Now in its 176th year of educating young women, Saint Mary’s School knows what girls need to learn, grow and thrive. That’s why Saint Mary’s School offers an extensive educational program focusing on the development of 10 key competencies that includes hands-on learning, real-world applications, and opportunities to learn from Triangle-area experts through partnerships and events like the school’s annual Career Day program.
This year’s programming provides students with a highly interactive experience set for engagement with guests that represent the emerging economies of the Triangle.
Programming kicks-off with a Career Day Assembly on March 7 with an address by Ian Finley. Finley is both a writer and an educator, holding an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University and a B.F.A. in acting from the University of Utah. Deeply involved in the arts, Finley served as the 2012 Piedmont Laureate in the field of playwriting and acting, and has served as director of education for Burning Coal Theatre Company; currently he teaches English and Drama at Research Triangle High School, where he's the chair of the Fine Arts Department. In the Career Day Assembly, Finley will address the idea of following a calling - a career that inspires passion, engages talent, offers compensation, and enriches the world.
On Friday, March 9, programming will continue with a keynote address by Brooks Bell, CEO and founder of Brooks Bell. Following the address, students will work by advisory to go on an interactive, app-based scavenger hunt to meet and engage with Career Day guests. Guests include:
Brooks Bell
Brooks Bell is an established leader in the emerging industry of conversion optimization. She started her firm, Brooks Bell, in the early 2000s to help bring a data-driven mindset to digital marketing departments, and quickly became the leading organization in the industry. Today, her goal is still the same: to help companies discover the people behind the data using advanced analytics, optimization and personalization strategies. The Brooks Bell team has generated more than $500 million dollars in value for industry leaders in retail, financial services, media, and technology.
A recognized thought leader in analytics and entrepreneurship, Brooks has been featured in publications including Inc. Magazine, Forbes, Washington Post, and Techonomy. Most recently, Brooks spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and has moderated events for Bill Clinton, venture capitalist Chris Sacca, and Chelsea Clinton.
Brooks co-founded HQ Raleigh and ThinkHouse Raleigh—two communities that help empower, foster, and cultivate companies that produce long-term job growth and positive social impact. She is dedicated to social issues and serves on the board of WalkFree.org, the largest movement in the world dedicated to ending modern slavery. She has also served as the president of the Entrepreneurs Organization, and as a board member of the Digital Analytics Association and the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.
A native of Alaska, Brooks earned her B.A. from Duke University in 2001.
Evan Kidd
Evan Kidd is an award-winning filmmaker based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Raised in NC, he fell in love with film at early age and eventually turned his passion for storytelling into a career. Creating works screening globally for Rostrum Records, Cucalorus Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, XXL, Mass Appeal, BET, and MTV Jams. Evan also hosts the monthly podcast How We Human on design & creativity.
In 2014, Kidd graduated from East Carolina University, earning his degree with honors in Cinematic Arts and Media Production. While still in college, Kidd directed “Spazz Out!”, a 35-minute documentary on the annual Spazz Fest musical festival in Greenville, N.C. In addition to two other award-winning shorts, Kidd wrote and directed the narrative feature Son of Clowns, which has garnered multiple awards on the film festival circuit in 2016 including selection at the Cucalorus Film Festival and distribution on Amazon Prime Video. Son of Clowns was made in Raleigh. Kidd has also directed multiple music videos, including the video for Justin Garner’s “Love Strikes Twice,” which rotated on MTV Jams and VH1 Soul in early 2016.
In 2017 Evan was awarded a documentary research grant from The New Orleans Video Access Center to create his short documentary Flooded With You on the historic Baton Rouge, LA floods of 2016, shedding light on personal & environmental causes. From documentary to narrative and corporate Evan’s understanding of all genres of filmmaking gives his work a diverse and impressive understanding of the medium. His filmography can be found at http://rocksetproductions.com
Ian Finley
Ian Finley holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University, where he was awarded the Harry Kondoleon Award for playwriting. He is the author of And There Was War in Heaven (O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference Finalist), Native, The Greeks, 11:50, A Perfect Negroni, Suspense, Jude the Obscure - Parts 1 & 2, 1960, The Nature of the Nautilus (winner of the Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award), and the Our Histories cycle of plays. For this body of work, he was named the Piedmont Laureate in Playwriting and Screenwriting in 2012. Ian has also been an educator in North Carolina for fourteen years. In additiion to teaching classes for the OLLI program at Duke and NC State Universities, Burning Coal Theatre Company and the Cary Playwrights Forum, he serves as the Chair of Fine Arts at Research Triangle High School.
Kim McGimsey
Kim Brame McGimsey has been at the forefront of this emerging field of health & wellness coaching since 2009. She completed her certification training as an integrative health coach from Duke Integrative Medicine’s(DIM) professional training program’s second cohort. She was invited to be a contract instructor in the DIM professional training program in 2015 and was among the first in her field to earn the National Board Certification as a Health & Wellness Coaches last year.
In 2010 Kim founded Breakthrough Health, LLC, a private practice where she offers individual and group coaching, wellness workshops, and speaking engagements. Kim’s practice integrates her more than 22 years of business and management experience with a passion for helping individuals make skillful choices in their personal and professional lives that result in desired growth, health, and well-being. In addition to her private practice, Kim provides stress management consultations at Duke Executive Health and is part of the Simple Change corporate wellness team. She has also provided group-based education and individual coaching to individuals at risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease as part of an NIH-funded study.
Kim’s passion for affecting change extends beyond coaching to active community engagement. She continues to serve on various boards and committees that support women’s professional and spiritual development, address local food insecurity, promote school wellness, and establish school gardens. She enjoys life with her husband, Jim, her 23-year-old son, Kyle and 15-year-old daughter, Isabelle.
Josh Monohan
Josh Monohan graduated from North Carolina State University in 2017. Josh’s family has been in the snack food industry for sixty-five years, and growing up, he always knew that he wanted to continue that tradition. Two years ago, Josh started making plans for a food company of his own. With hunger being such a serious problem in America and learning that 1 in 6 people in this country do not know where their next meal will come from, Josh decided to name his company 1 in 6 Snacks. Josh’s vision was to sell great-tasting products while being able to give back to local food banks at the same time.
Josh is excited to announce that 1 in 6 snacks has become a reality. His first product is Kettle Cooked Potato Chips and the brand name is Carolina Kettle. For each 2-ounce bag sold, 1 in 6 snacks will donate 5 cents to your local Food Bank.
As an extension of this year's Career Day, Saint Mary’s School is pleased to invite the community to a book launch event on Tuesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m., featuring Remember Who YOU Are by Paula Brown Stafford and Lisa T. Grimes. As two local, well-known female professionals, Stafford and Grimes have come together to share career wisdom for working women and men who work alongside women. Click here for more about this exciting event and how you can register to attend.
Applications are now open for the Young Women's Leadership Institute (YWLI) at Saint Mary's School. This all-girls, two-week elite summer camp--in partnership with Duke University--is a certificate program designed to empower high school girls through extensive leadership training and skills enhancement.