Lisa writes:

Standing in front of the frozen food section, I hung my head and shuffled my feet. "Well," I admitted to Cat, the co-op's assistant manager, "there were more than 2,500 entries in that essay contest."

Then, grinning, I looked her in the eye: "And we won!"

Cat held up her hand and we slapped a perfect high-five.

The 100 words I'd written about Cat's dedication to fitness, nutrition, and organic farming won the two of us a trip to the Mohonk Mountain House, an elegant Victorian hotel set within a forest preserve in upstate New York. Now, thanks to Stonyfield Farm and the other socially conscious businesses sponsoring the event, we had tickets to attend the Strong Women Summit taking place at the Mohonk on a weekend in mid-November.

I learned about the Summit last summer, spotting an ad while glancing through a magazine. The web site at Stonyfield.com provided more information:

What impressed me most was the connection the Summit was making between personal well-being and community activism. The sponsors framed taking care of ourselves—our fitness, nutrition, and stress-management—as part of our commitment to promote healing in the wider world.

The Summit's mission was in perfect alignment with my own: supporting women's empowerment through reclaiming our body's center, our bellies, as the site of our soul-power. Given my work, I know that strong women are gutsy women. The Strong Women Summit would be a "gutsy women gathering" and I was determined to be there. (As it turned out, the event was the perfect setting to present my just-published book, The Woman's Belly Book: Finding Your Treasure Within.)

By the time I learned about the Summit last summer, though, it was already sold out. The only way I'd be able to attend was to win the essay contest and its prize of a trip for two. The assignment: Write about a woman who inspires you.

I immediately thought of Cat. Here's how that happened:

As I was completing The Woman's Belly Book last summer, an idea for my next project presented itself—interviewing women and girls about how we're developing body-positive attitudes, especially with respect to our body's center. As I was chatting about this idea to the worker-owner at the co-op's cash register, she pointed to Cat and said "Talk to her!"

Cat and I met for lunch at The Relaxed Reader on Haywood Road and, with a tape recorder running, I learned Cat's extraordinary story. She told me how changing her food choices in an initial effort to lose weight (and she did lose more than 70 pounds) led to her growing awareness of environmental issues and her dedication to community action. What impressed and inspired me was her commitment to align her actions with her values. She walked her talk. She demonstrated Gandhi's counsel to "be the change we wish to see in the world."

I pared the tape of our conversation into 100 words expressing the excellence of Cat's example. Emailing the essay to Stonyfield, I already felt like a winner.

Cat writes:

I had such a great time at the Summit, located in such a place of healing. I enjoyed walking around the lake, ice skating, and a yoga class.

In the body analysis I found out my BMI (Body Mass Index) was healthy; the strength assessment told me I needed to start weight training. I took a stress management workshop and attended several lectures by a nutritionist and one with Erin Brockovich.

Having already made many strides towards improving my health—quitting smoking, losing more than 70 pounds, becoming vegetarian, switching to natural and organic foods—I recently decided to join a gym and get my strength up. I'm making my commitment to be not only emotionally strong, but also physically strong.

I enjoyed bonding with other women, and acting as an inspiration to women to help them make changes in their lifestyle and food choices.

The Strong Women Summit's theme was great and I thought it was an easy way to help women get on their paths of health and strength. I'm glad to see they'll be offering it in several places over the coming years.

Lisa writes:

What is winning, and how do we win? That question beckoned to me during my weekend at the Summit.

Winning Through Intimidation is the title of a book that was popular several years go. Those words point to the fear that structures our society in layers of power and control: One person wins at the expense of another's loss. That kind of "winning" has created the disasters that now endanger human survival.

If we humans are to survive, if our planet is to remain livable, we must find other ways to win—ways that replace domination with partnership and coercion with collaboration.

The Strong Women Summit essay contest provides a brilliant example of how to encourage that evolution. I arrived at the Summit because of Cat's story; without her story I wouldn't have won. Cat arrived there because of my essay; without my ability to communicate her story she wouldn't have won.

We won through a deep structure of cooperation. Cooperation, collaboration, partnership: some of the many strengths that women have to share with the world.

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