MELANIE VOTAW is a hypnotherapist/counselor, certified by
Dick Sutphen in 1988, and in private practice in New York City ever since. She is also a teacher,
writer, photographer, singer, and former actress/dancer. She
has taught the
"Discovering Your Life Purpose" course for The Seminar Center in New York City,
as well as The Learning Annex in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In addition to having taught a weekly course
for several years entitled "Creating the Life You
Want," she has studied with some of the most prominent teachers of our time, including Marion Woodman, James Hillman, Stan
Grof, Wayne Dyer, Brian Weiss, Robert Bly, Barbara Brennan, Thomas Moore, and Jean Houston.
Click
on one of these links to move to that section:
Television, Radio,
and Personal Appearances
Speaking
Engagements
and Meditation CD's
Photography
Performing
Arts
Volunteer
Work
Writing
and Education
Television
and Radio Appearances
In February 2005, Melanie was a guest on the New Jersey Good Times
Magazine Radio Show, offering Valentine's Day tips, and in March 2005,
she appeared on the Knowledge For Living-Awakening Your Potential
program on MoneyTalk Radio.
Melanie
has appeared as the sole guest on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's Woman
of the Week television program and was an hour long guest on Sony
Worldwide Radio's show, The Edge of Reality, where she conducted
a past life regression on host Ken Dashow and took calls from listeners
across the country.
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Speaking
Engagements
and Meditation CD's
Melanie has lectured about creativity for the Mensa Society in Los Angeles, and has frequently lectured
for various organizations and expos in New York and California.
She has also produced and recorded two lectures and meditations on CD and audiocassette,
based on her courses, "The Creative
Impulse" and "Discovering Your Life
Purpose," and is currently writing books on creativity and the art of living fully.
Visit the Merchandise page
to purchase CD's and tapes.
Melanie is available for speaking and teaching engagements and
occasionally does so on a volunteer basis for a good cause. Please
recommend her for engagements where her special brand of spiritual
wisdom and creative fun might be of service. Email
or call (718) 382-4530 and visit the Speaking
page for more information. If she accepts a
booking based on your recommendation, you will receive a gift as thanks.
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Photography
An avid world traveler, Melanie has journeyed throughout North America, Western and Eastern Europe,
and the Caribbean, as well as parts of Africa and South America, visiting
30 countries (she will visit Asia in 2008.) A nature and wildlife photographer, she
sells her fine art prints and photo note cards on her
website Votaw Photography.com. Her photographs have won awards and have
been exhibited at
Westside Camera in New York City. She currently maintains galleries on
several fine art websites and is a featured photographer in her coffee
table book, "Hummingbirds: Jewels On Air." Melanie is also a
member of the National Press Photographers Association.
One of her images of the
Amazon River is now a huge mural in an exhibit at the
Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, and another of her
images is being used by a Connecticut CPA firm as the
centerpiece of their marketing materials.
While
primarily a nature photographer, Melanie also creates fantasy images
through the graphic manipulation of some of her photos. A gallery of
those images will soon be posted at VotawPhotography.com.
For
FREE e-cards using eight of Melanie's photos, visit the Spirit
Card Center.
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Performing Arts
Melanie's dance training began at age 4, and her childhood was spent
performing on local television and throughout her hometown of
Louisville, Kentucky. In her early 20's, she moved to New York to pursue
an acting career. She was one of the founders of the first bicoastal
theatre company in the U.S., The American New Theater, under the artistic direction of Eric
Morris (the author of
"No Acting, Please"). Her acting work led her directly to the healing arts, as she considers theatre to be an extremely therapeutic tool.
Also a singer, Melanie has performed her
one-woman shows in the legendary cabarets of New York City.
In the last few years, Melanie has combined her love of theatre and children to become a professional clown, painting faces and sculpting balloon animals throughout New York.
To book Melanie (alias "Beppie the Clown") for an event in
the New York area, call (718) 382-4530 or email.
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Volunteer
Work
Besides her devotion to helping others express their creativity through
her Creative Impulse
workshops, Melanie has spent the past 3 years as a volunteer for
Free Arts for Abused
Children. This organization's programs offer children the opportunity to
express themselves through art and enhance self-esteem. She now runs
writing workshops for the New York Writer's Coalition.
On October 23, 2001, Melanie planned, produced, and
performed in a successful variety show and raffle at Stand-Up NY in New York City, chaired by internationally-renowned singer Phoebe
Snow and featuring some of New York's most talented singers and
comedians. The
benefit raised $2,000 for Free Arts.
Melanie
has also been a Hearts & Voices volunteer since 1995, singing and tap dancing in the AIDS
wards of New York hospitals. Hearts & Voices
is a division of Lifebeat, the
music industry's AIDS charity.
Because of her love of the natural world, Melanie has devoted
volunteer time to the Rainforest Alliance and the Rainforest Foundation, founded by rock star
Sting.
Some of her photographs of
the Brazilian Amazon have graced the Foundation's walls.
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Writing
and Education
Melanie's is the author of a coffee table book entitled, "Hummingbirds: Jewels On
Air" (published by Running Press), which
is currently available in bookstores or on
Amazon.com. Eight of her photographs
also appear in the
book, along with the photos of many other wonderful photographers. To
purchase the book from Amazon.com, click
here.
Melanie
is also the author of "The
Art of Belly Dancing," "The Cocktail
Kit," "The Art of
Chinese Calligraphy," "52 Weeks of
Passionate Sex" (under the auspices of the famed Sinclair Intimacy
Institute and already in its second printing after its release in
January 2004), "Revitalize Your Mouth," and "Passion
Starters: Seduce. Surprise. Satisfy." Additionally, two of Melanie's
stories are included in the new anthology, "Five-Minute
Erotica." To purchase these books, click on the title to go
to their pages on Amazon.com.
Melanie is a magna cum laude college graduate with a degree in English literature, and in 1980, studied Victorian Literature on scholarship at the University of London. She wrote her first poem at the age of six and won her first fiction writing award at the age of ten. In the 1990's, she published poetry in nearly 50 literary magazines throughout the U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, Finland and Australia, and she has taught poetry writing seminars.
Visit the Poems page and
Melanie's Rule the Word Writing
Services website for examples of her writing and other information.
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All of these interests and accomplishments
come together in Melanie's passionate commitment
to helping adults and children
discover their unique gifts
and
express them in the world.
