Garden City, NY (PRWEB) October 14, 2014
NAPW honors Mary Cochran, the Founding Director of SomaSoup, as a 2014 Professional Woman of the Year. Ms. Cochran is recognized with this prestigious distinction for leadership in dance. As the largest, most-recognized networking organization of professional women in the country, spanning virtually every industry and profession, the National Association of Professional Women is a powerfully vibrant networking community with over 600,000 members and nearly 300 Local Chapters.
Mary Cochran, who has an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, has been performing professionally since the age of 18. She is the Founder of SomaSoup, which imparts Mirthful Mobile Mindfulness. SomaSoup increases the healing power of movement innate in all individuals through imaginative approaches to daily living, vocal work and laughter. Ms. Cochran uses SomaSoup with diverse populations in many contexts to develop a renewed sense of energy, curiosity, courage and empowerment.
Ms. Cochran has toured internationally with such elite dance companies as Paul Taylor Dance Company and Nikolais Dance Theatre and has won praise for dancing five brilliant works by Sara Hook with David Parker as her partner at the Harvard Dance Center. She began working in the academic world at the University of Michigan, continued at Mills College for five years and was the Chair and Artistic Director of the Department of Dance at Barnard College of Columbia University for more than ten years.
From 2003 to 2013, Ms. Cochran mainly focused on running a department of 2000 students. She served the field of dance by working on boards and granting panels, writing as an outside reviewer in many contexts, and supporting artists and their work through direct employment, free studio space or helping with other needs. During 2013 to 2014, she has concentrated on her research into her SomaSoup methodologies and their applications.
NAPW's mission is to provide an exclusive networking forum to professional women where they can aspire, connect and achieve. Through innovative resources, unique tools and progressive benefits, members interact, exchange ideas, advance their knowledge and empower each other.
