Ellen Gavin is a writer, producer and activist living in Los Angeles and New York. After a successful theater career in San Francisco, Gavin now writes female-centered socially-conscious scripts for film and television. Her original scripts are ensemble-driven and intersectional—personal stories of challenge with themes of humanism and sisterhood. She is also the principal of Gavin Creative Collab, LLC, producing videos for companies and campaigns and raising funds for progressive candidates.

Gavin has been a changemaker since the age of 18, creating three non-profit organizations, as well as networks and coalitions that still thrive. She’s been on the ground in the student, feminist and LGBTQ movements in North and Central America. She raised millions of dollars for organizations and candidates that share progressive values. Her legacy project is the creation of the Brava Theater Center over a quarter of a decade; it is a cultural anchor in the Mission District of San Francisco that serves hundreds of thousands of people a year and expresses the richness of California culture.

Ruth and Jean Mountaingrove were leaders in the lesbian-feminist land and spirituality movements of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Born Ruth Shook in 1923 in Philadelphia, PA, Ruth Mountaingrove attended Kutztown State Teacher’s College, earning a bachelor’s degree in science. Following completion of her studies, Ruth married Bern Ikeler and they had five children, Eric, Kim, Jeff, David and Heather. After divorcing in 1965, Ruth became active in the women’s movement. She found her calling in photography and over the course of three decades documented many aspects of the lesbian land and spirituality movements, including the work done by the Oregon Women’s Land Trust (OWL). At age 60, she earned a master’s degree in art and photography and continued her documentary activities until she became too ill to work. She died in 2016 at age 93 in Eureka, CA. Jean Mountaingrove was born Jean Janette James in 1925 in Des Moines, IA. She attended the University of Iowa, and later UCLA, where she earned a master’s degree in social work. She was married twice and had two children before meeting Ruth and combining their families. After her second divorce, Jean had a profound spiritual experience while “roaming the land” and found herself feeling unconditional love for the trees, the stream and the forest. She knew then that she needed to live in a community of people who felt as she did about nature, spirituality and female connectedness. She and Ruth became romantic partners in 1971, relocating to southern Oregon where they lived in various intentional communities, pursuing publishing, photography and creative spiritual work with women who traveled from all over the world to work with them. Jean died in Grants Pass, Oregon in 2019 at the age of 94.