Laura Ling Inspires Community at the LLUH Women's Conference

This past Friday, Jan. 26, Loma Linda University Health held its’ 7th Annual Women’s Conference. This year’s theme, “Ready. Set. Go Green. Think Lean.” called for all women, no matter the age, to strive to be healthier and more concerned about their overall wholeness. This year’s event was filled with opportunities to learn all things healthy, including free health screenings, morning and afternoon breakout sessions concerning fitness, and healthy lifestyles, massages, and keynote speakers Laura Ling and Chef Marla Cohen. After Kerry Heinrich, CEO of Loma Linda University Medical Center, welcomed everyone to the event, Laura Ling was introduced to speak on her “Journey of Hope.” Laura Ling is an award-winning journalist and currently works for E! Network as a host and reporter for two documentary series: E! Investigates and Society X with Laura Ling. Ling’s inspirational story started in March 2009 while she was working in North Korea as a reporter on the trafficking of North Korean women. The morning of March 17, 2009, Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were crossing the Tumen River, crossing over from China to North Korea. “It was about half-way across that river…I turned around and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles,” she explained. When she turned to run the other way, her boot got stuck in the river. Right as she released her boot from the water, she ran as fast as she could. Ling said, “I was so overcome with fear…before I knew it, the two guards apprehended me.” The soldier dragged her on the ground and began to kick her on the head, jaw, and shoulder repeatedly. As the soldier threw her on the ice, she realized she still had a wireless microphone attached to her sweater that was transmitting her audio to her producer Mitch Koss. “I wondered if Mitch could hear me,” recalled Ling. “Mitch, I think I’m going to die,” she spoke into the microphone. The soldier then brought the rear of his gun down on her head. Ling blacked out. The soldiers transported both her and her colleague from one army base to the next. The two were then blindfolded and escorted outside where all that Ling could hear were soldiers chanting and shouting military drills. “I thought we were being led to our execution,” Ling explained. “But we were shoved into a vehicle.” Ling and her colleague were then sent to jail where they were separated. They slept there for a few nights and then transferred to Capital Pyongyang. “I didn’t know if I could get through a week in that jail,” Ling said. The real interrogation began at Capital Pyongyang, according to Ling. “The interrogators wanted to know everything about my professional and personal life. It was a big challenge for me to try and convince them that I wasn’t a spy,” she said. During her captivity, Ling shared that she would try to reach out to some of the guards to make some small talk and every so often, they would let their guard down and actually engage in conversation. “Those conversations, however brief, just lifted my spirits,” she expressed. Ling was one of the first Americans to be tried in North Korea’s highest court. Her sentence was actually broken down into two increments: 2 years, and 10 years, for a total of 12 years. “The majority of the sentence was not for stepping across that river but for the work we were doing as journalists,” she shared. Anything that deviates from North Korea’s image of the perfect government is considered a threat, she explained to the crowd. In August of that year, Ling and her colleague Lee were reunited and taken to a hotel. As they were walking down a dark hallway, she described, it was filled with North Korean soldiers. However, at the end of the hallway, near the door, she saw a white, bald man in a suit that ended up being with the U.S. Secret Service. As the door at the end of the hallway opened, a figure of a man walked in; it was Bill Clinton. “I don’t know if it was the lighting in the room or my state of utter disbelief…but I swear he had a halo,” she explained as they crowd chuckled. In that moment, Clinton told them that he still had some work to do but he felt confident in taking them home. During the time she spent in captivity, she had a lot of time to think and reflect on the life she had. She explained that she would wonder if she spent that time wisely. “My career in journalism has at times been risky and grueling but I felt glad that I had followed my passion,” Ling explained. As she mentioned the things she was proud of, she also mentioned that one of the biggest regrets she had was not spending enough time with her family. “Not a day goes by where I don’t feel blessed to be home,” Ling said. “The darkest period in my life was also the biggest test of my strength.” [END] MEDIA ADVISORY: Laura Ling to speak at 7th annual Women’s Conference on her ‘Journey of Hope’ WHAT: Members of the media are invited to attend Loma Linda University Health’s 7th annual Women's Conference on Friday, Jan. 16. With the latest trends in health and wellness, this year's