QUEST VIEWERS

The Quest has received a sensational audience response from PBS audiences. Viewers referred to the shows as "inspirational", "healing and powerful", "deeply touching" and "life-changing". "Landmark events of transformative empowerment, beauty, and excellence". "Words of Wisdom from the great leaders of our time. It's emotionally very pleasing. It feeds my spirit. Awesome!"

WOMEN OF WISDOM AND POWER,

Vol. 1 PASSAGES The Path to Personal Transformation and Vol. 2: AGELESS BEAUTY Embracing Our Wisdom Years created and directed by Lili Fournier.

This remarkable series captures the mythic, practical, and emotion-fortified thoughts, dreams, and visions of ten of today's most inspiring and realized females. These first two volumes present heartfelt and intelligent commentary from women of power, woven together with an understated thread of narration and set against rich scenic backgrounds.

The wise and varied accounts of primatologist Jane Goodall, activist businesswoman Anita Roddick (founder of the Body Shop) author Jean Houston, artist Sark, Lynne Twist (founder of the Hunger Project) Joan Borysenko (co-founder of the Mind/Body Clinic at the Harvard Medical School) and others offer inspiring outlooks on personal growth, women's spirituality, and the role women play in societal change.

As they eloquently share their aspirations, their mistakes, and lessons that have been learned, and speak to the necessity of harnessing and utilizing our gifts and talents in meaningful ways, their stories form a wellspring of the feminine, of physical, emotional and spiritual well being. MTB

On Awakening a Global Vision

An interview with Lili Fournier - Newsletter June, 2003

By Catherine Carlisi

I caught up with Lili Fournier, the visionary force behind the award-winning Women of Wisdom and Power three hour series, at the Omega Institute in Rheinbeck, NY, where she and hundreds of others were just emerging from the closing ceremonies of a three-day conference on women's empowerment. Lili has always been a staunch advocate for women, having worked for years to give voice to women, championing women's rights, and exposing the hunger, poverty, and violence that are still prevalent in many women's lives.

Having recently watched her deeply moving Women of Wisdom and Power trilogy, I was looking forward to getting to learn more about Lili, the producer. As I was to find in our interview, Lili is something of a rebel, she's a woman with a cause and she'll circle the globe, spend every nickel she's got, in fact, she's done just that many times in the years since she began her quest to capture on film the wisdom and insights of today's leading luminaries.

When she couldn't find anyone willing to produce the substantive kind of programming she envisioned, she founded her own company and produced the Quest series of specials, featuring an unprecedented gathering of America's most influential thinkers and best selling authors in the field of human potential and spiritual growth.

After struggling for years to finance her pioneering work, she decided to personally debt finance her shows. It took her the past 10 years to produce 12 hours of programming. She started with 12 markets and expanded her syndication city by city to reach nearly 90 million households.

Considered a pioneer in the field of human potential, the Quest series of specials became a PBS ratings hit, raised over five million dollars for PBS's fund-raising efforts and received critical acclaim for their in-depth approach to contemporary life issues. Her work explores the nature and meaning of life, as well as recent advances in the fields of health, spiritual growth and positive social change. The Quest is television that matters.

She has committed the past three years to producing Women of Wisdom and Power, and traveling across the continent in her efforts to gather the women and unite women's organizations in a historic gathering for International Women's Day. Putting the power of her convictions into action, she has stepped out on the proverbial limb, and debt financed this odyssey.

The series has received a sensational response from women everywhere, and Women and Power, and the Power and Wisdom of Women leadership conferences have proliferated the country since the first two hours premiered in 2001.

Clearly a groundbreaker, Lili was the first female assistant director on major productions and later script supervisor at a time when the moviemaking industry was overwhelmingly male-dominated in Canada. To help others like herself, Lili started a mentorship program for women in film and assisted more than 30 individuals to advance their careers, often shaving 5-10 years off the normal progression.

Though she has yet to break into the world of commercial television, Lili believes that the messages she showcases in her shows are vitally important. So important, in fact, that she is planning to spearhead a global media event for the U.N.'s International Day of Peace , 2004 that will feature today's leading visionaries and entertainers in a bold state of the world address and hopes to link major peace events via satellite around the world to showcase the faith and the power of people to build what she terms One World.

What inspired this transplanted Translvanian to dedicate her life to awakening in people the potential of becoming their own heroes and to providing a map to a better future?

