JWI Magazine Fall 2019

LEADERSHIP AWARDS YOUNG WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

December 15 & 16, 2019 Washington, DC

jwi.org/wtw

FALL 2019 2 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

CEO

Ellen Stone, EVP of Marketing for Bravo, Oxygen, and Universal Kids, assumes leadership of JWI's board of trustees.

Loribeth Weinstein EDITOR/COO

Meredith Jacobs CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Danielle Cantor

3 WOMEN TO WATCH IN 2019

Meet JWI's 19th annual selection of Jewish

women role models inspiring the next generation of leaders.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Ellen Stone, Chair

Toby Graff, Vice Chair

Robyn Altman Michelle Carlson Susan Feldman Laura Rebell Gross Erica Keswin Erica Leatham Kim Oster-Holstein

Vivian Bass, Immediate Past Chair

Amanda Paul Rabbi Susan Shankman Pam Sherman Julie Bender Silver Beth Sloan Leslie Speisman Suzi Weiss-Fischmann

BY DANIELLE CANTOR

24 TURNING THE PAGE

After 20 years at JWI, our CEO looks back on two decades of challenges and progress as she prepares to start a new chapter.

BY LORI WEINSTEIN

27 LIFT AS YOU RISE

JWI plans an ambitious expansion of its national and international women's leadership offerings.

JWI magazine is published annually in print and year-round on-

line. Inspired by our legacy of progressive women’s leadership and guided by our Jewish values, Jewish Women International works to ensure that all women and girls thrive in healthy relationships, control their financial futures and realize the full potential of their personal strength.

28 ORDINARY ACTIONS IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES

JWI magazine is distributed to donors and supporters of JWI. Postmaster: Please send address changes and inquiries to JWI, 1129 20th Street NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036.

Women’s safety, security, and autonomy are at risk – but there are steps we can take to fight back.

BY ASHLEY EMERY

30 GETTING DRAMATIC

wo women, connected by JWI, partner to T produce a powerful play on sexual violence.

BY ALLIE LERNER

Connect with JWI: jwi.org/magazine JWI JewishWomenIntl 1129 20th Street NW, Suite 801 Washington, DC 20036 800 343 2823 • jwi.org © Contents JWI 2019.

BY MEREDITH JACOBS

31 SEE US LEAD

Take a look at JWI's six Young Women's Leadership Networks in action across the U.S.

32 STILL WATCHING... CARYL STERN

After 13 years leading UNICEF USA, the 2014 Women to Watch honoree reflects on a career spent working to change the world.

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ear readers, I am so excited to welcome you to the Women to Watch issue of JWI magazine. It feels especially meaningful that my first letter as the new board of trustees chair is in this issue because it was through Women to Watch that I was really introduced to JWI. While I knew about the organization before being truly humbled as a Women to Watch honoree, attending the luncheon and meeting the staff and leaders gave me a whole new level of understanding and appreciation for all that is Jewish Women International.

This issue is also special because Women to Watch serves as the foundation for everything JWI does throughout the year.

It is critical to funding all of our key programs focused on promoting women’s leadership, encouraging financial literacy, and working to end violence against women and girls. It also brings together incredible women leaders in diverse fields to share their experiences and build exciting new collaborations. Connecting with amazing women is a unique experience JWI gave me and the opportunity to learn from its vital work has provided me with a greater sense of being.

I’ve often noted that my friends and colleagues seem to have their “one," their one organization they love and are deeply committed to supporting. For me, that one is JWI. Outside my family and job, there is nothing else I give to and devote as much time to as JWI. And yet I still feel like I have received so much more than I have given. Because of JWI, I now have a multi-generational group of women I learn from, grow with, celebrate, and support. These women are the gift I didn’t realize I needed – how deeply we all need women friends and champions.

It’s no secret that the project I am most passionate about is JWI’s Young Women’s Leadership Network. It has been thrilling to watch it grow from one city to six in only six years and I am excited to see how it will continue to expand and evolve.

As chair, I can’t wait to dig in and get more involved with our advocacy initiatives and college programs and to support our amazing staff as they continue to produce content that is cutting-edge and impactful.

I also want to share my utmost respect for immediate past chair Vivian Bass, who has mentored and inspired me. She is an unbelievably hard act to follow, but luckily she created a well-lit path for me and I hope to build on her tremendous legacy. Fortunately, she remains on the board of trustees and I am sure I will continue to benefit from her wise counsel and guidance.

Enjoy the magazine! As you move from page to page, I hope you will be as moved as I am by the mission and work of JWI and will join me in making this organization your “one.”

See you at Women to Watch!

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Get to know JWI's leadership at jwi.org/board.

Ellen Stone EVP, Marketing – Bravo, Oxygen, and Universal Kids Chair, JWI Board of Trustees

in 2019

From drops of inspiration to a tidal wave of leadership, one generation of Jewish women role models is inspiring the next: Meet JWI's 19th annual class of Women to Watch honorees.

BY DANIELLE CANTOR

JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Heidi Hookman Brodsky has and is also very smart, diplomatic, and strong. She's softspent her life in the company spoken, but you can't mess of women: The oldest of four with her. My family's matrisisters with strong ties to her archs, coupled with spending mother, grandmother and my formative years at a girls' great-grandmother, she spent school – where the class presiher formative years attenddent and the athletes and the ing the all-girls Holton-Arms valedictorians were all women – school in Bethesda and is now has made me a feminist. I really the mother of three young adult believe in women; that we can do daughters. Brodsky grew up in Poanything and should have every opSondra D. Bender tomac, Md., studied English at the portunity to do so.

Community Leadership University of Pennsylvania with plans to Honoree become a reporter, then earned a J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law. Her interest in journalism and entertainment led her to DiscovWhat is your leadership philosophy – and what are your ery Communications, where she applied the full scope of her leadership challenges? education to writing and negotiating contracts for DiscovMy leadership style is to listen to competing view points and ery Channel networks that were launching worldwide in the to really contemplate what each person has to contribute to 1990s. After the birth of her third child, Brodsky made the the conversation, Ultimately, I draw on my experiences both decision to leave her job and focus on raising her daughacademically and professionally and analyze and really think ters – but her drive to make a difference eventually drew through the options before making a recommendation. I her back to volunteer work. In all, she has worked as a comalso to try to set the best example that I can. From a very munity volunteer, organizer, and leader for 20 years, serving early age because I was the eldest of four daughters, I felt it organizations including the D.C. Volunteer Lawyers Projwas my responsibility to lead, to set an example, be a role ect, where she provided pro bono legal services to victims model, and give counsel – sometimes when it wasn't asked of domestic violence; and most recently, the Bender JCC of for. That can be a challenge: Figuring out when I need to Greater Washington, where she served as board chair and retry and fix something, and when I am just called upon to cently co-founded the "She Says" women’s speaker series. In listen and support. As I've gotten older, I've learned how to 2014, Brodsky received the JCC Association of North Amerhear other people and empower them to figure things out. I ica Esther Leah Ritz award for notable emerging leaders. also acknowledge when I don't know something, and I don't pretend to have all the answers. It helps to be surrounded by smart and caring people – like on the board of the Bender JCC, where I've served for the past 10 years.

Who inspired you at various points in your life?

It was a mixture of many different people. I come from a long line of matriarchs and had the benefit of knowing my great-grandmother, who lived to be 103. She moved here from Russia and worked in a factory at age 14. She and my great-grandfather raised five children, three doctors and two business women, while running a boarding house and a store. I remember telling her, "I don't think I ever could have survived all the hardships that you survived," and she said to me, "When you're put in these positions, you realize how strong you are. You are a strong person. Hopefully you'll never have to realize it the way I did, but it's bred in you."

After that, I always felt like I had this superpower inside me.

I was also incredibly close to her daughter, my grandmother, who also lived to be 103. She was such an elegant, strong woman, well-loved in her community and always optimistic.

That strength has also carried to my mother, who's now 76 4

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After experiencing women's leadership at a girls' school, what was your experience as a woman studying law and then working with men in a pre-#MeToo era?

In law school, I never felt like the women weren't speaking up, or that the men were speaking over the women, or that the men were getting any sort of different treatment. I never experienced the sexism that happens in the corporate world and in some law firms. Actually, when I was graduating law school in 1992, I wrote a piece for Legal Times titled, “Women Struggle to Make it to The Top.” I interviewed women who were partners in law firms and asked, more out of curiosity than anything else, whether there was still a glass ceiling to partnership. And the bottom line of the article was, no.

The issue that many of them outlined – and this was very,

very early for this issue – came down to the balancing act that women had once they had a family, and how they still had to act like men and had to give things up in order to make it to partnership. That set a tone for me: In 1992, I did not necessarily see that women could have it all, even though people were saying they could, and I wasn't sure I wanted to make those sacrifices once I had children.

As for my career, the cable industry, especially in its earlier years, had a good representation of women, many of them in leadership roles. While Discovery Communications was at the forefront of flexibility for parents at the time, I still felt a pull between what I wanted to do as a parent and with my career. I got to travel internationally and combine all the skills that I loved; it was a really exciting time for me, but ultimately I decided to leave Discovery and become a stay-at-home mom to my three daughters.

You did some pro bono legal work for victims of domestic violence. What brought you to that work?

As my daughters were getting older, I started exploring things I could do outside the home in addition to serving on the board of the JCC. I had kept up my bar licensing with both Maryland and D.C., so I decided to get involved with the D.C. Volunteer Lawyers Project (DCVLP), an organization of women who were training other women like myself, who had law degrees and were interested in representing victims of domestic violence in divorces, restraining orders, and in the court system. I learned a lot – including how difficult it is for women without privilege to access legal resources.

photo by Clay Blackmore

Tell me about a moment – or a few – when you made a difference.

Shortly after leaving Discovery, a friend and I formed a political action committee called National Children’s PAC to raise money and support female candidates in Congress and the Senate. We held events and raised thousands of dollars for the women’s campaigns. It felt really great helping other women to achieve their goals and although the PAC was somewhat short-lived, I felt like we really made a difference.

Later, when I was working with DCVLP, we were helping a young woman in a domestic violence situation who was

going through a divorce and seeking custody of her two children. The case was especially challenging because her spouse actually had the means to hire a professional law firm. We were trainees with no experience in divorce cases representing our client pro bono, and we were being challenged by a partner at a firm that specialized in family law. It was complex, and ultimately we were able to fight back in a way that helped this woman tremendously.

What do you find most gratifying about lay leadership – and what do you find most frustrating?

It is incredibly gratifying work to be a lay leader of the Bender JCC. Every day, we are giving Jewish people and many non-Jewish people as well a place to be and an opportunity to find a community. We see ourselves a town square and a place where everyone can find an inclusive community. I’m also so proud of our summer camp which serves 500 children, 100 of whom have special needs and different ability levels. All of the kids participate and grow together. Witnessing the camp in action is something truly special.

In terms of the personal challenges, sometimes people say or do things that you don't like, or sometimes meetings go sideways, but I've surprised myself in my ability to manage the emotions that come along with conflict and just keep going forward. It's okay to disagree sometimes.

You've talked about the supportive women in your life; how do you describe the value of having cheerleaders?

It goes back to my upbringing. I have always had a support network of women to call upon when I’ve needed advice, and both my mother and father who have always encouraged me. I also have an incredible partner in my husband, who has always believed in my ability to lead and to succeed. And it goes back to my grandmother and great-grandmother, who told me that I had the strength within me all along. As a result, I have learned to trust my instincts and rely on my skills. The support I have had encourages me to give back and to help other women. The motto at my alma mater is, “Find a way or make one.” This has been my mantra all along.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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As senior vice president of strategy and account services at PineRock, Inc., and owner of her own production company, BellaRose Associates, Brenda Brody has built a career designing and producing global meetings, events, training, and media to help some of the nation’s largest and most successful companies communicate with their leadership, their shareholders, their employees, and the world. Brody is a native Washingtonian who grew up among a large extended family that remains local and tightly knit. She credits her father and uncles – who ran a wholesale retail grocery company – with cultivating her aptitude for business, and her mother and aunts – all smart, talented women – with inspiring her to pursue the educational and career opportunities not afforded to them during the Depression. After earning both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in business and theater from American University, Brody toured the world with musical theater productions before launching her career in business... with a theatrical twist. In experiential marketing, she gets to combine her talents for business and performance, along with her innate people skills, every day. Brody is also a breast cancer survivor and patient advocate; a single mother to a teenage daughter; a mentor to working mothers – and anyone else who needs her guidance – and a dedicated volunteer. Over the years she has lent her time and expertise to raise money for many organizations, including Imagination Stage, the National Society of Arts and Letters, Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (“KEEN”), the Hollywood Florida Art and Culture Center, and the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.

