Faith Ringgold began her artistic career more than thirty-five years ago as a painter. Today, she is best known for her painted story quilts – art that combines painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. She has exhibited in major museums in the USA, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She is in the permanent collection of many museums including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art. Her first book, Tar Beach was a Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration, among numerous other honors. She has written and illustrated eleven children’s books. She has received more than seventy-five awards,fellowships, citations and honors, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship for painting, two National Endowment for the Arts Awards and seventeen honorary doctorates, one of which is from her alma mater The City College of New York.

In partnership with the Writers House, Rutgers University Department of English, the Institute for Women’s Leadership piloted Transforming Lives. This project combining filmmaking and interview skills to help our undergraduate Leadership Scholars learn from women leaders who are making a difference in the world. This documentary was created by Leadership Scholar Karin Zahavi, Class of 2010 with the assistance of instructor Dena Seidel and filmmakers Pilar Timpane and Stephen Beeston.