Founder of Lune Soleil Press

Lune Soleil Press is the dream and the natural outcome of a life inspired by books. Founder Zoe Ann Nicholson has been enchanted by books and authors for over 55 years. The single thread of her life has always been books, starting with reading The Lives of the Saints, opening and operating a bookstore and finally writing five of her own. The creation of Lune Soleil Press is just the next step on her path.

Zoe Ann Nicholson
3419 Via Lido, Suite 614           
Newport Beach, CA
Zoe@onlinewithzoe.com               
http://onlinewithzoe.com

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Activist, author and speaker, Zoe Nicholson holds a B.A. in Theology, Quincy University, 1969 and a M.A. in Ethics, USC, 1975. She began her professional life teaching high school for five years. In 1976, she opened and operated The Magic Speller Bookstore, a women’s bookstore in Newport Beach, CA. In 1982, she joined six women in Springfield, Illinois., in a public and political fast for 37 days in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Her memoir is The Hungry Heart ~ A Women's Fast for Justice, from Lune Soleil Press.

With the close of her independent bookstore, she served for a year as Director of the Orange County Free Clinic. In 1985, she completed the professional computer program at Computer Learning Center and worked in hi tech, software development and recruiting for fifteen years. Since 2001, she is founding partner and manages Eclipse Data Systems and Eclipse Global. She is a member of the ERA Roundtable, a life-long member of NOW and proud member of the Veteran Feminists of America.

SPEAKING

My speaking engagements are my chance to find that one activist who sits among the crowd who are not.  Every time I speak I tell the audience that there is one person here today who was waiting for this information, this inspiration, this permission to be the activist their spirit is urging them to be.     Pay Equity
         2008 National Conference Federally Employed Women.
    Activism & the ERA
        Claremont Graduate School
        Cal State Fullerton
        Cal State Long Beach
        University of California Irvine
        AAUW
        University of California Bakersfield
        Conference National Women’s History Project
        Sacramento NOW
        Chapman University Democratic Club
        San Diego Central NOW
        Southern Methodist University
       
    Television & Radio
        Chicago AM
        Women’s Advisory Board West Hollywood
        The Mara Brown Show
        The Aware Show
        Weekend America   
       
BUSINESS
    Lune Soleil Press Owner 2003 - current
    Eclipse Data Systems, Partner & Manager 2001 – current
    Eclipse Global, Partner & book producer  2001 - current
    Software Design, Development and Sales 1993- 2001
    Computer Business Analyst 1985 – 1992
    Director of the Free Clinic of Orange County 1983 - 1984
    Built, owned operated Magic Speller Bookstore, 1976-1982
    High School teacher 1969 – 1975

ACTIVISM
    Previous
        Co-Coordinator BayView NOW
        VP Membership CA NOW
        Treasurer CA NOW
    Current
       Convener and President Pacific Shore NOW
       California Rep ERA Roundtable
       Board of Directors Veteran Feminists of America
       NOW National Lead for the National Equality March.
    Demonstrations, Marches, Protests ~ too many to list.  1968 to last week

EDUCATION
    B.A. Theology Quincy University, Quincy, Illinois, 1969
    M.A. Ethics, University of Southern California, 1975
    Computer Programmer Certification, Computer Learning Center, Somerville, MA, 1986

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

A couple of years ago I was fortunate to hear Dr Robert Thurman, Columbia University endowed chair and president of Tibet House, speak at the Newport Library on the intersection of politics and Buddhism. Accepting questions, a man in the front row asked him, "What do you think is the state of Enlightenment in the world?" Dr. Thurman walked over to him and said it is not very good. "You can see it in the fact that the ERA failed." He continued, "The advancement of the country and the world depends on women." He went on to say that men will not lead the world forward; it will be women and the question is will women stand up and take it on. My spirit shouted out, “I WILL! I WILL!”

Standing in front of the desk where Alice Paul wrote the ERA, it was as if she showed me her vision and asked me to carry on her work to see that women are explicitly included in the US Constitution. I get this. I get that most people believe it passed. I get that people are not aware that women make 78 cents on the dollar (White women). I get that African American single mothers make 69 cents on the dollar. I get that since there is no federal ERA, there are inconsistent state laws and widespread confusion. Twenty-two states have an equal protection law; twenty-eight do not. Studies show us that women do not use the limited protections that are in place as men do not hesitate to use them.

As we have watched the citizens of California misinterpret the purpose of their state constitution to extend their fears and legitimize marginalization, we must make it clear that the US Constitution, created through the state leaders votes is meant to protect minorities. This is how human rights advance. It is time to commit to simply pay women the same as men for the same work; it is time to make certain, on a national level, that men and women have equality under the law; it is time for women to join men of all races in the US Constitution.

Here is the great good news, this is within our reach. Women have never stopped working to get the ERA and this last round of voting makes it all the more within reach in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Virginia. I know women working on the ERA in each of them, as we all serve on the ERA Roundtable. The realization of the Democratic platform, Renewing America’s Promise, is on the horizon. The ERA & CEDAW are on the horizon. Alice Paul will be there. I will be there.