You initially set out to be a performer; tell me about your career evolution.

After I earned my business degree I was about to accept a job offer from Marriott when I landed the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret, and I decided that I wanted to pursue performing professionally. My dad almost had a heart attack: I’m the only musical person in my family and my parents didn't understand theater at the time. I went on to spend two years of heaven touring in musicals and with a USO show. I admire all my friends who are still doing it, but it's such a hard life, and I knew that I wanted a family. That's when I went to the business side. That experience in theater led me to the industry that I'm in now, which is full of theater and music people. I feel like I found my place, and I’m using a balance of all my skill sets.

How does your experience as a performer inform your work?

I learned the art of impacting and transforming audiences while I was a performer, so I'm able to help my clients create an experience that's going to move their audience and their 6

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business. It's all about communicating effectively – in some cases to customers or franchisees about the products, or often to the global sales team about their leadership’s vision and responsibilities and the responsibilities of the sales team members. The industry now is called experiential marketing and corporate communications, but when I started it was called “business theater.” We are all storytellers.

Who has influenced you as a leader?

There are several leaders who have influenced and inspired me, from a college professor to a Fortune 100 CEO. I had the pleasure of working for 20 years with John Hammergren, CEO of the healthcare company McKesson. He had a strong vision, always wanted to improve his own skills, and didn’t hesitate to ask for help. He constantly led by example. It was incredible watching him mentor his successor, who went from an operations position to the current CEO. Another great leader is my theater professor and dean from American University, Gail HumphriesMardirosian. I watched her mentor and guide college students to realize their true potential and learn to believe in themselves.

The late Pam Farr, the first female on the executive leadership team of Marriott more than 20 years ago, was brought backstage to one of my shows when I was 19, and years later became a client. Though I watched her coach leaders, what stood out to me was the way she empowered women to help other women rise at a very male-dominated time. Finally, Ed Romanoff, the CEO and founder of Pinerock, has been my leader and mentor most of my career. Ed has taught me how to grow a successful and sustainable business and how to effectively lead large, diverse teams on complex projects that produce award-winning results. Ed also consistently demonstrates his commitment to his employees; I have witnessed him support them through some of their biggest personal challenges.

You work with executives at major corporations, in industries where men still occupy most of the space at the top. Have you encountered much sexism?

I have encountered some – like the executive who asked my boss, "Is she your Hollywood blonde?" Meaning, was I just there to put on a show and bring in business? My boss – who is a man – was horrified, and ordered a round of drinks to calm me down. I, on the other hand, spent the next thirty minutes feeling the need to explain in detail what an executive does in my industry. I’ve also experienced anti-Semitism. Thirty years ago, before the executive director of an association walked me in to meet her CEO, she said, "Take off your chai. He won't accept your business if he knows you're Jewish." Of course I

did not take it off. And he didn't say anything. And I didn't say anything. He did take my business – maybe he didn't notice the necklace. I was pretty shocked. That only happened once. I am seeing more women rise, but women are, overall, still paid less and given lesser titles in large corporate America. My industry has embraced women, because the leaders appreciate that we're empaths and we understand how to build relationships and connect people.

and Culture Center. Since cancer, I have become very involved with cancer causes. I'm excited right now to be co-chairing the American Society of Clinical Oncologists’ Women Who Conquer Cancer event for the second year. Raising money for under-funded female clinical oncologists who are working on drug discoveries is an important cause to me.

You're very passionate about mentoring other women and helping them succeed. Why is that so important to you?

Talk to me about the challenge of parenting on your own while you're fighting cancer and running your own business.

photo by PineRock

It was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. I was in bed or in the hospital for over seven months. So I created a blog and just authentically communicated to everyone – doctors, colleagues, family, friends – what I was going through. A young friend took off four months to look after my daughter, who was 11 years old at the time, every day after school until bedtime. I was shocked by how she thrived; our village just rallied around her and me. I had a team of chemo buddies. My siblings and friends took care of everything and I was lucky enough to have help, and I got through it. I'm not going to lie, it was brutal. I can't imagine what women who don't have the same support system and financial resources go through. It was important for me to share this journey – it helped me cope and it helped others. Whenever something happens to me, I feel like I need to share it because I'm an open person and it might help someone else. Today, I mentor newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients and their families.

I feel as passionately about making a difference for individuals as I do about helping my corporate clients. At least once a week I take time to teach women about personal connections and how they matter, help them find their voice, figure out where their interests and skill sets are, and guide them toward careers where they will not only survive, but thrive. In this day and age, with technology, people forget the human side of connecting, and I think that's where I add the most value for these young women.

Lately I've been mentoring a lot of first-time working moms, both in our company and among clients. I want these women to know that, while feeling guilty is normal, it is not a productive use of time or energy.

Stay as present as you can at work and at home – there is no such thing as a perfect balance. You are setting a great example for your children. Now my daughter Bella is entering college with an incredible work ethic, and I really feel that she learned that through watching me as a single working mom, and also watching all of her working aunties and the network of mom friends I met through her school. She has been raised around a village of strong working women – and some incredible men.

You’ve served on the boards of numerous organizations over the years. As a busy mother and business owner, why take on the extra work?

What do you tell women who are trying to find their way, personally and professionally?

I'm very passionate about helping raise money and positively impacting organizations that are focused on causes I feel strongly about. It's important for me to give back, so I have been involved with nonprofit boards and fundraisers since I was 19.

Because I have the acumen for both theater and business, I've been able to parlay that into helping charitable organizations and their leaders communicate effectively, as well as producing fundraisers for these organizations. I always have picked children's and arts causes, including the National Society of Arts and Letters, Imagination Stage, and the Hollywood Florida Art

Seek mentors both personally and professionally. I treasure the guidance I get in all areas and continue to reach out to my mentors. Life will throw you curveballs but it's important to stay true to yourself and to follow your passions using your skills and strengths. Life isn’t about being in a race with others, it is about being the best YOU. I've been to the Women to Watch event for a few years now and I've heard people walk away saying, “I haven't done enough in my life.” But whether you impact one person or you impact millions, you're still making a difference, and that’s what matters in life.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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A 25-year veteran of the estate planning, finance, and tax fields, Michelle P. Cooper is the director and co-founder of XML-W, a division of XML Financial Group focused on the financial needs of women. Cooper previously worked with high-net-worth clients at Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust, where she helped design and update estate plans and educated financial advisors on estate planning and trust services. Cooper began her career as an attorney specializing in tax and estate planning. Growing up in Bethesda, Md., she was extremely close with her family, with whom she celebrated every Jewish holiday and, now living in nearby Potomac, Md., maintains those traditions while raising her twin teenage son and daughter. Her book, I’ve Still Got Me - A Widow’s Journey to Love, Happiness & Financial Independence, tells her personal story of resilience after losing her first husband to suicide.

Who in your life has shaped you as a leader?

Both of my parents were very big inspirations for me, but my mother passed away when I was 26, so I didn't get to know her as a mature adult. My father was the one who molded me the most. He was a captain in the Army and was honored with a Bronze Star for leading troops to safety during the Korean War. After that, he put himself through school and became a periodontist. I learned from watching him that hard work is just part of life. He taught me that it’s important to give back – he would provide free dental care and advice to Jewish Russian immigrants. I also observed how he made each person he met, no matter who they were or where they came from, feel important and respected. He passed away on Mother's Day 2018, at the age of 90, and up until the last day we were extremely close.

What is your leadership philosophy?

I surround myself with competent individuals who are team players, and let them do their job. I don't like to micromanage people. When I had teams at Merrill Lynch, I would set up group meetings where we would all talk about things that we wanted to improve, and instead of dictating what I thought was right, I would listen and then come up with a solution that worked for everybody. I'm also very down-to-earth with people and have always had an open-door policy.

Did you encounter any barriers to success as a woman working in law and finance?

Trust and Estate and tax law are traditionally male-dominated fields. In addition, corporate finance has very few women who 8

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hold executive positions. That didn't stop me. I grew up with two older brothers, so I was comfortable interfacing with men.

That being said, I believe there is a big void in the financial industry that women have the opportunity to fill. Women can make great financial advisors because of their natural ability to connect with people, be empathetic, patient, and listen. These are all valuable skills when helping people with holistic financial planning. Firms are looking to hire talented, motivated women, and I believe the future is bright for those entering this career path!

Are there any other challenges that you can tell me about and what you learned from those?

My biggest challenges have been the loss of my parents, and the loss of my first husband. I learned that nothing in life lasts forever. And because of this, I remind myself every day to be grateful for the blessings that I have in my life. I try to be mindful to enjoy every single moment of happiness, to reflect on it, and just live in the present, because you never know how long it’s going to last. Your life could look great one day, and then you wake up the next day, and it completely changes. I have also learned that the script you think your life will follow doesn't necessarily happen, and that challenges can make you more appreciative once you get through them. They can make you more confident and resourceful. That's what they've done for me.

Losing your husband, especially while your children were very young, must have been very disorienting. How did you begin to heal?

I never in my wildest dreams thought that my husband would commit suicide. Scott was the love of my life and a wonderful, caring father. There was no forewarning, no note, no explanation. I was completely blindsided, but I was determined not to let this event define my future or my children's future. I found resilience and strength by leaning in to the support of my family and friends. Another big part of it was accepting that my life might look different than what I had imagined, and that would still be okay. I'm happy to report that my life is not only okay, it is wonderful. I found love again, and I'm in a blended family, and we continue to learn and grow together.

How did that healing process evolve into writing your book?

For several years, I wanted to write a book, because I felt that my story would be something other women could connect with. But I was very self-conscious and uncomfortable sharing

my story because of the way my husband passed away. There's a dark cloud around suicide. I had to gain strength and realize that my story would help people, and that realization outweighed my feelings of vulnerability. As I approached 50, I kept thinking, "If not now, when?" And with that mantra continuing to play in my mind, I decided that I wanted to make a shift in my career. So, after 21 fulfilling years, I retired as a director at Merrill Lynch to write my story and follow my passion, which is to help women build secure financial futures. Writing my book took a lot of perseverance. It took organization, it took patience, and endless hours of drafts, rewrites, and editing until I felt that I got it right. The process was really cathartic for me, because I relived losing Scott, the accompanying emotions, and then how I rebuilt my life. When people read it, and they come to me and say, "Michelle, your book has motivated me to take action with my own finances," it gives me chills and makes me feel that all this was for a reason. When people share their lives with me and I can help them, I feel that I am paying forward what I have learned.

Tell me about a moment when you made a difference.

Early on in my career, I was picking up my husband at Georgetown University Hospital after a procedure. As I walked down the hall I saw a plaque on the wall thanking a client of mine for a $5 million gift to the hospital from his charitable trust. And I thought, "That's the charitable trust that I suggested, designed for him, and helped him fund."

This was validation that helping people with estate planning – and more specifically, philanthropic planning – had a direct impact in people’s lives. Now, people often approach me after I give a talk about my story and what women need to think about in their own financial lives, and they'll share a story about suicide, or about losing their spouse from an illness, or a recent divorce they've been through. They feel comfortable sharing with me, and that's been very rewarding.

What are some of the mistakes that you see people, especially women, making with their money?

The most common mistake that I see people making, especially women, is not prioritizing their financial health. We know we need to do it but it falls to the bottom of our list. This can take many forms: It might be leaving too much money in cash, not attending financial review meetings, or ignoring the financial topic altogether. At a minimum we have to be aware of what we

own (assets) and what we owe (liabilities). It’s also important to establish short- and long-term goals, as well as a financial plan for how to achieve them. We need to have confidence that if an unplanned event happens in our future, we have the resources in place to continue living our lives with choices. Put another way, we need to put our financial health in the same category as our physical health. We need both to survive and to thrive.

