Our WWE Board of Directors
The Board of Directors at Woman Within Eastern USA collaboratively and strategically guide and lead the successful journey of our Woman Within Weekend, Circles, and other programs. Together they set and hold the vision, mission, and values of the organization and direct the operational delivery plan and policy. If you have comments or questions, please feel free to email them. Your input is appreciated.
Ali Lodise
President,
Director of Communications,
Director of Training
Mission: To live in fierce love and full being.
Ali (she/her) began her Woman Within journey in March 2018 in Jamison, PA. Ali attended the Woman Within Level 2 training in 2019 and has staffed the WW Weekend several times. Ali has served on the Woman Within Eastern Board of Directors as the Director of Communications since 2021 and stepped in the role of Acting President in 2023. Ali participates in a closed circle, co-hosts a monthly online open circle, and co-hosts the WWE LGBTQIA+ online open circle through which she continues to welcome women into the organization.
Ali is a queer movement artist in Philadelphia, PA, which she acknowledges as traditional Lenape land. Ali values a holistic approach to embodiment. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree while working as physical therapy aide, Pilates instructor, and movement educator.
Ali is an independent thinker who found her way gradually into the WW organization. While her experiences in WW have been, at times, confrontational to her resistant and rebellious energies, Ali believes the work of the Woman Within community is transformative and necessary. Within the Woman Within community, Ali has learned to partner with herself in healing and power.
She leads by challenging the process and provoking change in herself and within her communities. She values inclusivity and engagement in the Woman Within organization. Her hope is to bring transparency, transformation, honesty, love, and compassion to the Director of Communications position. She hopes to utilize her roles to support a diverse array of people in finding and accessing their own personal empowerment.
Melissa Wilson
Director of Circles,
Interim Secretary
Mission: To live authentically with grace and presence.
Melissa started her journey into Woman Within slowly. For 13 years, her mom (who is active in Woman Within) spoke of the Woman Within Weekend once a year and finally, in fall 2015, Melissa asked her mom to “tell me more” then attended her Weekend in Texas. After living in Texas for more than 30 years, Melissa moved to the East Coast shortly after completing her Weekend and became connected with the Woman Within Eastern community. She is active in the Circle community, both in open virtual circles and with her local committed circle, she attends workshops when time permits, and staffs Weekends.
Melissa’s passion is working with others, and she has worked with children with complex medical needs and their families for over 25 years. She currently works at a children’s hospital and every day brings something new and different and she finds herself inspired and rewarded by the work. Melissa’s favorite day of the week is Monday, because it signifies a new start and opportunities to come!
The Woman Within community created a safe space for her to explore and honor her authentic self and find the strength of her voice. Some of the greatest gifts Melissa received by being involved with this community is feeling confident to speak her truth, comfortable in her own skin to “show up” and be seen, and establish her boundaries with grace and assurance, even if it feels scary or unknown. It is an honor to serve on the Woman Within Eastern board as Director of Circles. If you are looking for a safe place to express your truth, be seen and/or heard, to connect to and be inspired by other women, or if you have questions about Circles, Melissa will gladly assist.
Mary Rago
Weekend Administrator
Director of Community Affairs
Website Administrator
Mission: Nurture others & allow myself to be nurtured in return.
Mary stepped into her Woman Within Weekend during September 2023 in Great Barrington MA. Immediately following her weekend Mary felt an immense desire for service to the community of women that served before her but also to the new community of women that will come after her. From that desire, she stepped into multiple rolls, sits in circle, and is filled with great excitement at the opportunities ahead of her.
Mary is working towards a degree in Funeral Directing and has many passions including cooking, creating, moving the body and experiencing things that bring her outside of her comfort zone. As a member of a 12 step fellowship program outside of Woman Within, Mary has first hand experience of working with women in the intention of finding, feeling, and releasing the negative charges inside. Mary strives to embrace what is deemed ugly and chaotic with the belief that in that space true freedom and connection is found.
Mary finds great joy in supporting and caring for women but has personally struggled in allowing that support to be reciprocated. Her personal experience on the Woman Within Weekend allowed her to be nurtured and cared for in a way she deemed impossible and unnecessary. This awoke a deeper sense of connection to the women surrounding her, her ancestors, and to the women who haven’t embarked on their journey just yet. This desire to uncover more has been the life force behind Mary’s service and has brought to light a mantra inside of her which guides her through the uncomfortability and liberation of growth.
“What I need may not always be what I want.”
Clem Perry
Treasurer
Mission : Spread the love and grow our beautiful community!
After attending a men’s group welcoming ceremony, Clem was blown away by the vulnerability and the sincerity with which they were sharing, and the special bond that held them together. She realized she yearned for the same authenticity and sisterly community. She went through the Woman Within weekend in March 2019, and soon after found joy in giving back through staffing the weekends, and helping other women unlock their inner strength.
Clem works in interior design and enjoys anything that relates to creating using her hands and imagination, from crafts to fine arts and everything in between. She is a wife and a mother of two little boys.
Although it took a while, she realized she needed to make time and space for her personal growth. She tributes her weekend for laying the first stone in the work that she believes makes her a better mother, friend and human.
Our Community Leaders
Kerry Quinn
Supply Coordinator
Kerry joined Woman Within in September of 2015, going through the Weekend in Jamison, PA. She has been sitting in circle, staffing Weekends and attending workshops since. Kerry stepped into the role of Supplies Manager in 2022.
Kerry is a Physician Assistant in primary care in Philadelphia while pursuing a Masters of Public Health at Drexel University. Her involvement in Woman Within actively informs her care of patients, through empowerment, active listening and embodiment.
Judie Cummings
Staffing Coordinator
Mission: to support all emotions, to be heard and seen by creating sacred space and connection.
Judie’s Woman Within journey began May of 2008 in Elmer, NJ. Although the weekend itself was powerful and transformative, she found that the community that supported her since then has been the greatest gift of attending. Through her own Circle, staffing and attending other Woman Within Workshops she found her own truth and strength in who she is. She found herself not only stepping into leadership but also able to do that in a way that she never thought was possible. She found she could be both strong and loving at the same time.
Judie has been able to fulfill her mission by staffing and becoming a Team Leader for the Woman Within Weekend. She has also supported the Eastern Region in different positions over the years including supporting creation and training of new circles and helping women find circles and connect with each other – in both the Eastern Region as a whole and the local PA region while she was still living there.
Through the Staffing Coordinator Role, she is hoping to continue to support each of our weekends even if she cannot be there every weekend. The Weekend has been a vital start to Judie’s journey to who she is today and the woman she continues to step into everyday.
Julie Posmantier
Weekend Administration Team
Julie Posmantier began her involvement with Woman Within in October of 2010 when she went through her original Woman Within training at the Clara Barton Center in Massachusetts. She was so excited to be a part of this community that she immediately jumped into helping to build a new Woman Within Circle in Cambridge, MA with several of the women from her weekend. She has continued since then to sit in circle closer to her home in CT. She completed the Skills workshop in 2014 and the WW Level 2 workshop in 2016. Additionally, she staffs WW weekends at least once per year, has staffed both the Skills workshop and WW Level 2.
Julie was asked to join the Woman Within Eastern USA Board in January of 2013 and was thrilled to accept the position. She was honored to hold the role of Treasurer for 7 years. In early 2021 she was offered and happily accepted the position of Weekend Administrator. Although she has since stepped down from her formal board position, she remains in service, helping to administer Weekends in the Eastern region. She looks forward to many more years of serving the Woman Within community with an open heart.