Maybe it was because her early life challenges prodded Lili to discover her own inner hero that makes her so passionate about changing the world. As the daughter of Auschwitz survivors growing up in a land where adversarial Hungarians and Romanians united only in their intolerance of Jews, Lili knows firsthand about man's inhumanity to man. When her family eventually immigrated to Israel, she was forced to learn a new language and culture, only to be uprooted once again to another foreign setting when the family settled in Canada. Those early experiences have engendered in Lili a fierce compassion for the underdog, the courage to fight injustice, and a commitment to awaken others to their true destiny.

CJC: You've just attended a women's conference here at Omega, Lili Why do you think it's so important now for women to "have their voices heard?"

Lili: Women have an important perspective for society that is often overlooked. The women's movement was the first step, and it made significant inroads, but what I see happening now is that it's evolved into a movement for humanity itself. Lynne Twist, who did remarkable work with the Hunger Project, proved to the world that when you empower women with economic opportunity and education, they take care of the family; they transform their community and their societies.

As women begin to see themselves as agents of change, and take on more leadership roles in their communities, they will transform the world. Women today are redefining what power means. It's not "power over," but a balance of power. The issues facing humanity today are all issues where the powerful and potent voice of women is critical to their resolution.

CJC: What stops women from being more proactive, in your opinion?

Lili: This is still a hierarchical world . Gloria Steinhem says that we tend to think of self-esteem as a personal issue, unaware of the millions of messages that bombard us daily. The culture's hidden messages can be very damaging to women. So women's lingering reluctance to be visible, to be proactive, and to take risks must be viewed in the context of our culture.

CJC: What can women do to empower themselves?

Lili: The antidote to giving your power away is awareness. What keeps us blocked is often not so much circumstances as our own limiting beliefs. That's one of the reasons I created Women of Wisdom and Power. Women need to see more of these incredibly courageous and phenomenal women, hear more of their stories, and use them as role models to make positive changes in their own lives.

CJC: Do you ever catch yourself struggling with limiting beliefs? How do you get yourself back on track?

Lili: With each new show and each new deadline I ask myself how I'm going to pull another rabbit out of the air, but you have to trust that, yes, you will. And somehow, you do. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in my office not knowing where to turn or how to pay the bills, and tell myself "This is insane. Why are you doing this?" I think it's just faith that gets me through it, the absolute conviction that I will prevail that gives me the tenacity to hang in there.

This is the pivotal moment in our history where we have to use the power of the media to influence personal and societal transformation, to inspire an evolutionary leap for humanity. The most profound question we must ask ourselves now is how can co-existence become a compelling and enduring vision for humanity? As Rabbi Hillel said, if not now, when? And if not us, who?

CJC: Do you consider yourself to be bold?

Lili: One of my favorite quotes is from the playwright Goethe: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

Bold? I imagine I have been at times. I really don't see that I have a choice. I just continue to swim towards my dream. Just like everyone else, I want to see a world that's at peace, where people can live with dignity, equality and freedom. It's our birthright! Can you imagine not being able to feed your children? So yes, it's really a question of conscience. What kind of legacy are we going to leave our grandchildren?

So now I hope to find the financial resources and the team to bring this dream to fruition. It is not a selfish, self centered act. It's an absolute necessity for me to be an effective leader. And as Lynne Twist would say, to not tell the truth about the power and authenticity of who I am and what I can deliver, is to mitigate the contribution I can make on this planet. So I'm struggling with this all the time.

I certainly wouldn't tell anyone else to quit her job and travel across the country, and do all the crazy things I've done. I have lived my life totally on the edge and continue to take endless risks. I'll get on a plane in a heartbeat if it helps the mission. Everything gets dropped and I'm there. It's a pretty vigorous way to live. You certainly pay a price for it.

When I despair, I often get just the kind of messages I need to keep going. I once got a call from a man who saw my credits on the PBS broadcast. He'd had to make numerous calls to find me. He said his father was dying and had really been in a bad space for a very long time. And when he saw the show, there was something there that spoke to him, gave him a new perspective, and he died at peace with his life. That's how I define success, real success, not in terms of the world and all the tinsley stuff, as Jane Goodall calls it, but what's authentically true for me. That's how I would define an authentic life. That's what authentic success means to me.

For more information about Women of Wisdom and Power, visit Lili's website at www.questforlife.com. Catherine Carlisi is a freelance writer, consultant, and public speaker who works with individuals and organizations on empowerment and communication issues.