According to the CDC, women are living longer than men, so chances are that at some point in our lives we will be solely in charge of our finances. Not only do we need to prioritize our financial health, but we need to educate ourselves and then take action in our financial lives.

After working with clients of all socioeconomic backgrounds, what are some habits and attitudes that you've observed to be universal?

There are two big unifiers no matter what our backgrounds: The first is that we want the best for our children, whether we are able to leave them with a significant inheritance or very little. We want them to thrive, find happiness, and remain close after we are gone. The second big unifier is risk. I find that most people want to take as little investment risk as possible to achieve their goals. They want to maintain their lifestyle into retirement and feel financially secure, no matter what life throws at them.

What advice do you have for a couple who have recently become parents and maybe haven’t made the time to get all their longer-term legal and financial ducks in a row? I’m… asking for a friend.

Now is the time, because your life is only going more complicated! My advice is to plan a money date; make it fun, and start communicating about finances. This should be an ongoing discussion, not a one-and-done exchange. New parents are some of the busiest people I know and the demands on their time only increase. If something should happen to either parent, it’s important that the surviving parent be able to continue running the household and raise the kids. Creating a last will and testament, naming a guardian for minor children, and term life insurance top my list of must-haves, along with creating a financial plan to help meet long-term goals. Both husband and wife should make it a priority to attend regular meetings with their financial professional. You can never be too knowledgeable when it comes to educating yourself about your finances.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Ellie Burrows Gluck is the cofounder and CEO of MNDFL, New York City's premier meditation studio, as well as a Vedic Meditation teacher, certified personal development coach, and writer. After graduating from Northwestern University, Gluck worked as a film executive. But her plans to build a career in Hollywood – like her father, TV director James Burrows – changed drastically as she would never share his passion for the entertainment business. Gluck’s passion instead lay in consciousness, mindfulness, and alternative methods of healing. After traveling the world as a spiritual tourist and earning her Certificate in Coaching, Gluck co-founded MNDFL in 2014. The business includes meditation studios, corporate programming, teacher training, an on-demand meditation channel, and a non-profit arm, MNDFL Ed. Did your proximity to Hollywood color your early life?

While I grew up in L.A., my parents always made it clear that the only reason we lived in Los Angeles was because that's where my dad needed to work. My mom was from Florida and my dad is from New York, and I think they raised East Coast kids on the West Coast. We went to a Jewish camp in North Carolina and spent every summer in Vermont. I lived a lot of life when I was young: My parents were divorced. My mom had multiple sclerosis and eventually passed away from brain cancer, which she was diagnosed with when I was in eighth grade. So while I had a lot of privilege growing up, I had the same amount of heartbreak.

What was the role of Judaism in your childhood?

My mother was really the epicenter of my love of Judaism.

Cooking wasn't her greatest skill, but she always hosted the High Holidays and took us to temple and to Hebrew school.

We had a deal in our house that if you wanted to have weekend plans, you had to be home for Shabbat dinner. That was our time together as a family during the week, and it was really special.

Do you consider yourself to be a natural leader?

I would have to say it's come pretty naturally, when I look at what I've done in my life: I was a peer support group leader at my high school, Harvard-Westlake, and in college I was a chairperson in my sorority house. As a middle child, I've always been an amazing negotiator and arbiter between two things.

Despite the emotional hardships we went through, I think my parents raised pretty centered, confident leaders, because they 10

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were leaders in their lives. Emotional intelligence is another important attribute: Maybe because my sisters and I had to feel so many things from such a young age, that made us comfortable and confident in our emotional body, which is important to developing leadership skills.

You started your career in the film industry: As an insider, what is your take on the evolving representation of women in film and television?

The #MeToo movement was definitely a turning point. I think that women have been objectified, underestimated, and dumbed down since the dawn of time, and most women we see on TV are largely a product of the male gaze. We know that, because there is a disproportionate amount of male writers and directors. I don't by any stretch of the imagination think that we're out of the woods in terms of equity in Hollywood, but for the first time in a long time, I think people Hollywood are feeling a seismic shift. Male decision-makers are more mindful about how they talk to their female colleagues and the content they are putting into the world. There used to be a comfort level that any kind of behavior would fly. I witnessed that firsthand, the way women were treated and the kind of content that was made. I don't work in the industry anymore, but my female friends who still do can feel a difference, and that’s a good thing.

Did you plan to follow in your father's footsteps?

My father is the best at what he does in the world, and when you grow up around that kind of genius and excellence, you hold yourself to a certain kind of standard. My father derives an enormous amount of joy from what he does, so I assumed that joy was also awaiting me. I felt entitled to that joy. I pursued a degree in film and television in college, but realized very quickly after college that I did not love it as my father does. I would go to staff meetings and listen to they way my colleagues talked about film, and I would think, "I truly don't have a passion for any of this. This can't be how my dad feels about his work." I was on this track to be an executive in the film business and I felt like I was living someone else's dream. But watching my dad show up every day for what he loves to do really inspired me to pursue what I love to do. And let’s be clear, privilege is a part of my story: My mom passed away, so I inherited a little bit of money that allowed me start my own business, and to go out and do what I love. In college I was sure I was going to be the next Sherry Lansing – who went to Northwestern, like I did, and was the first female president of Paramount. I always knew I was going to run a studio, I just got my 'M's confused – it ended up being a meditation studio, not a movie studio.

Tell me about your journey from movies to meditation.

I was first exposed to meditation on a journey to heal myself after a health scare in 2008. After I quit my job in film, I noticed that I could go to the gym for two hours a day, six days a week, but I couldn't make 10 minutes of meditation happen in my own home. So I asked myself, "What is the difference?" And the answer was the accountability structure. The gym gave me a place to go, a teacher I loved, a spot I loved dancing in, a community I loved seeing when I went to my workout. I wanted the same thing around my meditation practice, so that's where the idea for MNDFL started. I came to the business intending to operate it, raise the capital, and focus on the branding and community development, but I ended up learning Vedic meditation – a really simple, effortless technique where you practice twice a day for 20 minutes bringing your mind to a mantra. The more I did it, the more I wanted to learn about it. That led to becoming a teacher. I did an integrated program over 15 months, including a retreat where I meditated for 14 hours a day, for 30 days in a row. The idea in our meditation tradition is that in order to teach meditation, your physiology has to change, and by doing that much meditation, it will. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life – and the best bachelorette party of all time. I did it during the year of my engagement.

photo by Joshua Simpson

For those who are not acquainted with meditation, what is it and what are its benefits?

Meditation is the act of bringing your full attention or mind to an object, like the breath or mantra. The only thing you need to do while meditating is become aware when your mind has wandered and to gently and lovingly come back to your breath. As you make that choice between your rabbit-hole of thoughts and your breath, you begin to learn how to flex that muscle of choice off the meditation cushion. From the Buddhist perspective, emotions are just thoughts with a lot of energy behind them. So if we can change how we relate to our thoughts, then we can change the way we act on them. As for the benefits, meditation elicits the relaxation response in the body. When paired with exercise, it shows a reduction in depression. It helps you sleep better, and can boost your immune system. Long-term meditators also show greater connectivity between their prefrontal cortex (executive functioning, planning) and their amygdala (fight or flight), which means they are less likely to get emotionally highjacked. This goes back to meditation allowing you to cultivate the art of choice – you get to choose how you act when you’re feeling triggered. Meditation can help us meet the stressors in our lives with more energy, resilience, and clarity, and swim through the rough waters of life with a bit more ease and grace.

What are some of the most common misconceptions about meditation?

The idea that meditation turns off your brain is not true. It's a dynamic practice; you need your mind to meditate. Another misconception is that meditation is a cure-all. It's not like you become enlightened the day you start meditating. The idea is to make the commitment to have a practice, which requires consistency to see the cumulative benefits over time. Those three Cs are really helpful: commitment, consistency, and cumulative.

The idea that someone can't do it is false. Even if you could bring your full attention for five seconds to one breath, that would technically count as meditation. Everyone can do it – as young as five, all the way up to your last breath.

As the CEO of a fast-growing company opening brick-andmortar locations, how do you compete with digital meditation resources?

If you don't have access to in-person teachers, the apps are wonderful, but your iPhone can't do for you what a teacher can do. You can't talk to it about emotions or things that are coming up as you meditate, or why your elbow's hurting, or why you're seeing colors. You won’t feel the same type of community that you would at MNDFL. Meditating at home is like singing in the shower, and meditating in a room with people is singing in the choir – you feel the reverberation of everyone around you. That community piece can be really helpful for accountability. Also, we have expert teachers who have donated their lives to studying these wisdom traditions, and they get in that room and offer their wisdom so generously.

What is the process of creating meditation spaces in the city that never sleeps?

We made the spaces feel like home. Home, in its ideal, most exalted version, is a place of comfort. It feels familiar, inviting, and safe when you return to it at the end of your day. We make the spaces so beautiful and relaxing that you want to be there every day, and by being there every day, you're showing up for your meditation practice, which makes it more likely that you’ll be kinder to yourself and to others – and then maybe society at large will get kinder as a result. We kept all the colors calm and neutral, there's space to gather, there's always free tea. I know we're doing something right when people step over the threshold and say, "I cannot believe this place is in New York City.”  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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As executive vice president and partner of F.A.M.E. sports agency and an NBPA Certified Agent, Danielle Cantor Jeweler negotiates multi-million-dollar basketball contracts and endorsement deals for NBA players. Jeweler grew up in the Washington, D.C. area near her grandparents, whom she cites as significant influences in inspiring her leadership philosophy and her love of Judaism. Her other major influence was sports: She was a competitive soccer player in high school and in college, as a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Division I women’s team. Jeweler describes herself as a “highly competitive, typeA-plus-plus personality,” which – along with the values she gleaned from a deep connection to Jewish spirituality and athletic teamwork – has guided her to the pinnacle of success in her field. She has kept her roots in the D.C. area, where she and her husband are raising their two young daughters in Potomac, Md. Jeweler is a member of the leadership council for PeacePlayers and has served on the boards of Most Valuable Kids, the Roy Hibbert Foundation, and Little Smiles. She also somehow finds time to coach competitive youth girls’ soccer, and teach a class in management and entrepreneurship at the George Washington University National Law Center.

What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced on your journey to the top of your field?

It’s a challenge facing my industry as a whole: The athlete representation business has become so competitive that it's corrupt.

With the implementation of the rookie wage scale and other systematic changes in the financial structure of the NBA and the athletes’ contracts, it became more difficult to differentiate yourself as an athlete agent. Track record, experience, and talent meant nothing anymore, and these young athletes chose – and are choosing – their agents based on who is throwing the most money at them or promising them the most enticing perks.

When my partner and I started to sign top athletes early in my career, other agents would come in and undercut us – charge a lower fee or literally offer money to sign the players – and we refused to compete with that. I'm a highly ethical person – this goes back to the Jewish values that were instilled in me at a young age – and it's extremely difficult to operate, with my moral compass and value system, when the industry standard has changed.

Did you consider moving in another direction?

No, but I'm constantly trying to get ahead of the curve. I believe that I can clean things up – and I may be wrong, but I'll never know until I try. So I'm planning on attacking it head-on, 12

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and I have a new proposal on how to structure the sports agency model that I think will cause disruption in the industry. But in the meantime, I only want to work with athletes who have high character, understand my approach, and appreciate the value I bring. Though there are fewer of those than there used to be, it's more rewarding, and I know that I'm doing the right thing and not succumbing to the pressures of the industry.

Why stick with it?

At the end of the day, I know that I make an impact on my clients’ lives. I sign these young men when they're 18, 19 years old, and I'm still working with my guys when they're retired and transitioning to ‘life after basketball.’ The most rewarding part of my job is definitely the relationships I build with young high school and college athletes as they continue into the NBA and after their NBA-playing days are over. I try to teach them to be mensches. It’s cliché, but it’s true. I am proud of the relationships I maintain with all of my clients, and the way they respect me and value my guidance and advice. It’s rewarding to see them mature and learn through the process and knowing I played a part – even a little one – in shaping these young men along their journeys to success.

More than a few high-profile athletes have had very public falls from grace – personally and financially. How do you protect your clients from missteps?

