Since 1973, Justine Willis Toms has been exploring personal, social, and spiritual transformation through her work as an electronic journalist, editor, and writer. She is the Co-founder, Managing Producer, and Host of New Dimensions Radio/Media. New Dimensions is an internationally syndicated radio series, featuring dialogues addressing “the history of the future” with the world’s most visionary wisdom leaders. She has also hosted the radio series In Her Company: Deep Dialogues with Women of Wisdom, and has produced many award-winning radio series, including Deep Ecology for the 21st Century, and Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature. Besides her radio work, she leads workshops on Finding Grace in a Chaotic World. She is coauthor with Michael Toms of True Work: Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do, and author of Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World. She, along with Michael Toms, was selected for induction to the 2011 Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Justine shares:
It is a basic truth that when we are listened to with sensitivity we tend to listen to ourselves more deeply. This, for me, is what repeatedly occurs on New Dimensions. As host of New Dimensions, I strive to listen deeply to my guest and when I do that I am changed by the experience. I am expanded and deepened by the process. It’s a spiritual practice for me.
I come to an interview with a great deal of preparation. I sometimes have 30 pages of single-spaced typewritten notes. But once I’m in the interview, all that is put aside and I attempt to follow the thread of what is being said. I do my best to allow the conversation to lead me. It feels like spirit is leading the way to deepening wisdom. It highlights, for me, the question of why we are here and what our contribution may be toward goodness and beauty.
Justine is a founding convener of the Millionth Circle Initiative and has been actively involved in circle work since 1980, including being a founding member of a mixed circle of men and women who have been meeting regularly since 1980. This circle has been witness to all the life cycles, including birth and death and everything in-between. She also participates in other circles, including several women’s circles. In June 2004, she was one of thirty people in the world invited to participate in the Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
What others say about Justine Willis Toms
My interview with Justine Willis Toms for New Dimensions Radio was the best experience I have had on radio or TV. I was so appreciative of her thoughtful questions and how carefully she had read the book. She made wonderful contributions and helped me develop my ideas perfectly.
Charlotte Gordon, Ph.D. Author: The Woman Who Named God:
Abraham’s Dilemma and the Birth of Three Faiths
Justine Toms is one of a handful of truly exceptional interviewers who I always feel excited and privileged to be in conversation with. I’ve been interviewed at least a thousand times over the past 30 years, and it’s a rare experience to feel like your very best gets drawn out. Justine is extraordinarily well prepared, deeply insightful, and a marvelous thinking partner. The lively and respectful field she creates is a gift for us all.
Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., pioneer in integrative medicine, teacher, author of
It’s Not the End of the World: Developing Resilience in Times of Change
It makes a big difference, as an author, to be interviewed by someone who has not just read the book but actually connected with the subject matter especially when we are talking about something which is so important in the world right now. As an interviewer, Justine Willis Toms is deeply prepared.
Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive The Third Metric to Redefining Success
and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder
One of the great delights of my writing life was being interviewed by Justine Willis Toms: I’ve rarely felt as thoroughly heard. Much of the warmth and intelligence I encountered during that hour and half shines through the pages of her book Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World.
Carol Lee Flinders coauthor of Laurel’s Kitchen and author of
Enduring Grace, At the Root of This Longing, and
Enduring Lives: Living Portraits of Women of Faith in Action
