SandraLaya Ruch

Kohenet Sandra Laya Ruch is a Wedding and Life Cycle Celebrant.

In her blogs, she shares her own personal journey as a Celebrant of Life Cycle Events, Healer, Human Rights Activist, Teacher, Motivator, Mother,  Grandmother, Woman, Feminist and so much more.  Her stories are fun, informative, irreverent, humorous, wacky and eclectic.

Inspired and inspiring. She encourages everyone to find their inner light and to live in the moment. She is a firm believer that anything is possible and each of us must dare to dream. She encourages us to not be held hostage to our victim story but to use our survival as a reminder of our strength and possibilities.

SandraLaya is a deeply committed activist and advocate to the rights of women and children. She retired, after almost a decade as the National Coordinator of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW). VOW is the only national Feminist peace organization in Canada. She has lived in conflict areas, working with International Feminist organizations. As a result of her human rights advocacy, she has been arrested and detained several times both abroad and in Canada. She has spoken about her experiences to audiences across Canada and Internationally.

Her workshops are especially popular in women and family centres for both clients and staff. She created and facilitated a series of women’s workshops at Merrymount Children’s Centre. She also shared these workshops with other organizations including the Oneida Nation of the Thames is an Onyota’a:ka First Nations band, Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI), Women’s Community House, Second Stage Housing, Child Reach, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and more.

For 2 ½ years SandraLaya volunteered with Isha L’Isha – Haifa Feminist Coalition and as a result was chosen to be the keynote speaker at a Human Trafficking Conference in Boston, MA organized by the Washington based group FAIR Fund and the National Women Law Students’ Association at Suffolk University Law School.

In August 2019 she was ordained as a Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess). SandraLaya is a Life Cycle Officiant, a Healer working in several modalities including Reflexology and Aromatherapy, a writer, and motivational speaker. Both a Mother and Grandmother, SandraLaya raised her daughters independently facing many of the struggles familiar to single parents. She is no stranger to domestic violence and the dangers that women experience in a patriarchal society.

“We must look for the opportunities waiting for us”.

SandraLaya Ruch

sandralruch@gmail.com