Financial literacy always was, and still is, the most important thing I wanted to teach my clients (together with some of the best partners and advisors in the finance industry). These guys never learned how to balance a checkbook; they have no concept of money. And they were not taught the importance of tikkun olam and giving back, so equally as important is helping them identify a cause in the community that truly resonates, instead of just saying, "You're going to donate money because you need the tax break," or "You're going to volunteer, because everyone has to." I spend so much time with each client trying to connect to something that gives him a sense of fulfillment off the basketball court, so he feels he's making an impact and using the platform he has. I don't mean social media, I mean making a true impact. Growing up in the Jewish community, those values were just instilled in me at an early age. It was always in my DNA.

In this industry that is literally rife with locker room mentality, you must have experienced some discrimination or been treated differently than your (male) business partner.

Absolutely – but I probably didn't notice half the time. As I was playing sports with my older brother and his friends growing up, and later as I came up in the business, I never thought, "I don't belong here," or "I'm the only woman." In meetings with NBA owners, general managers, front office executives – much older, very successful men – I never spoke unless I knew I had something really valuable to add to the conversation. That's how I earned their respect. Younger executives often feel like they need to say more to prove that they belong there; I never worried about that.

I do remember vividly sitting courtside at a game, years back, with my business partner and the team owner. It wasn’t until the owner’s (much-younger, third or fourth) wife asked me a question about "our" house – I told her, "I don't live with David," and she said, " Oh, so he bought you a place?"

– that I realized she thought I was his mistress.

That probably happens a lot more than I realize, and I just don't pay attention to it. All these years later, I go to arenas and the owners and general managers know and respect me. It took a lot of time, probably much longer than for any male in my position, but I have a name for myself now.

Have you represented any women?

Early in my career I did represent two high-level female soccer players, but that was more of a labor of love because of my background in and passion for soccer. As I learned, this is kind of a niche industry where you become a specialist, in a way.

The collective bargaining agreement for each sport is a huge document, and to say I'm an expert in the NBA CBA is an understatement. It's how I made a name for myself – learning and understanding the governing rules for our league. I wasn't even a basketball fan growing up, but this is where I felt I could add the most value.

have accomplished it if I was male, female, black, white, young, old, whatever. Pay should be based on talent, value added, experience, background, and work ethic. Women should make the same amount of money as men for the same work. The fact that we're having this conversation in the year 2019 is ridiculous.

Before you became your own boss, were you earning as much as your male counterparts?

That's a question I probably never thought about. In my business, you're always underpaid until you get to the top, so I was probably never properly compensated anyway. But I don't think that was a gender thing.

Is it a struggle to excel at a high-powered job in a high-profile industry and still be a present parent?

Work/life balance is an ongoing challenge for me, because it's my nature to always want to be the best of the best in my job and as a mother. At some point, I had to learn that I couldn't be everywhere at once, and that was a really hard pill for me to swallow.

I don't know how to do something halfway; I only know how to go a hundred and ten percent overboard when I commit myself to something. That was the hardest thing for me in becoming a parent – to learn how to feel like I was all-in in both aspects of my life. It took a while, it was hard to navigate that, but I think my job makes me a better parent. And being a mother has made me much better at my job, especially in seeing my clients through a different lens. I'm a lot better at multitasking now, and I am very mindful about being one hundred percent present in the moment – when I'm with my kids, and when I’m working.

photo by Michael B. Kress

Aside from your uncompromising integrity, do you have a leadership philosophy?

Speaking of women's soccer, equal pay for women athletes was in the news after this year's Women's World Cup. What do you have to say about the gender pay gap?

It's an important issue to me. Sometimes feminist groups approach me to talk about what I've accomplished as a female in a male-dominated industry, and they don't love my answer: "I don't make gender a thing." I just believe that what I've accomplished, I have accomplished because of who I am, and I would

My leadership philosophy has a lot to do with teamwork – lifting others and empowering those around me. That really goes back to my early years playing team sports. One of my soccer teams would gather in a circle before each game, put our hands in the middle, and say, "Together!" That's a really important word in my life. I always find it more rewarding to be part of a team and to feel you're all accomplishing something together. The results are better when it's a collaborative effort. It's just not fun to 'win' alone.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Liz Josefsberg walked into a Weight Watchers meeting looking to get healthy; 10 years later she was a health, wellness, and weight-loss expert co-hosting Dr. Oz. Best known for helping actress and musician Jennifer Hudson lose weight and transform her life, Josefsberg partly credits her own experience as a musical theater actress – she earned a master's degree in opera from the Manhattan School of Music and performed as Cosette in Les Miserables on the Broadway National Tour – with her success.

After struggling with her weight for decades, Josefsberg joined Weight Watchers as a client, took a job as a meeting receptionist, and worked her way up the ladder to become the company’s director of brand advocacy. The experience and expertise she accumulated along the way led her to launch her own consulting firm in 2013. Today she creates weight loss programs for corporate and high-profile individual clients and consults with companies bringing technology-enabled weight loss and health devices to market. Josefsberg is the author of Weight Watchers’ “Success Handbook” and “Find Your Fingerprint.” Her book Target 100: The World’s Simplest Weight Loss Program in 6 Easy Steps was published in 2017; now she is expanding that book into a digital platform where users can access live and on-demand meetings.

What kind of role has Judaism played in your life?

I was raised Protestant, but all my life I was drawn to Judaism.

Then I met my husband – who is Jewish, but there was no pressure to convert – and we were living in New York when 9-11 happened, it shook me in a way that drove me toward Judaism.

I converted when I was 31. And as we were getting ready for my son's bar mitzvah this year, the rabbi looked at me and said, "Wait – you've never been called up to the bimah. This is actually your bat mitzvah, too."

Who are some people who have shaped you as a leader, either by setting a good example, or even a bad one?

Working in corporate America was mostly where I got to see great examples of what to do and what not to do. Ann Sardini, who was CFO of Weight Watchers when I was working there, has been an incredible leadership mentor for me. She's been so thoughtful, bringing together the best people, a great memory for everything, smart as heck... She taught me a lot. On the other hand, there were plenty of people at Weight Watchers who were put into leadership positions but, because they didn’t have enough confidence, they would take other people down to make themselves look good. I learned a lot watching that; I always want to lift people up to be their best, rather than 14

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be fearful or jealous of them.

What I recognized over time is that leadership is really born out of respect. You have to respect yourself and have integrity – which I think is seriously lacking for so many leaders.

Tell me about your weight loss journey.

My identity from a really young age was shaped by the idea that I had a weight problem. I don't know if it was actually a weight issue or if it was just being a child from the Midwest, but by 12 or 13 years old, my parents had enrolled me in a diet center. I was always 20 to 30 pounds overweight, but I was repeatedly doing very harsh, limiting, extreme diets, and overexercising – very all-or-nothing – and I was up and down 30, sometimes 40 pounds, over and over again. As you can imagine, as a professional actress, that was a really tough place to be, because you're under the gun all the time to look your best… and I just did not. It really affected my career and my confidence.

I expect you use that experience in your work with clients every day.

I think that's the most important part of who I am: I can actually relate. If you look around in the weight loss world, 95% of the people who are helping people lose weight have never had a weight issue themselves. So it's really hard for them to understand what it feels like, physically, mentally, and emotionally, to carry weight and not to feel in control and to feel less-than all the time.

How did you wind up building a career at Weight Watchers?

I left acting when I was about 30 and gained a lot of weight, because once I was finally free of the constant scrutiny, I decided, "I'm just going to eat whatever I want." I went to Weight Watchers – at that point, I'd done every other diet – and it really changed my life. In the Weight Watchers meetings I heard that I wasn't that different than everyone else. I wasn't crazy, and I wasn't a bad person. I got a job there while I was transitioning out of acting: First as the receptionist, then as a leader, and eventually I became the top leader in New York City, leading 17 meetings a week. Then I was hired to help build the Weight Watchers website when it was just starting in 2003.

The CEO of WeightWatchers.com needed to lose 40 pounds, so I became his leader, and he and I just clicked. After he became the CEO of Weight Watchers International, he said to me, "Liz, we really need to change our brand strategy. Celebrities are always coming our way, but they can't go to the meetings. Since

you helped me, why don't you go help them the same way. Private sessions, one-on-one." So I developed this black ops-level Weight Watchers that no one knew about. I was flying around the country taking care of Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Simpson, Charles Barkley, Katie Couric, all these celebrities. It was even my job to meet celebrities just to see if they were ready to be a long-lasting Weight Watchers ambassador or if they were just hoping to get paid to lose weight. Eventually I started appearing on national TV – especially with Jennifer Hudson. She got so much media attention when she lost weight, and she doesn't love to sit in interviews, so she often had me come with her.

That launched a television career where I co-hosted Dr. Oz for a season. I went to Weight Watchers to lose weight and ended up working with celebrities and appearing on national television.

aimed to write a book that moms would feel good giving to their daughters because it was loving, truthful, and connected.

What is your role in and your stance on the body positivity movement that's happening now?

I'm thrilled with it. During my childhood, you only saw one body shape on TV and in magazines. That made every single one of us who looked different feel less-than. We come in all shapes and sizes, and not just one is beautiful! I do think it can go too far – you've got to think about being healthy – but no one should be ashamed of the shape of their body, and it's good for girls to be able to separate being good from being thin. I sometimes wonder what I could have accomplished without all the mental junk around body image.

What motivated you to leave Weight Watchers after you’d achieved so much success there?

After 11 years with the company, I hit a ceiling where there wasn't much else for me to do there. At one point a colleague told me that I couldn't take an opportunity because I was "just a Weight Watchers expert, not a weight-loss expert."

It wasn’t a kind thing to say, but I realized she was right; I had only ever worked for Weight Watchers.

So six years ago I started my own consulting company, working everywhere and on anything involved in weight loss while I went back to school and became a personal trainer, and then got a nutrition exercise specialty. If I could relieve one person of the pain that I went through, my life would make sense – and the more I knew, the better I could help people. After traveling around the world, building my business, and gaining so much perspective, I wrote my book, Target 100. And now, I run groups out of my home, I work with high-end private clients on weight loss coaching, and I still consult for companies all over the world.

What separates Target 100 from all the other weight loss books and plans out there?

It's not just about food; there's hydration, movement, exercise, sleep, and stress. Those are the pillars of my plan. If you don't deal with all six of those things on a weight loss program, it's not going to stick. With this book I wanted to pull back the curtain on what lasting weight loss looks like, because no one's talking about it. They're just slapping a food program on you – which makes zero sense when you look at how intricate and difficult weight loss is. I started investigating behavior modification and

Do you see body size keeping people, especially women, out of leadership positions?

I just see being a woman keeping us out of leadership positions. That's why I decided to start my own company and hire other women. Recently I was being considered for the CEO position in a major wellness company, and instead they hired a man who had never done any work in this industry. That's outrageous. Nobody realizes that the board of Weight Watchers is about 90% men – and men who've never struggled with their weight. We still have so far to go as women being considered for roles that we could knock out of the park, especially for businesses with a customer base of 80% to 85% women.

What advice do you most often give to women who seek out your expertise?

First, spend on yourself – time and money. Women are often so exhausted after doing everything for everyone else that they've got nothing left for themselves, so they turn to food. The majority of my coaching for women is retraining them to take a seat at the table. Second, remove guilt and shame from the weight loss process and move toward gratitude. Guilt and shame actually activate the reward center in our brains – which makes us go back and make more of the wrong food choices. But gratitude releases serotonin, which gives us all the feelings that we were seeking from food. And third, learn to speak positively to yourself and silence your inner critic. The mean girl that lives inside all of us is there out of fear, and she's just keeping us stuck.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Idit Klein always had an awareness of who was – and was not – included in our society. The founding executive director and leader of Keshet, the national organization for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life, cites learning about her family’s Holocaust history as the defining moment that set her on a path to lifelong activism. Klein was born in Israel and came to the U.S. as a toddler, arriving in Massachusetts for what was supposed to be a short time but has, thus far, turned out to be most of her life. She started building Keshet in 2001 as a local organization; today it supports tens of thousands of rabbis, educators, and other Jewish leaders nationwide working to make LGBTQ equality a communal value and institutional imperative. Now living in Boston with her wife and their son, Klein has spearheaded leadership development programs for queer Jewish teens and mobilized Jewish communities in Massachusetts to preserve marriage equality and advance transgender rights. She sits on the advisory board of the Safety Respect Equity coalition (of which Keshet was a founding member), was honored with a “Women Who Dared” award from the Jewish Women’s Archive, and has been named to the Forward 50.

