Willa Shalit is an artist, theatrical and television producer, author/editor, socially-conscious entrepreneur and philanthropist, who says that, “all of my professional activities are efforts to use art as a vehicle for social change."

To bring economic recovery to women in post-conflict zones, Shalit has worked to create markets in the United States for products manufactured jointly by Palestinian and Israeli women, and by women survivors of the Rwandan genocide. As a result, Fair Winds Trading, Inc. has become a leading importer of handmade goods from Rwanda; it has partnered with Macy's for the Rwanda Path to Peace project to market hand-woven Rwandan baskets in the United States, and produced hand-beaded gemstone and glass bracelets in partnership with O, The Oprah Magazine.

In addition to creating Fair Winds Trading, Inc., Willa is also the editor of the book, Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female, a collection of essays and reminiscences by notable women and author of Lifecast: Behind the Mask, which details her methods and experiences casting sculptures of the Dalai Lama and other notable persons for an exhibit of touchable lifecasts of the faces of celebrities and other notable individuals, for the purpose of making famous faces accessible to the blind and visually-impaired. The exhibition toured American museums for ten years. Shalit and her lifecasting art were also featured in the Emmy Award-winning television documentary, Willa: Behind The Mask.

Shalit's photos of Afghanistan, Rwanda and Israel have been published in the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Parade magazine, Marie Claire magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, and distributed by the Associated Press wire service.

Willa also produced the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several off-Broadway shows including: James Lecesne’s One Man Band, Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, and Necessary Targets. In Cape Town, South Africa, Willa produced Carol Kaplan’s Jocasta Rising at the Artscape Theatre Centre. She was the Executive Producer of the HBO film of The Vagina Monologues and Until the Violence Stops, a documentary film about V-Day’s 2002 activities.

Shalit was one of the co-founder’s, with Eve Ensler, of V-Day, a non-profit organization that distributes funds to programs and organizations that work to stop violence against women and girls, and served as its first executive director.

Willa also served as a Special Advisor to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and was named by Women’s eNews as one of the “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” in 2006. She serves on the boards of the Hadassah Foundation and the Agohozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda.

Shalit is married and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and New York City. She and her husband, Michael Schneider, have one daughter, Natasha Schneider.

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