event, “Ready. Set. Go Green. Think Lean.” is designed for women of all ages seeking to be more proactive about their health and overall wholeness. From an architect that inspires green construction to a gardener who demonstrates how to nurture your organic green thumb to what's new in juicing, diet and cooking, it's the perfect place to cover the latest trends with vendors, researchers and consumers striving to live green. The sold-out conference opens with remarks by Laura Ling, the American journalist held captive for five months in North Korea. Conference attendees will experience: • • Breakout sessions discussing health, fitness and lifestyle • • Free health screenings • • Massages, beauty touch-ups and much more • • Keynote addresses by Laura Ling and Chef Marla Cohen WHEN: Friday, January 16, 2015 TIME: 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. - Ling speaks at 9 a.m., with media interviews available before her presentation. - Afternoon keynote, Chef Marla Cohen, speaks at 3:30 p.m., with media interviews available prior to her presentation. PLACE: Ontario Convention Center, 2000 Convention Center Way, Ontario, CA Breakout sessions on timely topics The conference is the region’s premier event on women’s health and wellness. Informative breakout topics will include: • • Personal safety and how not to become a victim • • Going green in your home • • Party planning • • How to cook without using a recipe • • Improving the quality and quantity of sleep • • What you need to know about the latest diets • • Keeping your bones healthy • • Everything you want to know about breast screenings • • Dietary and stress management for weight loss • • Navigating cosmetic surgery - custom facial optimizing roadmap • • How not to crash on the cholesterol highway • • Signs and symptoms of mental health • • Investments and retirement • • Juicing – healthy or not? • • Clearing clutter from your life. Interview with Laura Ling available Laura Ling will be available for media interviews prior to her keynote address at approximately 8:10 a.m. Interviews must be secured prior to the event and will be scheduled on a first-come first-served basis. Award-winning journalist, producer, mom and wife, Ling is a woman of the 21st century. She is currently the host and reporter for two documentary series airing on the E! Network: E! Investigates and Society X with Laura Ling. The shows investigate relatable topics such as teen suicide, the challenges faced by military spouses, and underground youth subcultures in America. Prior to joining E! Ling served as Vice President of Current TV’s journalism department and created Vanguard, the network’s weekly investigative documentary series. As a Vanguard correspondent, she traveled the world to report on subjects like slave labor in the Amazon, the drug war in Mexico, Internet censorship in China, and women’s rights in Turkey. Under her leadership, Vanguard received numerous prestigious awards including the Alfred I. DuPont Award and several Emmy nominations. In March 2009, while reporting on the trafficking of North Korean women, Ling and her colleague were detained by North Korean soldiers along the Chinese-North Korean border. The two journalists were arrested and held captive in North Korea for 140 days before being granted a special pardon and returning to the United States. She documented her experience in the 2010 memoir, Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home, that she penned with her sister, Lisa. Ling has worked as a producer for Channel One News and co-created Breaking it Down, a documentary series on MTV that aired between 1999 and 2001. Her work has appeared on ABC's Nightline, NBC, and PBS. She has also written editorials for the Los Angeles Times and CNN.com. Ling was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year in 2009. She is a Service Ambassador for Points of Light, the nonpartisan organization dedicated to solving social problems through voluntary service. She resides in Mill Valley, California with her husband and two children. Interview with Chef Marla Cohen available Chef Marla Cohen will be available for media interviews prior to her keynote address at approximately 2:30 p.m. Interviews must be secured prior to the event and will be scheduled on a first-come first-served basis. Her knack for public speaking, zany sense of humor, vast culinary knowledge and well-developed palette will surely impress! “Creative, whimsical, knowledgeable, a passion for perfection,” are all phrases that have been used to describe Chef Marla Cohen. A graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, Marla has 30+ years experience in the food industry. Her culinary experiences range from owner of an artisan bakery and catering business, vocational college culinary instructor to a corporate Executive Pastry Chef, an Executive Chef in the private club industry and most recently she co-owned PHOOD on Main in Riverside, CA. Currently Chef Marla is co-owner of Chef Marla's Spices along with Lyn Cloninger. These 11 artisan spices are available for sale throughout the U.S. and Canada.