How did you know you were meant to be an advocate?

The most pivotal experience of my life was when I was four years old and I asked my great aunt about the blue numbers on her arm. She told me that when she was 18, “Bad Men” took her away and they tattooed her arm with the numbers. When I asked her why, all she said was, ‘Because I am a Jew.’ I immediately became terrified and utterly convinced that at that moment the Bad Men were racing through the streets of New Bedford, Mass., to snatch me away, too. I felt a lot of fear – and then felt this ferocious determination and clarity that if the Bad Men were out there, then I needed to do whatever I could do to change the world, so there wouldn't be Bad Men. I was way too young to have to face that sense of vulnerability, but for whatever reason, I was able to move from that place of fear to a place of conviction around my purpose in the world. So I feel very grateful that it happened, because from that day forth I knew that I was meant to advance justice in the world.

Another significant piece of my childhood was the Orthodox Jewish day school I attended from third to eighth grade. I'll never forget my first day: My black-hat, Orthodox rabbi put a chumash (Torah book) in front of me, opened to a random page, pointed at the text, and said, "Here is the main story." Then he pointed at two different commentators and said, "Here and here are what two different people have to say about it. Sometimes they disagree with each other. Sometimes I disagree with them.

Sometimes you may disagree with them, or you may disagree with me, but I want to know what you think." It was amazing 16

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then, and it's more amazing now, that this 40-something-year-old Orthodox rabbi was telling an eight-year-old secular girl, "You may disagree with Rashi and Onkelos, you may disagree with me, but I want to know what you think."

That gave me a very profound sense that Judaism is a multi-vocal tradition, that we are a multi-faceted people, and that there's a place for everyone within it.

Has leadership always come naturally to you?

I was always the kid who was organizing the other kids around whatever injustice, real or perceived, we were experiencing at the hands of our teachers. I was trying to organize my parents and younger brother to get involved as a family in different justice campaigns in our community. But like a lot of girls and women, I have also struggled with dynamics around how much space to take up and how to be a leader. Do I have something worthy to offer? Is my contribution significant enough that I should speak out, write something, take up space? So I would say that leadership is a groove that I have been drawn into, but I have definitely not been immune to the imposter syndrome that a lot of us experience.

Have you faced any particular challenges that have helped to inform your work?

One fundamental challenge is about what it means to be a professional queer Jew. We all get asked at least frequently what we do for work. I've been in this role for 18 years, so on most days, when I share what I do for work, I face that moment of coming out. Granted, I have a wife and a child and I have been out since I was in college, so it's not like I wouldn't be out otherwise. But I'm still struck by how, after all these years, I still feel some vulnerability. It's a constant reminder that coming out isn't a one-time thing; it's something that you do over and over, and that is an emotional challenge. It’s actually helpful in that it keeps me connected to the challenges that other LGBTQ people experience: If I feel even a flicker of vulnerability, and this is what I’ve done professionally for so many years, what some others experience is all the more so.

Tell me about your experience coming out for the first time.

I came out between my junior and senior years of college, in 1993. Initially I did so at a National Coming Out Day speakout on campus, where people would line up at a microphone in the middle of a green and declare, "I'm gay," or "I'm bisexual," and tell their stories. After I spoke to hundreds of people there,

I realized that I needed to come out in the Jewish community, because that was my primary home at Yale. No one was out in the Jewish community at that time, so it was scary when I came out at a Hillel executive committee meeting. I learned later that I was the first-ever leader in the Jewish community on campus who had ever come out. Most people were supportive, but there was a minority of voices asking whether it was appropriate for me to be on the Hillel executive committee, to be the editor of the Jewish journal at Yale, and so on. That was hurtful, and it strengthened my resolve that attitudes in the Jewish community were not what they should be.

What are some of the online resources that Keshet offers the LGBTQ Jewish community?

Our website is actually used as much, if not more, by folks who are not LGBTQ – straight, cisgender staff and lay leaders of Jewish communal institutions – because so many of our resources are about how these institutions can become places that advance LGBTQ equality and build inclusive cultures, programs, and policies. But many LGBTQ Jews also come to our website seeking resources for wedding ceremonies and other Jewish life events.

We also have a lot of resources that bring a queer perspective to different traditional Jewish texts. And we have a database called the Equality Directory where Jewish institutions can sign themselves up, indicating the ways in which their organizations are LGBTQ-inclusive. So, for example, if you were a queer couple looking for a synagogue in Poughkeepsie, you could go to the Equality Directory, enter the zip code, and see which synagogues within a certain distance are registered for the Equality Directory.

What changes in attitudes and laws have you witnessed throughout your career?

When I started building Keshet, that was pre-marriage equality; it was at a time when it was still illegal for gay people to adopt kids in various states. Then and now, LGBTQ people do not have federal non-discrimination protections. But then there were even more states where you could be fired or denied housing or refused health care for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or being perceived as such. Obviously, we saw tremendous progress on the marriage equality front and in terms of social awareness. When I was starting out, I would give speeches and

ask people to raise their hands if they knew someone who was openly LGBTQ. Sometimes no one would raise their hand. I don't do that anymore, because everyone knows someone who's LGBTQ. There's been such a surge of people being able to be out, being able to live openly and share the truths of their lives with others.

What is it like to be a parent in a same-sex couple in today's political and social climate?

Under the current administration, our rights are under attack, and our ability to advance our rights are thwarted, if not completely frozen in time. We had been in a period of tremendous forward momentum regarding LGBTQ rights in general, and certainly regarding recognition of LGBTQ families and support for LGBTQ folks having kids, celebration of lots of different kinds of family structures, and an affirmation that what most matters is love. Now we're hearing about foster care and adoption agencies refusing to place children in need of homes with same-sex couples, and in some cases with straight Jewish couples – basically in any families that do not abide by "traditional Christian values." This administration is supporting that practice, which is obviously deeply troubling and appalling, and makes all of us more aware than ever of how precious and in need of protection our hard-won rights are.

You've said that you felt you were destined to be an advocate for justice since you were a child: Why have you chosen to be an advocate for the LGBTQ community in particular?

As someone who grew up with the Jewish community always being my home in the world, and fully expecting that that would continue when I came out, it was motivating for me when I came out and discovered that there was a real gap between where I expected the Jewish community to be and where it was. Historically, Judaism – as a religious tradition and as a people – has denied LGBTQ people full membership in Jewish life. Indeed, the Jewish community was not a place that embraced queer people when I came out, and Jewish communities around the country were not, on the whole, taking action to advance LGBTQ equality and to speak out against discrimination and anti-LGBTQ bias. That, to me, felt like a personal betrayal, and it felt like a communal betrayal of who we are as a people and what our values are as a people. I wanted to be a part of changing that.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Stephanie Kaplan Lewis is the co-founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Her Campus Media, the 360-degree college marketing agency and number-one media brand for college women that she created as an undergraduate at Harvard. Her Campus connects clients – including L'Oreal Paris, Microsoft, Steve Madden, and The New York Times – with more college women than any other media brand through its flagship site, on-campus chapter network, proprietary events, and bestselling book, The Her Campus Guide to College Life (Simon & Schuster). Her Campus received the first-ever Partnership Award from the U.S. Office on Women's Health, and Lewis has been named to Forbes' and Inc.'s 30 Under 30, Businessweek's 25 Under 25, and Glamour's 20 Amazing Young Women. She has also been published in Forbes, HuffPost, MediaPost, and more, and served as a judge for numerous entrepreneurial competitions. In August 2019, Her Campus launched its newest platform, Her20s. Lewis, her husband, and their one-year-old daughter now live in the same Boston suburb where she was raised.

Walk me through the creation of Her Campus.

During college, my two co-founders and I had been running Harvard's student lifestyle and fashion magazine. The three of us got involved as an extracurricular, but before long we took over and decided to transition it from an annual print publication to an online magazine, so we could publish more often and cut down on printing costs. Even though it was geared toward women at Harvard, it started getting popular with college women all over, many of whom were contacting us to say that they loved reading the magazine and wished there was one like it for their school. We also heard from a lot of women who wanted to write for this kind of publication. They would tell us, "I want to work for Glamour or Marie Claire or Vogue one day, but all we have on my campus is the school newspaper. Can you tell us how to start something like this where we are?" We realized there was a need in the market both for content that spoke directly to college women – general and campus-specific – and for a platform where they could write, get clips and experience, share their voices, and find a stepping stone to the real-world media jobs and internships that they were seeking.

So we decided to take what we'd been doing at Harvard and turn it into a business on a national scale. We entered that idea into Harvard's business plan competition, we won, and then we launched Her Campus in the fall of 2009 while we were still undergrads ourselves.

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Certainly Her Campus has evolved since then; how do you describe it today?

Over the past 10 years, we've built out the brand to be so much more than just hercampus.com. In addition to our flagship site, which is written by student journalists across the country and covers everything from style and beauty to health, career, news, entertainment, dorm decor, money, and more, we've created a network of campus chapters at more than 400 colleges and universities in 45 states and 11 countries, where an average of 30 women per campus are creating content and hosting live events.

We have a ton of different brand extensions now: Her Conference is a huge career development and women's empowerment event in L.A. and New York, featuring panels, workshops, and big-name speakers. We run College Fashion Week in the fall in Boston and New York. We also have our InfluenceHer Collective, a network of more than 4,000 Gen Z and Millennial content creators, as well as our Campus Trendsetters program, which is another network of tastemakers on campus. Our print book, The Her Campus Guide to College Life, has been a back-toschool bestseller. We do product sampling on college campuses.

Most recently, we acquired College Fashionista, which we are maintaining as its own distinct brand and property under the Her Campus Media parent company. We’re able to leverage all of these different touchpoints to help clients like Ulta Beauty, HBO, Deutsche Bank, and Dunkin' reach college women online, through email, in person, and more. We’ve become a onestop shop for brands marketing to college women.

Tell me about college women as a demographic. Who are they? What do they want? What are their needs?

College women are at the point in their lives where they're out on their own for the first time. From a consumer perspective this means that they're making purchasing decisions for the first time – so they're going out and buying their own toothpaste and toilet paper and school supplies, which is why they're incredibly interesting and attractive from an advertiser's perspective. More fundamentally, today's college women are ambitious, driven go-getters who really want to change the world.

They care about things like diversity and saving the environment, and they really see themselves as activists who can and will make a difference. Many of them even see themselves running for political office one day. At the same time, they also care about hanging out with their friends, bingeing TV shows, ordering pizza, and putting on a face mask. I think self-care is really top-of-mind – taking care of themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. We actually did some market research earlier this year on where Millennials and Gen Z diverge, and

we found that Gen Z is more diverse, more likely to identify somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum, and more likely to consider themselves activists. After college, they don't want to have to work their way up to doing the job they want to do; they expect to do something that they're passionate about right away – and they want to make money doing it.

Landing a highly-paid dream job right out of school is pretty uncommon. How do you walk the line between stoking young women's ambition and keeping them grounded?

Events like our Her Conference really serve to accomplish that.

Some of our speakers are huge names, like Jessica Alba, but also we have panelists who work in marketing or journalism or broadcasting, talking about how they got to where they are today, the steps they took, how hard they had to work, all the hours that they had to put in. We try to bring that realistic representation of what it really takes to become successful. What you hear from every single one of those speakers, no matter what job they have, is the importance of working hard. Nothing's just going to fall into your lap, no matter how smart, connected, or passionate you are. There's no shortcut.

What have been your greatest challenges, and what you learned from them?

We started this company with no money, no experience, and no business education, and while we were able to be successful, those were gaps that we had to fill in. There were a lot of practical business world lessons that we had to figure out, like always getting signed contracts, not getting excited about things until those contracts are signed, navigating business conversations and negotiations, and being sure not to make the same mistakes more than once. Really important was surrounding ourselves with a network of mentors and advisors who could lend their perspective and expertise when things came up that we had never encountered before. Another challenge is that we've completely bootstrapped Her Campus, which is unusual. For the past 10 consecutive years since launch, we've been profitable without raising any outside capital. There were so many times when we were cash-strapped and not sure what we were going to do, but at every turn, we stuck to our guns. Now we're so glad that we did.

