Bella was the recipient of the 2011 Lois Langland Alumna-in-Residence Award at Scripps College. Her proposal, BODY, MIND, SPIRIT: TRANSFORMATIONAL CREATIVE PRACTICES FOR LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE, combined creative writing and movement, guided meditations, and other activities designed to enhance self-awareness, heighten creativity, and inspire personal empowerment and growth. This program was a unique synthesis of Bella's lifelong passion for dance, literature, and psychology. In addition to workshops, Bella gave a talk for the Noon Academy Lunch Series, entitled "Creativity, Surrender, and Meaning: Embracing A Life That Doesn’t Go As Planned" and moderated a panel on creativity, consciousness, health, and healing, which featured Doctor Judith Orloff, Deena Metzger, and Camille Maurine. Throughout the week Bella worked with Claremont residents, students from Scripps, Pitzer, Pomona, and Harvey Mudd Colleges, as well as with Scripps alumnae, professors, & staff. She even had the privilege—through Professor Nancy Neiman-Auerbach’s “Politics of Food” class, of working with women from “Crossroads,” a Claremont facility that helps recently incarcerated women transition back into the community.

 

Bella talks about the ups and downs of her creative life,

her education, mentors, projects, failures, and success.