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.

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

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

After the birth of her third child, Heidi Hookman Brodsky made the decision to leave her job and focus on raising her daughters – but her drive to make a difference eventually drew her back to volunteer work. In all, she has worked as a community volunteer, organizer, and leader for 20 years, serving organizations including the D.C. Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Bender JCC of Greater Washington.

As senior vice president of strategy and account services at PineRock, Inc., 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

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. 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.

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. Initially headed for a career in Hollywood, her own life story took a series of dramatic twists and turns, leading her to the business of spiritual pursuits.

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. She credits her competitive personality, Jewish values, and a lifelong belief in teamwork forguiding her to the pinnacle of success in her field.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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 first book, she left her job as a global business news television anchor to expand the Financial Grownup brand of financial education.

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.

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.

Each month, we’ll feature one incredible woman from across a Network across the country to highlight the amazing women in our growing national community. We’ll be sharing information about them as well as some highlights from interviews with them, covering things from their favorite female role models to the best budgeting tip they’ve received.

By Allie Lerner

After last week’s episode, there was a lot of backlash in Bachelor Nation and within our office. Because JWI advocates for the rights of women and girls, especially promoting healthy relationships and bodily autonomy, I decided to interview one of our very own Ariella Neckritz, Manager of Prevention and Training Programs, to discuss her thoughts on last week’s episode.

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 Sue Tomchin

New from historian Pamela Nadell, a book you should know about, before we tell Women’s History Month good-bye.

By Sue Tomchin

When you plug the word “entrepreneur” into Google you get 791 million results. Rachel Braun Scherl has carved out a unique and gutsy category within this mammoth realm. She calls herself a “vagipreneur™ —an entrepreneur focused on the business of female sexual health and wellness.

The strong Jewish women leaders we feature for Women to Watch come from diverse backgrounds and fields. However, in common they have the Jewish wisdom informs their work - whether in Jewish or secular fields. Values passed down from generation to generation, observance of ritual, and appreciation of our shared history connects the legacy of women honored at Women to Watch.

The right advice, at the right time, can make all the difference in a career. Our Women to Watch have much of their own advice to offer, but here they share the best piece of wisdom that was passed down to them, propelling their careers forward or that helps to frame their values.

Honoring women in our community for the last 18 years has brought inspiration and joy to attendees of Women to Watch. For our honorees, being named a Woman to Watch can be a validation of their hard work, a recognition of their impact on our community, and a time to connect with contemporaries across many fields. Today, it’s ever more important to lift the work of women in our community and celebrate the accomplishments of those around us.

By Monica Edelman

I don’t know the race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, or personal history of the vast majority of my fundraiser’s donors. In this digital age, for me they are generous little circular profile pictures alerting me of a new donation every thirty seconds. For two days I watched their faces flash and flash, over and over, continually curating new donations on the screen of my cell phone in what was a beautiful slideshow of names, both familiar and foreign, giving what they could to help out complete strangers.

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 Valerie Brown

How my mom’s civic engagement has transformed from informed citizen to activist extraordinaire - and what she’s done for her community this year.

We asked our former Women to Watch honorees how they’ve seen women’s leadership change over the last decade, and their responses show us how far we’ve come together. There’s still so much work to be done, but by recognizing the incredible women in our community, we’ve marked and honored the legacy of women who came before us.

By Lori Weinstein

This time of year directs us to turn ourselves inside out, make amends, begin anew – with a fresh gaze and an open heart – all in our life journey to do better and be better. Open-heartedness is the journey of forgiveness. It is spacious and rejuvenating. It enables you to return to your daily battles with renewed vigor, commitment and optimism.

Three years ago, Jenny Abramson decided to follow a piece of advice that her mother gave her: If you want something done, do it yourself. Today she is the founder and managing partner of Rethink Impact, the “largest impact-oriented venture capital fund in the country with a gender lens.”