What are some of the challenges and obstacles that you see young women facing right now?

Aside from the persistent gender pay gap, there’s the issue of what happens in the workplace when women start having ba-

bies. I think a strong maternity policy – which we have – is just one piece of it. It’s been very important to Her Campus to have a parent-friendly workplace where we give people a lot of flexibility and autonomy. About a third of our employees work remotely, and my two co-founders are actually both remote at this point too. Our team is on Google Hangout video calls all day long, we're on Slack with each other, and it works great. I have a baby myself, so this has obviously been top-of-mind for me. So many people on our team have come to us from more corporate companies that are losing incredible talent because they're not able to be more flexible. It's in everyone's best interest to figure out how to make that work.

Your work surely involves a lot of travel; how do you balance that with new motherhood?

I bring my daughter on every business trip. She just came to L.A. with me two weekends ago for our Her Conference event, and she's been to New York with me for work a few times. So she goes where I go, and I figure out a babysitter or nanny through referral in whatever city I'm traveling to. It's definitely not the same as traveling alone – I don't know why I ever thought traveling was a hassle before, because travel with a baby is a whole other story – but it's really fun to have her along, and she gets to see her mom getting business done.

After 10 years, you must be seeing some of the fruits of your labor, so to speak, in terms of the impact Her Campus has had on young women’s lives. Can you share any examples?

This past summer we created the Her Campus Hall of Fame, honoring our alumni who have done incredible things since they've graduated college. One woman, Hannah Orenstein, was our very first intern. She was a rising high school senior at the time and stayed heavily involved with Her Campus after that. She started our high school ambassador program, went on to NYU, and then went on to work at Seventeen, Elite Daily, Mashable, and now she's published two successful novels. Another example is Elizabeth Wagmeister: She founded and ran our campus chapter at UC Santa Barbara. Now she's a broadcast journalist and a senior reporter at Variety – she's actually one of the journalists who broke the Matt Lauer story. It is so fulfilling for us to see these women who went through the Her Campus program living out their professional dreams, because everything that we do is about helping these women to launch their careers.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Bobbi Rebell is a Certified Financial Planner, host of the Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell CFP® podcast, and co-host of Money with Friends.

In 2017, after the success of her book, How to Be a Financial Grownup: Proven Advice from High Achievers on How to Live Your Dreams and Have Financial Freedom, she left her job as a global business news television anchor and personal finance columnist at Thomson Reuters to expand the Financial Grownup brand of financial education. Previously Bobbi worked at CNBC, CNN, and PBS' Nightly Business Report. She continues to work as a news anchor, and is a frequent keynote speaker, emcee, and conference host/moderator working with top brands to amplify their message. Bobbi graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received her certificate in financial planning from New York University. She is working on her next book: Raising Financial Grownups.

Who in your family influenced you as a leader?

My mom, who is no longer with us, has been a big influence in my life. She was the first female president of our synagogue, which was very controversial at the time. Some people resigned from the synagogue because they were so offended by a woman becoming president. We would go to temple and she would sit on the bimah, and I was very proud of her. She was also president of Hadassah for many years, and Jewish organizations were a big part of her life. Later in life, she became a lawyer.

That taught me that even if women stop working in their 20s, 30s, or 40s to be home more with their kids, a second career doesn't have to be a second-rate career. You can be a laywer; a doctor; a CEO. I became a CFP [Certified Financial Planner] at 47 – which is no small feat. The idea that you have to do the same thing for 50 years is ridiculous. If you start a career at age 50, you're probably going to work at it until you're 75. That's 25 years! That is worth investing in law school or an MBA.

Was finance part of your family dynamic and discussions when you were growing up?

Once we were old enough to understand the value of money, we got allowance in the form of budgets. Instead of getting a certain amount each week, we would go to our father and break down our anticipated needs for the upcoming semester. He would give us money, and after that we were on our own. I had a very bad habit of underestimating, because it seemed horrible to ask my parents for this large check when they were already paying for college. To this day I regret not asking for enough money when I studied in Paris, because I couldn’t afford to do certain things, and I couldn't pick up a job on the side.

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Did that lesson lead you down the path to a career in finance?

I went into financial journalism because my dad wanted me to work on Wall Street, like he did. When I was in college, I wanted to get internships in journalism, but I still needed him to support me financially. The compromise was that I would intern not at CNN in general, but at CNN Business News, so that when I came to my senses I would be ready to go work on Wall Street. I did learn a lot… and he's still waiting for me to go work on Wall Street.

Has leadership come naturally to you, or is it a skill that you've chosen to learn and develop over time?

The funny thing is, I have actually tried to avoid it. In fact, I turned down a promotion at Reuters twice, for all the classic reasons that women turn things down: I had a child, two stepchildren, a husband, and a dog, and I really didn't want to be in a management position. I also have a lot of the imposter syndrome and fear of failure that many women often do – and we should not. Finally, the third time he offered it, my (male) boss, to his credit, said to me, "This is not a choice; you will be in charge of this team." So I became the head of U.S. Business Video. And it was fine.

It’s a challenge to learn that you are a leader, you just have to accept it and make it happen. It’s taken until I've been in my 40s to see myself as other people see me. I took my son to the bookstore and he saw my book with my picture on the cover.

I was so proud – because there was my book, in the middle of all the real authors. If you walked into the bookstore you would see that book among all the other books and think, "Oh, she's an expert." And I am: I worked in journalism for more than 20 years and I am a Certified Financial Planner, so I am completely qualified to write a book about finance. But we always feel like we're playing grownup, when in fact we are the grownups.

Becoming your own boss is a very grown-up thing to do: How did you arrive at the decision to leave your full-time job and build your own brand?

There was a three-year plan to leave the job; I didn't just walk in and say “I quit.” I had come up with a brand; I had done a lot of legal work trademarking Financial Grownup; I had income coming in on the side from freelance writing projects and opportunities that were coming from the book. If you are going to be an entrepreneur, it's important to have side hustles – a lot of different income streams, some of which you can ramp up and some of which you can slow down, depending on which are the most viable at different times.

Now that you've juggled your way to success, what gems of advice can you offer other women trying to do it all?

I think it's important, instead of doing work-life balance, to do work-life integration. Randi Zuckerberg has a book called Pick Three: She has segmented her life into five areas, and she says that on any given day you can do three. I even segment my week: I have a client job that takes every Monday. Tuesdays and Thursdays I work on my podcast. Wednesdays I try to do external meetings. And then Fridays I reserve for social things. Any time I want to meet a friend, I know I should not have a podcast taping or a client meeting. It really works. Another thing that I do – and I have to give credit for this to Samantha Ettus, who wrote The Pie Life – is to put every activity in the Golden Triangle between your work, your home, and your children's school. When I was writing my book, every day I would drop my son at school at 7:30 a.m. and go to the same place, between the school and my office, to work on my book until it was time to start my workday. When you're meeting somebody, pick a place in your triangle so it's on the way to wherever you're going next. That will save you so much time and aggravation.

Did you learn anything surprising when you were researching your first book?

photo by Claudio Marinesco

I learned how messy everyone's lives are when it comes to money!

I told people, "I'm going to interview famous high-achievers and get them to share very personal money stories for this book." Even my biggest supporters said, "People aren't going to tell you their personal stuff." And yet, I have Sallie Krawcheck sharing a very graphic and specific account of how she discovered her husband cheating on her when she got home from a wedding. And I have Jim Cramer from Mad Money talking about drinking heavily and living out of a car at one point. I have the founder of Well+Good, Alexia Brue, talking about her battle with cancer.

The higher-achieving a person is, the more they want people to understand the reality of their backstory and what's behind the pretty Instagram.

Your next book is for parents of older kids. Why is it important to teach teens and young adult children about money?

There are a lot of wonderful books for little kids about money.

Where I see a need is for the tools to support and educate kids transitioning from high school to college to the working world.

And parents need to pro-actively step into that role. My stepchildren, ages 19 and 22, listen to me talk about money all the

time, yet even as a personal finance expert, discussions are a challenge. The book is going to speak to parents of kids ages 16 – because that's often when they get their first jobs – to 26 – when they have to get their own health care. That can be a whole decade of gradually learning to be a financial grownup.

Taking over expenses, learning how to manage credit and debit cards, moving into their first home. And remember, many of these middle-aged parents were the so-called helicopter parents.

But if their adult kids are not financially independent, it will prevent the parents from enjoying their own retirement and empty-nest life.

The book will focus on specific ways parents can teach kids about the many financial things we wrongfully assume they have figured out for themselves. How do you teach a child to read their first paycheck? How and when do you wean them off your family plan bills? How much to tell them about your own finances? How great could it be if, instead of muddling through these things, we went in with a plan?

Women have played key roles in your career, but landing your first fulltime job at CNBC started with asking a man for a favor. What happened?

After college, I wanted to work in business news. I couldn't seem to get past HR to reach CNBC's hiring manager, Beth Tilson. We had a neighbor who was a regular guest on CNBC, and I knew that he knew Beth. I ran into him in the neighborhood and said, "I'm trying to get a job at CNBC. If I give you my résumé and cover letter, would you please bring it to her?" "I can't do that," he said. Why? "It might jeopardize my spot as a guest. I just don't feel comfortable." Figuring I had nothing to lose, that night I went to his house to give him my résumé anyway. His wife answered the door. I explained the situation, she said, "I'll take care of it," and within 48 hours I got a call from Beth Tilson, who said, "So-and-so gave me your résumé. You sound amazing. I don't have an opening right now, but things can change in a moment, so why don't you come in, because if he was willing to bring me your résumé, I know I need to meet you." A week later, somebody quit and Beth called to offer me the job. I never would have gotten that job if that man's wife had not answered the door. That woman was my advocate; when her husband didn't want to stick his neck out to help a girl looking for a job, she challenged him. Then the woman hiring manager reached out and said, "You must be great. Come on in." Women at all levels need to do what I call warm introductions: Connect women they know, value, and trust so they can work together. It's priceless.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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Jessica Goldman Srebnick is the second-generation CEO of Goldman Properties, founded by her father, real estate developer Tony Goldman. The company transforms depressed urban areas into iconic neighborhoods, such as SoHo in New York City, Center City Philadelphia, and Wynwood, site of the acclaimed Wynwood Walls in Miami, Fla. In 2015, Srebnick co-founded Goldman Global Arts (GGA), a creative collective that produces thought-provoking art projects in venues such as Hard Rock Stadium and American Airlines Arena. Srebnick was recognized as one of Forbes’ Icons of Impact in 2018. Now the mother of three teenage sons, she lives in Miami Beach – far from her native New York City – and continues working to make the world a more beautiful place.

Tell me about your early life.

I had a very unusual upbringing in New York City. My parents divorced when I was seven, so half the time I lived with my dad in SoHo, which was not developed the way it is today, and half the time with my mom on the Upper East Side. Then, when I was 16, my parents remarried each other. It was really a gift for me, because I got to develop these amazing relationships individually with my parents. My dad founded Goldman Properties and my mom founded a jewelry company called Fragments, and it was really interesting for me, as a kid, to see the evolution of two businesses pretty much starting from scratch; how, through the entrepreneurial spirit, my parents both developed and struggled; what their challenges were; what their successes were. Everything they learned along the way I got to share with them at the dinner table. It was a pretty extraordinary life lesson.

My dad put me to work when I was 12 years old. I did everything: I was a coat check girl in one of our restaurants, I worked as a cashier, my dad sent me to bartending school when I was 17 so I could always be financially independent. My parents wanted me to marry a prince of a guy, but they also wanted me to be able to take care of myself. Both of them always had my brother Joey and me thinking about business structure, what we are providing to the customer, and how we differentiate ourselves.

Did Judaism play a role in your early life?

My dad didn't have a very strong Jewish upbringing. My mother, on the other hand, was raised with a much more structured, more religious tradition. She sent me to Camp Blue Star in Hendersonville, North Carolina. That's where I got my first taste of Judaism in an environment that was loving, supportive, and really, really fun. It was prayers before and after every 22

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meal; it was Friday night and Saturday morning services in the chapel with no walls up on the mountain top; it was singing Jewish songs arm-inarm with friends. I spent nine years of my life at Blue Star – every summer, as a camper and then as a counselor – and now I've sent all three of my children there. My family feels very, very strongly about the State of Israel: Two of my three children have been bar mitzvahed there, and my oldest son just returned from a asummer High School in Israel program. We certainly feel a deep connection to Judaism.

