The Team
The Not Bad for a Girl Team
Dr. Lisa Apramian earned four degrees form University of Southern California, including a B.S. in the Study of Women and Men in Society (now Gender Studies) and a M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology and phenomenology. Her doctoral dissertation revealed eight case studies entitled Qualitative Reconstruction of the Meanings and Self Object Functions of Rock Music for Adolescents. This research was an intersection of phenomenology, self-psychology intersubjectivity, affect theory, gender studies, and musicology. Subsequently she wrote, directed, and produced the original feature length documentary Not Bad for a Girl (NB4AG) and toured with the film in festivals, museums, universities, and art houses. This labor of love was powerful medicine, and Dr. Lisa took a break from NB4AG for eleven years while cultivating and facilitating holistic and integrating lifestyles. During the eleven-year break from NB4AG, she founded Sacred Sanctuary in San Diego (2000), NYC( 2004), and Costa Rica and the Spiral Arts Institute (2003). As a holistic health facilitator, she facilitates awakenings through the Spiral Arts programs of energy medicine, Tantra, shamanism, nutrition, meditation, dance, sound, and conservation. She is currently writing a series of books and DVDs about her journeys of awakening. She is currently revisiting her original work in NB4AG to give you the digitally remastered DVD along with the contemporary NB4AG book and is the first in her series. Dr Lisa is also a graphic artist, performing artist, vocalist, and avid body surfer.
Leiana Naholowaa is from Guam and has been involved with the Guam activist network and Pacific Island culture. She is a graduate from Cal State San Marcos in Literature and Writing Studies with a Women’s Studies minor. She handles administration, publication, media communication, graphics design, and layout for NB4AG and the Spiral Arts Institute. Leiana is the contributing editor for FlawLes magazine, on the board for the Foundation for Change working with the gay and lesbian communities, immigrant rights, and media justice, and she is passionate about women’s issues.
Emily Wurgler recently graduated from UC San Diego where she double majored in Critical Gender Studies and Political Theory. Emily has been doing research for Not Bad For a Girl, the book, and is examining the ways in which the bands and individual performers challenged and subverted traditional gender identities and rigid notions of sexuality through their music, stage performance, and public image. Emily is also interested in the sociology of religion and the epistemology of far-right religious communities.
Stephanie Bourke is currently studying to earn her MA in Gender Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is a classical music teacher as well as a rock musician and rock music teacher. She was the founder and director of Rock n Roll High School. Stephanie is serving as our journalistic researcher, public relations, music producer, and historian for our NB4AG project.