Featuring:
Dr. Maya Soetoro
International Team Consultant, Obama Foundation and Faculty Specialist, University of Hawai'i
Thomas West
Executive Director, The Peace Studio
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
2:00-3:15 p.m. ET
Event Description
Dynamic speakers Dr. Maya Soetoro and Thomas West will discuss shifting the narrative in philanthropy to place social justice and peace at the center. We invite you to join us as they reflect on the meaning, practice, and impact of philanthropy for social justice and peace.
This Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy Speaker Series event is presented by Lumina Foundation.
About Maya Soetoro
Dr. Maya Soetoro is a consultant on the International Team at the Obama Foundation and a faculty specialist at the University of Hawai'i. Previously, she was the director of the Matsunaga Institute for Peace at the University of Hawai'i where, in addition to leading outreach and development initiatives, she also taught Leadership for Social Change, Peace Movements, Peace Education, and Conflict Management.
For many years, she worked at the University of Hawai'i College of Education where she taught Multicultural Education, Social Studies Methods, and Peace Education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Maya sits on several voluntary boards and is the co-founder of the nonprofits Ceeds of Peace, the Peace Studio, and the Institute for Climate and Peace.
About Thomas West
Named by President Obama as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts in 2014, Thomas West is a creative artist and entrepreneur making waves for his dual career as a renowned operatic baritone and as the founding executive director of The Peace Studio – a nonprofit that equips artists and journalists with opportunities and strengths-based tools to restore hope, challenge injustice, and bridge divides.
Highlights from Thomas’s performance career include a Tanglewood Music Center fellowship, covering Silvio in Pagliacci with Opera San Jose, Morales in Carmen with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Mississippi Symphony, the Faure Requiem with Music on Norway Pond in Hancock, NH, An Evening of Bach Cantatas with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in Winnipeg, Canada, the world premiere of Wayne Oquin’s Meditation in Alice Tully Hall and multiple performances with The New York Festival of Song and the Chautauqua Institution.
As a curator and producer, he has led over 40 artists on tours to Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, New Hampshire, California, Connecticut, and most recently Kigali, Rwanda.
Prior to joining The Peace Studio, Thomas held positions in the Office of the President at The Juilliard School as a special projects producer and as the founder and CEO of Collaborative Arts Ensemble, based in New York City. In 2013, he was named Youth Philanthropist of the year by the Chattanooga Times Free Press for his efforts in raising over $16,000 in support of arts education in his childhood hometown of Chattanooga, TN.
He holds a BM in Vocal Performance from The Juilliard School. In his free time, Thomas enjoys movies, nonprofit leadership podcasts, trying new restaurants, and spending time with his partner and her golden retriever puppy, Finn.