CELIA AND CHRISTINA – CREATING ONLINE MINISTRIES FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN

Motherdaughercircle.com is the second collaboration between Celia and Christina who share the same vision of online ministries for women of all ages. For over a year Christina worked with Celia at girlprayers.com responding to requests for prayers from women of all ages. They are both committed to evolving this site over time to reflect the inner voices of its visitors.

Celia Straus

Celia Straus is a nationally known writer and speaker on adolescent girls and mother – daughter relationships. In 1998, Celia wrote a collection of poetic affirmations for teenage girls entitled Prayers On My Pillow, Inspiration for Girls On The Threshold of Change (1998, Ballantine Books.) She subsequently authored a sequel, More Prayers On My Pillow in 2000. Also in 2000, a spoken word CD of Celia’s poetry,“I’m More Than What I Seem”, was produced consisting of a CD and book of poetry, illustrations and quotes from mothers and daughters. The celebrity mothers and daughters who volunteered their voices for this project included Judith Ivey, Annette Bening, Blythe Danner, Meredith Baxter Birney, Amy Irving, Kathleen Turner, Christine Baranski and others. Avalanche Publishing publishes an annual illustrated wall calendar based on the Prayers On My Pillow books. Straus’ next book, The Mother-Daughter Circle Making Lifelong Connections With Your Teenager (Ballantine hardcover – 4/01/03) breaks new ground in the marketplace of parenting tools through an inspiring blend of parenting wisdom, shared experiences and informal story-telling by everyone involved, including the reader.

Straus’ monthly relationship columns and daily affirmations are carried by a number of online parenting and relationship sites. Her work has been the subject of feature articles in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Portland, Oregonian, Baltimore Sun, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day and many more publications. She has also appeared on numerous television and radio programs. As a scriptwriter of television documentaries and educational programming for video and interactive media, she has garnered over 150 industry awards. A graduate of the University of Virginia with a Masters degree from Georgetown University, Celia lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two teenage daughters. For more information, please visit her web site, www.girlprayers.com or motherdaughtercircle.com.

Christina Drukala

Christina Drukala is a Graduate of the Interfaith Theological Seminary in Tucson Arizona, she received a bachelors from Prescott College in contemplative spirituality and theology, a masters degree in divinity and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is working as a hospital chaplain in Northern California and writes poems, affirmations, prayers, ceremonies and sermons requested by organizations and people of all ages, races, religions, nationalities and orientations. Currently Christina is working with private individuals, chaplains and congregations of all faiths on the subject of spiritual maturity, exploring the sacred and introducing interfaith spiritual concepts. Christina has an adult daughter Keely, who is a senior at the American University in Paris. She is studying political science and software development.

Christina spent fifteen years in the software development industry fully engrossed in multimedia development within the corporate America environment. After a reconsideration Christina decided to leave a lucrative industry and study theology. She felt it was time to refocus from development for profit and business, which left her empty and decided to take a risk, leaving the software industry at its' height for a contemplative masters seminary program in the southern Arizona desert. She currently manages and develops both spiritual and secular web portals in addition to Chaplain work.

Julia Straus

Some of the illustrations used on this web site are from the book, The Mother Daughter Circle, and were created by Julia Straus, Celia's daughter.

Julia Straus is a junior at Princeton University, where she hopes to pursue her study of history and art and continue to row on the Princeton Lightweight Crew Team. She was born in Washington, D.C. where she attended the Maret School for thirteen years.