Did you always plan to take over the family business?

When I graduated Boston University, I went to work for what I thought would be one year, and then I planned to go back to school and get a PhD in child psychology. My mom had a friend who worked as a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue, and she told me about an executive training program there. I thought, "I like fashion, and they're going to pay me to learn. That sounds nice." I stayed for five years and became the associate fashion director for Saks Fifth Avenue corporate. Since I feel it's important to be known for your first name, not your last name, I worked really, really hard. First one in, last one out, smile on my face at all times, always willing to jump in and do whatever was necessary. I moved pretty fast up the ladder and it was an amazing experience as a young woman, because the majority of Saks’ leaders at that time were women. Eventually, though, I realized that I wanted to lead my own company. As I was applying to business school, my mom convinced me to take advantage of my father's brilliance and visionary thinking and go to work with him. I like to say I went to the Tony Goldman School of Business, where I got a real education about leadership, big thinking, deal structure, and trying to make the world more beautiful and viable. At first I gave him a one-year contract, because family business can be a bumpy road and I didn't want to damage my close relationship with my father. I've been with our family business for 22 years now. My dad and I shared a partners’ desk and he named me the CEO of the company on my 15-year anniversary. He passed away five days later. It's hard enough to lose a parent, but to also lose the founder of your company and at the same time go from being the copilot to sitting in the pilot seat, it can be intimidating. If you believe in yourself, you learn from your experiences, and you are always willing to improve, then you can't fail.

Do you have a leadership philosophy?

For me, being a leader is about learning to listen and listening to learn. I studied psychology and I love human nature; under-

standing the way other people think and behave is a powerful tool that helps you have better personal and professional relationships. I find pearls of wisdom in the people I meet – like when I watched my mother start her own business, struggle, and ultimately succeed. And I still study: I will be completing a nine-year leadership program at the Harvard Business School this January.

I think there's something really special about women leaders.

We think differently. We can multitask like no one else, because we have to. And we're more patient and empathetic. The people that surround me want to work for me because of my inclusion, kindness, and empathy, and because I want to make the world more hopeful, beautiful, interesting, and accepting. I learned from a very young age that if you have the privilege of a platform, then you have the responsibility to use it for good. That's what I believe as a leader.

You’ve also used your platform to give artists a platform.

photo by Nick Garcia

I work with hundreds of really incredible artists – men and women, based in the U.S. and all over the world, and they all have their point of view to share with the world. The street art movement started with artists going out in the middle of the night and trying to make their mark in a public domain – illegally, really fast – and get out. Now everybody wants to live, work, or play in an artistic environment. I've created a whole other business because there's such a desire for creativity to be infused into everything, whether it's in a neighborhood, on a product, on a bicycle, or on a Super Bowl ticket. What we're trying to do as a company is to elevate the platform and make it accessible to everybody. So we have something like Wynwood Walls, which is popular because the environment is not intimidating and it's a style of work that speaks to people on a host of different topics. It's a way for people to be curious, to learn something that they wouldn't have been exposed to in the past, and now that's resonating around the world where you're seeing people much more open to and desiring of public art. To me, that's super exciting.

How do you describe the impact on a community where you establish a public art installation?

The energy of a neighborhood changes when you bring color and texture and creativity. People are naturally curious and they want to be around that. Nobody cared when we started

investing in Wynwood because it was a downtrodden neighborhood. There was nothing there – no windows, no reason to walk around. You could literally roll a bowling ball down the center of the street. In 2005, my dad stood on what is now called Tony Goldman Way, which is Northwest Second Avenue, and said, "This needs to be the center for the creative class." The Wynwood Walls was a gravel parking lot, and we invited artists from around the world to come paint, because he believed that if you do something creative, creative people want to be around it. This year we're tracking to have about 3 million visitors there, which is more than some national museums. At the end of the day, our business is real estate, hotels, hospitality, and art. But it's also a profound mission to make the world better. If I can create projects that do that, and inspire people to think and live their lives that way, then then I feel like I'm succeeding in leadership.

Has your company ever been accused of gentrification, as opposed to transformation?

Gentrification doesn’t have to be a bad word. My dad coined the term "gentlefication," but I think “transformation” is a much more beautiful one. There are always going to be people who look for the bad instead of the good. But when you have a track record of improving things the way we do, it's really hard to argue. Look at where we started; look at the jobs and businesses and opportunities we've created. To me that far outweighs any discussion of gentrification.

What are you working on next?

I am one of the co-chairs of the Miami Super Bowl 2020 host committee, so I'm looking to infuse art and creativity into the Super Bowl like never before. Part of my involvement is a campaign to stop sex trafficking, which becomes heightened around big sporting events. The Super Bowl host committee, the NFL, The Women's Fund, and the State Attorney's Office came together to create a media and training campaign to teach people working for Uber, taxi companies, and hotels how to spot sex trafficking. We're also working on a project in Deep Ellum, Texas, which is already a really cool little neighborhood, where we're going to infuse further creative spirit. And then we have some more development sites to work on in Wynwood as it continues to evolve. And of course I'm always working on being an outstanding mother and wife and daughter.  JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

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(left to right) with former JWI Board Chair Joyce Rappaport; speaking at JWI's annual Women to Watch leadershp celebration; in conversation with Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes at JWI's International Conference on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community; addressing the U.S. Senate at a briefing on the Violence Against Women Act

Turning the Page

After 20 years at JWI, our CEO looks back on two decades of challenges and progress as she prepares to start a new chapter.

Where does the time go? Twenty years ago, when I was asked to join JWI, I had three young children and a busy, hectic life. I was no stranger to the non-profit world, having spent my early career working to advance the lives of women and families through organizations, politics, and philanthropy, but I had no idea what a rich and joyful journey I was about to embark upon. After two decades of meaningful work, tremendous challenges, and enriching opportunities, I plan to step down as CEO of JWI at the end of 2019. It is time to pass the torch to new leadership.

In the fall of 1999, when I arrived, JWI (formerly known as B’nai B’rith Women) was in difficult straits, having barely survived an acrimonious split from B’nai B’rith. In the ensuing chaos, JWI had pledged to embark on a radical re-engineering effort to anchor its future. I was hired to be the architect and implementer of this plan.

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I was intrigued by JWI: By the courageous commitment of its leadership to embark on a new strategic plan that would change the structure of the organization forever; by its prescient mission to end domestic violence; by its history of developing women’s leadership skills; by its advocacy on important issues like the ERA and reproductive choice; and by its commitment to philanthropy through the millions of dollars raised for the Children’s Home in Israel. My first day of work coincided with the first day of the re-engineering process: Little did I know that it would foretell a 20-year adventure of dramatic and dynamic change. As we say, we left no stone unturned.

Beyond just rebranding, we treated the organization as a start-up – rebuilding and expanding the framework, from our mission to our programs, our staff, our board, and our stakeholders. We identified the persistent obstacles to gender parity, creating a vision dedicated to ending all forms of domestic and (cont'd p. 26)

(left to right) with former U.N. Ambassador Meryl Frank (WTW '10) and former DNC chair and Maryland mayoral candidate Susan W. Turnbull (WTW '05); greeting President Barack Obama at the White House; at the re-opening of the Jerusalem Hills Children's Home in Israel; with JWI COO Meredith Jacobs at the first Women's March on Washington

(left to right) Speaking on a panel on women's empowerment at the Embassy of Morocco; counter-protesting with JWI staff for access to birth control at the 2016 Religious Freedom rally in Washington, D.C.; speaking with young women at the launch of JWI's Los Angeles Young Women's Leadership Network; touring the new campus of the Jerusalem Hills Children's Home

(left to right) With shelter staff at the dedication of JWI's Arlene W. Ross children's library in the Grace Smith House domestic violence shelter in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; attending an International Women's Day event at the Embassy of Israel; with Vice President and Dr. Biden at a Jewish Leaders reception; participating in a healing craft at JWI's Domestic Violence Conference.

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sexual violence, promoting financial and economic empowerment, and strengthening, celebrating, and elevating women’s leadership. These became the guideposts of our transformation. I am proud that we were always ahead of the curve and ahead of our time; only today is the Jewish community tackling many of the challenges that we have been working on for 20 years.

A wonderful team of women – both staff and board – has led JWI firmly into the 21st century. We have created a rich portfolio of programs that champion the prevention of all forms of domestic and sexual violence and harassment. We lead the Jewish community’s efforts to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Our programs have touched communities in nearly 200 college campuses, synagogues and day schools, camps, and organizations, delivering training on everything from healthy relationships to money management. We have created powerful programmatic partnerships with Sigma Delta Tau sorority and Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, as well as with Hadassah, Project Kesher, and Jewish women’s foundations across the country. These partnerships have brought to life programs that have made the world safer for women and enriched opportunities in their personal, professional, and spiritual lives. Our Cler-

gy Task Force and Interfaith Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence have been models of collaborative partnerships that embrace the diversity of faith and interfaith while sharing an unwavering commitment to ending domestic, dating, and gun violence.

And of course, there is JWI’s philanthropy: A decade ago, JWI purchased and funded a brand-new residential campus for at-risk children in Israel. Since 1999 we have delivered more than 5,000 beautiful bouquets of flowers to women living in shelters on Mother’s Day. And later this fall we will complete our 90th children’s library in a domestic violence shelter. Giving back truly deepens the impact of our work.

From a floundering organization two decades ago to the flourishing community we are today, JWI has captured the engagement of the next generation. Our Young Women’s Leadership Networks have inspired thousands of young professionals in Washington D.C., New York, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Nearly 200 current and former Women to Watch provide the blueprint for celebrating Jewish women’s leadership – mentoring the next generation and building an circle of inspiring JWI

Changing Lives – Literally

One of Lori's most cherished JWI projects is the National Library Initiative (NLI). When JWI established the NLI in 2005, creating 50 children's libraries in U.S. domestic violence shelters seemed like a lofty goal. Today, with 90 libraries established and a commitment from the Wagner-Braunsberg Family Foundation to open 10 more, we are closing in on an expanded (but not final) goal of 100. JWI created the NLI to give children nurturing and educational support with peaceful, comforting spaces where the youngest victims of domestic violence can read, study, and distance themselves from the overwhelming challenges of their day-to-day lives. Most recently, the NLI opened libraries in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Providence, R.I., Sacramento, Calif., and St. Petersburg, Fla. With each new library, JWI and our partners bring hope and opportunity to families taking their first steps away from the darkness of abuse toward a bright, safe, independent future.

If you are interested in learning more and helping JWI build 100 children’s libraries in domestic violence shelters nationwide, visit jwi.org/nli. 

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leaders. JWI has thrived as an open tent – and through its light and airy flaps we have welcomed thousands of new donors, partners, and members. Our culture is warm and generous and our work is recognized, respected, and replicated.

So, at the end of December I will step down as CEO, maintaining a small role with JWI and consulting on women’s leadership and philanthropy. I have been so fortunate to work with my successor, Meredith Jacobs, for more than ten years; together we are creating a seamless transition.

Twenty years after I began, my children are grown and JWI is a vibrant, progressive organization working 365 days a year on issues that empower and elevate all women and every girl.

My deepest gratitude to JWI’s inspired staff and board, and to our funders as well – you have made our work possible and have been an ongoing source of inspiration. But the engine of any organization is its stakeholders; the thousands of donors, members, partners, and supporters who cheer from the sidelines every day knowing that the mission and work of this organization is sacred. Thank you for believing in JWI. 

as you LIFT

E S I R

his summer, when 92-year-old JWI member, June Robbins was honored at a national event celebrating the legacy of “Rosie the Riveters,” she told me, “JWI taught me how to speak in public.” Robbins was 17 years old when she filled in for the men who had gone off to war by working for the Navy as a mechanical draftsman. Years later, when she was a young woman, she attended a JWI women’s leadership convention and participated in a public speaking workshop. It was there that Robbins learned, “Don’t let anything get in your way.” She explained that “because of JWI, I have the confidence to speak to anyone, anywhere.

I was struck by how familiar her story felt – how decades later, JWI is still creating safe and encouraging spaces for women to advance their leadership skills.

