OMEHRA SIGAHNE
Creative Director
Omehra Sigahne, also known as Perla Ramos Paredes Daly, is a mother, feminist, artist, visual communicator, user experience designer, content creator and cultural activist who has collaborated with artists, healers, feminists and activists around the world in digital collage, poetry, photography, painting, online communities & publications. She chaired the Filipino American Women’s Network FAWN2005 conference, Coming Into Our Own Spirit and Success, the underlying theme of which were five babaylan power roles of the teacher/tradition-bearer, healer, sage, warrior and priestess (www.fawn2005.com and www.babaylan.com).
In 1997, Omehra founded the first online community for Filipinas BagongPinay at newfilipina.com, created for and by Filipinas of all backgrounds to help shape Filipina identity online. It was a radical site whose mission was not only to disrupt the exploitation of Filipina representation online, mostly mail-order-bride, penpal and sex-tour sites, but to create a whole and balanced site for Filipinas. Women from many walks of life, and from around the world shared, posted and commented at the site. At the same that she published this site, she published Pinay.com as a portal page of links to as many different Filipina sites for Filipina women around the world. She received the Filipino American Women's Network FAWN2000 Babaylan Award for her online global community work of BagongPinay.
Through NewFilipina, Inc. she conducted networking nights for Filipina-Americans in New York City and Women’s Wisdom events in Manila between 1998 and 2004. With Leny Strobel she helped launch international online discussion groups for Pagbabalikloob (decolonization, or translated as return to deepest inner self) and for Tagipusuon sg Babaylan (Heart of Babaylan).
In 2004, Omehra started the Bahala Na Meditations, created the FabulousFilipinas.net campaign, and contributed to the anthology of Pinay Power: Theorizing the Filipina/American Experience (edited by Melinda de Jesus) along with other Filipina feminists, with her article about pinay cyber-feminism and ethno-gender-activism.
Baybayin Alive was started in 2009 to help people understand baybayin as a tool for decolonization and exploring Filipino identity. In 2008, BagongPinay was transitioned into a a blogging about shifting & transforming consciousness with new perspectives & ancient traditions, and Pinay.com into an online community site for Filipinas to help contribute a listing of Filipina-made sites around the world.
She is the creator of the Babaylan Mandalas and a founding mother, along with Leny Strobel, Letecia Layson, and Baylan Megino of the Center for Babaylan Studies. After 3 years of helping organize the initial conference, retreats and symposium, Omehra moved on to dedicate time again to her other advocacies.
Omehra is the mother of three sons, the sister of 2 brothers.
And she's been the mentor of many young women.
While doing this work, Omehra was at first a full-time mom and a school and catechist volunteer. She then became a mentor and then a life and creativity coach. Later she worked for a Fortune 50 tech company, then a Fortune 500 financial firm. Today she works for another Fortune 50 tech company.
She graduated from the College of Fine arts of the University of the Philippines, Diliman with a bachelors in Visual Communication, focused on Editorial Design, in the mid 1980s. She was licensed as yoga teacher with her 200 Yoga Teacher Training with Lara Ward of Lotus Garden in 2004. She trained in life coaching with CoachU's 77-hour Core Essentials Program™ and her Emotional Intelligence life coaching with EQ-i 2.0 & EQ 360 Certification in 2016. Working in the corporate world she's gained experience, learning and training in user experience research and design, design thinking, creativity and leadership.
Omehra has been exploring the outer edges of spiritual life, ancestral healing, walking the edge between worlds, exploring decolonization and deepening what conscious evolution is for her, for over 20 years. She has woven this journey of awakening with motherhood, sisterhood, conscious relationships and her cultural advocacies.
2020 is the year that Omehra has evolved Pinay.com to have conscious content and offerings for and by awakened and awakening Pinays (and Pinoys/Pinoyx).
Follow her on IG and visit her blog.