AROHO Founder & President

In 2000, Darlene Chandler Bassett founded A Room Of Her Own (AROHO), a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation which provides innovative arts patronage for women writers and artists.

A retired corporate executive, Bassett worked for two decades with famed entrepreneur and arts patron, Eli Broad. At various Broad entities, Kaufman and Broad, Inc., Broad Inc., and SunAmerica, Bassett was the senior human resources officer in charge of organizational planning and development. In this capacity she served as internal consultant to the Chairman regarding the continued development of an innovative corporate culture.

Concurrent with her corporate management positions, Bassett was Board Chairperson of The California Abortion Rights Action League—South from 1984 to 1991. Under her leadership, the political non-profit increased its effectiveness in the fight to protect women's reproductive freedom.

Bringing her unique combination of corporate and non-profit management experience to the arts, Bassett now focuses her efforts on women writers and artists. She is committed to building a public foundation which uses performance standards typically reserved for the for-profit world of business.

AROHO's Gift of Freedom Award grants $50,000 to one woman writer or artist. Using a business approach to the artistic process, AROHO bolsters the financial gift with practical help from mentors who work through the grantee's "business plan."

Bassett graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in Classics, and was a guest lecturer at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business.

– Darlene Chandler Bassett