Our work around women’s leadership is the umbrella under which all of our work finds shelter. Women in leadership drive policy and culture change that impacts our workplaces, homes, and communities – creating environments in which all women can lead safe and healthy lives.

This last year, JWI has worked tirelessly to expand our women’s leadership offerings. Our Young Women’s Leadership Network, engaging thousands of young women across the country, just launched in San Francisco – our sixth city. And we are continuing to create more opportunities, connecting these young professionals with mentors, formalizing financial literacy workshops, providing governance training for young board members, and fortifying the foundation that will support further national expansion.

We are excited to announce a new international partnership: In early 2019, JWI was invited by Masa Israel to spearhead the women’s leadership training cohort for its year-long Israel program for young professionals. Sessions will focus on Jewish women’s leadership, pay equity and safe workplaces, physical and mental wellness, and civic engagement and advocacy. Upon completion of the program in Israel, graduates will become active members of our Young Women’s Leadership Network.

Our leadership training is expanding from young women at the beginning of their careers to women at senior levels.

We are creating a network for our former honorees in our Women to Watch Leadership Circle – accelerating collaboration, peer-networking, and learning at the highest levels.

And, stay tuned for a new JWI community that will invite all women to join us in a variety of virtual and in-person experiences.

JWI plans an ambitious expansion of its national and international women's leadership offerings. new

Our Jewish ComBY MEREDITH JACOBS, munal Women’s JWI COO Leadership Project is addressing the disparity of women leading Jewish communal organizations. While women make up 90% of staff, very few serve as CEOs or executive directors of our largest and most influential Jewish organizations. Considering the ages of current executives, more than 75% of Jewish organizations are projected to transition leadership within the next five years. JWI is jumping on this unique opportunity to offer training and experiences to help women at senior levels get hired for top spots. Participants will learn from JWI's Women to Watch honorees, as well as representatives from a top national search firm, leadership coaches, and the editor-in-chief of Moment magazine.

At the core of our work is the understanding that we must lift as we rise, and therefore, at all levels of our leadership trainings – from college students to women at the pinnacle of their careers – is a call to women to mentor those who come after, to create workplaces that are safe and equitable, to empower others with financial literacy, and to advocate for legislation and workplace policies that help all women and girls thrive.

For more than 120 years, this has been our call to action: Amplifying the voices of women and positioning them to succeed. Building generations of women leaders is our enduring impact. 

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27

Ordinary Actions in Extraordinary Times Women’s physical safety, bodily autonomy, and economic security are at risk – but there are steps we can take to fight back.

BY ASHLEY EMERY, JWI ADVOCACY FELLOW

With so many women’s rights under attack every day, it's a challenge to know where to begin fighting back. But JWI believes that ordinary people taking ordinary actions are what’s needed in these extraordinary times. Join us on this journey by taking small steps that can change the world. Our grassroots campaign – Ordinary Actions in Extraordinary Times – asks each of us to pick up the phone, write an email, read about the issues. You bring the will; we'll show you the way.

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Ending the Gun Violence Epidemic

Advancing Reproductive Justice

Combatting GenderBased Violence

Gun violence continues to devastate our communities, schools, and houses of worship. It also constitutes a major threat to women’s safety: A woman is 500% more likely to be killed by an abuser if there's a gun in the house.

Congress must mandate background checks for every person who tries to buy a gun, weeding out those with a history of intimate partner violence.

Women are confronting an unprecedented barrage of extreme abortion restrictions challenging their constitutional right to safe, legal abortion. We cannot allow anti-choice politicians to squeeze access to comprehensive health care, gag doctors from discussing abortion with patients, or further disadvantage low-income women, women of color, and young women.

Last year may have been the "Year of The Woman," but violence against women remains an epidemic in our country. One in five women experiences sexual assault in her lifetime; every 16 hours, a woman is shot and killed by a male intimate partner; and more than 80% of Native women are victims of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or stalking.

Legislation that needs your voice: The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019, and the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2019 are common-sense measures that could go a long way toward mitigating escalating waves of violence.

Legislation that needs your voice: The Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act protect reproductive agency and ensure that insurance covers all reproductive care.

Legislation that needs your voice: In April, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019 (H.R.1585). Tell your senators that it's (past) time to introduce and pass a companion bill.

JWI Magazine | jwi.org/magazine

Bolstering Women’s Financial Security Women still only earn, on average, 80 cents to a man's dollar, and the U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world lacking universal paid family leave. The gender pay gap and lack of paid family and medical leave stunts women’s equality, economic stability, and career advancement.

Legislation that needs your voice: The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Family and Medical Leave (FAMILY) Act were created to break patterns of pay discrimination, strengthen workplace protections, and guarantee paid family leave – all essential to achieving economic justice for women.

Holding Sexual Assailants Accountable Survivors of sexual assault and harassment have ignited a powerful dialogue on consent and gender norms in our society. While women face dehumanizing rhetoric and misogynistic policies that normalize non-consensual sexual contact and discrimination, these dynamics perpetuate power disparities, inadequate protections, and wage stagnation in the workplace.

Legislation that needs your voice: The Fair Employment Protection Act and the Raise the Wage Act can help dismantle systems that leave women vulnerable to sexual harassment and also maintain barriers to recourse.

What can you do? 

Tell your elected officials that their record on women’s rights matters to you!

 Raise these issues at a town hall meeting or lobby your Members of Congress in their district offices.

 Get out the vote and organize your communities: Civic engagement matters!

 Write an op-ed or letter to the editor for your

local paper or other publication about why these issues matter to you, your community, and all women.

 Stay on top of legislation that expands gender

equity. (JWI's weekly "3-2-1-Action" advocacy alert emails are a great place to start!)

 Express yourself and your concerns at rallies or

on social media to raise awareness for these issues and hold elected officials accountable on solutions.

Be sure to tag @JWI when you post or follow us on social and share our messages with your networks.

Sign up for JWI's weekly "3-2-1-Action" advocacy alert emails at

jwi.org/advocacy

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29

GETTING DRAMATIC

BY ALLIE LERNER, 2019 JWI INTERN Last year, Mimi Brodsky Kress, 2017 Sondra D. Bender Community Leadership Woman to Watch honoree, and a co-owner and COO of Sandy Spring Builders, happened to be at the same event as Amanda Moskowitz, a member of JWI’s Young Women’s Leadership Network. Moskowitz recognized Kress from Women to Watch and introduced herself. She mentioned she was working on a one-act play centered on her own experiences with sexual abuse and assault. Kress was captivated, and the women made plans to discuss the play in-depth over coffee the following week.

Amanda Moskowitz (left) and Mimi Brodsky Kress (right)

A mentorship flourished, and Moskowitz's play, I Am Her, came to life.

While Moskowitz wields creative power, Kress brings business acumen and well-established connections – such as to fellow Women to Watch honoree Pam Sherman, an actress, writer, and lawyer who read the I Am Her script and offered advice.

“After hearing a little about her personal story and then reading the early version of the play, I decided that I wanted to help her make this a reality,” explained Kress.

While playwrights typically send their work to directors to develop a play,

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I Am Her is uniquely self-produced, with the two women raising all the money to bring it from page to stage.

Moskowitz is grateful not only for Mimi’s partnership and counsel, but to JWI for making that and other meaningful connections.

“The value of JWI for me has really been the opportunity to network and build relationships with exceptional, like-minded women. Everyone I have met through JWI is passionate about improving their world, community, family, and themselves,” Moskowitz says. “The support and connections I've found through JWI helped me identify what it is I was meant to do and changed the trajectory of my life.”

I Am Her shines light on four separate instances of sexual abuse, including date rape, sexual harassment, dating violence, and childhood sexual abuse.

Ultimately, the audience learns that it was one woman who experienced all four. When asked what she hopes the audience will take away, Moskowitz says she wants everyone to know that they have a voice – and, more importantly, the power of that voice.

She adds that while this play is femalecentered, men and LGBTQ+ individuals also experience sexual abuse and assault.

Moskowitz recalls a moment after an early read-through. A close friend, who was in the audience, was inspired to disclose her own sexual abuse – and her fear that the same would happen to her child. The audience erupted in support, and Moskowitz and Kress realized the play's intense,

potentially triggering effect. Counselors will be on hand at performances to support audience members who have experienced abuse or trauma.

“The support and connections I've found through JWI helped me identify what I was meant to do and changed the trajectory of my life.”

As follow-up, Kress and Moskowitz are using I Am Her as a platform to create a non-profit organization, also named “I Am Her,” which will create a curriculum on sexual abuse and assault. A portion of the play's profits will be donated to the organization.

“I truly believe that the day someone tells their story, whether it be through writing, acting, painting, or singing, is the day their story changes. That is why my goal is to turn I Am Her into a packaged curriculum that takes the play off stage and into classrooms, campus organizations, and community groups,” Moskowitz says. “I want to create an environment where young adults are guided through the complexities of sexual trauma, given access to local resources, and – most importantly – opened up to the healing power of artistic expression.”

“This really became a labor of love for me,” Kress explains. “I am beyond excited that Amanda's words, which are so important and relevant, will come to life on the stage.

We have already touched the lives of several people who have been traumatized by sexual abuse, and if that's all we do then we can feel incredibly proud of this project.” 

I Am Her debuts this fall with four shows at Washington, D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Join JWI on October 3rd for opening night and a talkback with JWI CEO Lori Weinstein. Buy tickets at jwi.org/iamher.

photo by Michael B. Kress

Two women, connected by JWI, partner to produce a powerful play on sexual violence.

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STILL WATCHING...

Caryl Stern After 13 years leading UNICEF USA, a 2014 Women to Watch honoree reflects on a career spent changing the world.

 As you look back, what are your most meaningful achievements as CEO of UNICEF USA? One of my greatest achievements was leading my team through UNICEF USA's growth from a $240 million organization to a nearly $600 million organization, taking great care along the way to make it one of the best places to work. Another thing I’m most proud of is the book I wrote, I Believe in Zero. I feel so fortunate to have met so many inspiring children and professionals all over the world, and to have been able to put my experiences in writing. And lastly, I'm so proud of building a board of amazing, successful, caring people who are passionate about UNICEF’s mission.

"...there have been a number of women who have pulled me up and helped empower me. I can only hope that I’ve done as good a job helping lift up the generation of women behind me..."  Is women’s leadership different from men’s?

Absolutely – I think women tend to be more relationshipand process-oriented than men, meaning that they’re not only concerned about the final product, but also the journey. I don’t mean to say that there aren’t men who attend to those things, too, or that all women necessarily fit this model. But in my experience, it’s been more women who lead like this than men, and it’s almost something that we as women expect of each other. Separately, there was a time when it was said that women don’t build each other

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up in work settings. I don’t think that’s true: In my experience as a woman leader, there have been a number of women who have pulled me up and helped empower me.

I can only hope that I’ve done as good a job helping lift up the generation of women behind me, because I think it’s really important to foster that support.  How do Jewish values continue to show up in your life?

My Jewish values are who I am and a part of everything that I do. I was raised in the spirit of tikkun olam, believing I have a responsibility to leave the world better than I found it. I also think the Jewish value of education as the most important thing you can give a child is core to who I am both as an individual and a professional at a children’s organization. Perhaps even more importantly, I think that Judaism is very much steeped in tradition, and that cultural value has given me a profound respect for other traditions – something that has been hugely valuable in my time at UNICEF. As an organization, we work in more than 190 countries and territories, and it’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to learn about other cultures, and in turn have a deeper connection to my own.

 What advice do you have for young women seeking to build a career in non-profit management and leadership?

I didn’t set out to build a career, I set out to change the world. I took my first nonprofit job because I was really passionate about the organization. So if I had one piece of advice for young women, it’d be to think about what’s important to you in a job and not just about what the title is. I believe that if you do something you love, you inherently do it well. Another piece of advice is to just breathe and enjoy the ride. When I first started working at UNICEF USA 13 years ago, I was already in my 50s and had enough perspective to be able to understand the importance of this. When I was in my 20s and 30s, I wasn’t able to take a step back and appreciate it all, so I think it’s important to remind younger professionals of the importance in this. 

Read Caryl's 2014 Pearl of Wisdom speech from the 2014 Women to Watch awards at jwi.org/magazine.

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