Hub, is a spa­inspired shared workspace for female entrepreneurs. This as­needed, flexible work and meeting space provides a productive environment for women who primarily work from home. After building three successful locations in San Diego County, her next goal is to support over 20,000 women in the launch and growth of their business via 200 Hera Hub locations over the next 5 years. Felena is passionate about education, earning her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of San Diego and her MBA from California State University Dominguez Hills. She taught Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and at California State University Dominguez Hills for the MBA online program for eight years. Felena has been nominated for numerous small business awards and was rewarded for her community efforts by winning the 2012 “Women Business Owner of the Year” award and the 2014 “Women Advocate of the Year” award from the San Diego chapter of the National Organization of Women Business Owners. In 2014 she also won the “Small Business Champion of the Year” award from the San Diego Small Business Administration.