By Lookout Staff

November 18, 2013 -- In collaboration with the Commission on the Status of Women, City TV has launched a new weekly 30-minute talk show designed to educate and inspire Santa Monica viewers.

So far, “Candid Conversations,” produced by City TV Manager Robin Gee, has featured Santa Monica's Mayor Pam O'Connor and Jacqueline Seabrooks, the bayside city's first female police chief.

“The program features expert guests sharing their knowledge and expertise on a variety of subjects that audiences find useful in the everyday lives,” said Co-Host Sandra Siepak.

“Our show features topics that are relevant to viewers such as money & finance, women’s health, self-defense and safety, healthy food and women in the workplace,” she said. “In our discussions we provide solutions for viewers with a positive perspective.”

Siepak, who has worked as an entertainment reporter for more than 20 years, is joined every Friday at 8:30 p.m. by Becky Lantry, who sits on the Commission on the Status of Women, and producer Dena Diamond.

“The intention (of the show) is to present viewpoints that are both inspiring and empowering,” said Siepak.

Diamond, who had to give up her dreams of directing after she lost her vision 1996, certainly knows something about inspiring.

“Since there isn’t a huge need for blind directors, Dena switched gears and found another way to see her vision on the screen,” her website reads.

“While going through five years of chemotherapy, Dena started writing for greeting card companies and had over fifty short stories published in women’s magazines,” according to her website.

Now, her website says, Diamond is “a published writer, song writer, and voice over artist” and she's “written over one hundred fifty songs for Disney, Dreamworks, Scholastic, Music for Little People, Jim Henson Productions, Sprout and HBO.”

Every week, through their Candid Conversations with civic leaders, the group of three women hope also to further the goals of the Commission on the Status of Women.

That is, they hope to help “ensure that Santa Monica is a place where women and girls can fully realize their potential and have a strong voice in all aspects of the community,” according to the Commission's webpage.