by Marissa Freeman

Hear Our Voice is a mindset I carry with me everyday, and up until a month ago, I was showing up for my voice and my voice was showing up for me. Then, quarantine. Doors shut, everyone packed up, and the entire world shrunk to the size of my 13” MacBook. What do we do now that our theme, Hear Our Voice, is met with challenging times and physical mask coverage? We need to turn up its volume to maximum levels.

By Brianna Elgart

In addition to the #NationalPeriodDay movement, there is a huge push by Platform and other partner organizations advocating for the Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2019, which was first introduced by Congresswoman Grace Meng back in March. The Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2019 will help to make menstrual hygiene products more accessible and affordable, especially in communities that face disproportionate access to reproductive health care services and products.

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

By Allie Lerner

On Thursday, June 13th, I attended Platform Advocacy Day where I lobbied (for the first time ever) for The Women’s Health Protection Act. I was so impressed and intrigued by the experience that I decided to sit down with Jennifer Mandelblatt, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Platform, to discuss her organization, how she became involved in civic engagement as a career path, and the importance of being an advocate.

The Young Women’s Leadership Network is expanding! The Network launches in June and has been organized by a team of awesome women. Come learn about them!

In case you haven’t heard, our Young Women’s Leadership Network keeps getting bigger (did we mention we’re launching in SF in June?), doing larger events, and there are more women leaders than ever (have you heard about our mentorship program, now with 50 women involved?). It’s a great problem to have – really! But since even National Manager Sasha has to sleep sometimes, we realized we needed to ask for a little help. Enter: Rachel, our new YWLN Coordinator!

By Emily Pevnick

As I prepare for a massive identity shift to “mom,” I am reading books about self-care, taking classes on transitioning to motherhood and talking to friends about their experiences. These resources prepared me for some intrusive questions about weight gain and breastfeeding, but they did not prepare me for questions about returning to work.

By Dara Biton

With their infectious attitudes, bubbly personalities, and overall joyful demeanors, Edith, Mary Bauer, and Martha Sternback, are the embodiment of “not letting them win.” LAMOTH’s L’Dough V’Dough program (a play on the Hebrew, L’Dor V’Dor--from generation to generation) brings together survivors with participants from local schools and organizations. They spend a few hours together braiding challah dough, and while the challah bakes, hearing the survivors’ powerful stories.

By Sasha Altschuler

Being a young professional can be hard. How do you make friends or find a community? Find a job you’re passionate about? Make professional contacts? What if you want to switch industries? One thing that makes it easier: The Young Women’s Leadership Network.

By Carrie Seleman

We all know the story: You go to a conference; you take note of ideas, strategies and goals; you leave the conference telling people you’re going to implement all of these new ideas, strategies and goals. Then, regrettably, you fall back into your usual rhythm. You come down from the high of being surrounded by successful and inspiring role models without implementing any of the ideas, strategies or goals that you left the conference with.

I’ve starred in this story more times than I can count on two hands. But the YWLC was different.

By Stephanie Arbetter

You might think that JWI’s Young Women’s Leadership Conference is geared toward entry-level professional women who are facing the working world for the first time: wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, eager to learn the art of asserting themselves in the office. If you already have a few years of professional experience on your resume, I’m here to tell you that there’s a place for you here, too.

Heading to the JWI Young Women’s Leadership conference for the first time? We’re super excited to meet you! Here’s some tips and tricks I’ve picked up:

By Andrea Deck

By Susanna Lustbader

Don’t ask me to abandon my bed on a chilly afternoon in early December. After all, I have an appointment with my pillows to hole up with mac & cheese and binge watch an entire season of The Office. Why would I want to surrender my well-broken-in sweatpants for casual office attire, my day of splendid vegetation for a Young Women’s Leadership Conference? 

By Ashley Powell

A community organizer, trained social worker and public administrator, explains why she decided to run for office in 2018.​​​​​​​

By Nancy C. Snowden

I remember clearly one conversation about attire, what to wear, what not to wear. The advice I was given was this: “Always wear a suit, you want to model what they wear; you want to be one of them.” I struggled with this because if you know even the smallest bit about my personality, a suit is the farthest thing from being representative of who I am.

By Sue Tomchin

Former JWI Women to Watch, Kathy Manning and Susie Turnbull are among the hundreds of women who decided that 2018 was the right time to run for office.

By Steph Black

The paycheck of the most important woman in your life will only be 71% of her male counterpart. The woman who raised and cared for you will be economically hampered due to stereotypes and bias. But we think your mom deserves better.

By Jackie Kossoff 

The previous JWI events I have attended could not prepare me for the evening of inspiration and connection I experienced at the LA Women’s Leadership Network’s recent event, “Passion for Fashion.” I knew that we were gathered to hear Esther Brozin Feder, philanthropist and JWI supporter, talk of her journey in the fashion industry. What I didn’t expect was to share a powerful evening with other young, Jewish, female entrepreneurs.

By Jackie Kossoff 

Starting out as an entrepreneur is one of the most exciting times of your life. Being able to follow your dreams and pursue your professional passion invigorates and empowers you in ways you never dreamed of. 

JWI’s tagline certainly rang true last month throughout the Young Women’s Leadership Conference. I felt informed of women’s issues in the workplace and out inspired to make a difference in my community and my life and empowered to make the changes I need to see it all through. 

The 2017 Young Women’s Leadership Conference brought together over 200 Jewish women from across the United States to network with and learn from JWI’s inspiring Women to Watch honorees. Hali Simons attended the event and wrote about her experience for JW magazine. 

Since attending the conference last year, I have become an active Network member, and I am now honored to serve on the D.C. Network Board. As part of this year’s YWLN Conference Committee, I am so excited to energize a new generation of leaders, and to continue learning from women who speak their minds, and from their hearts.

The number of women pursuing tech careers hasn’t been growing - so activists are working to transform the tech field into a friendlier space.

See what's growing as JWI's Young Women's Leadership Network expands westward.