Shelley Mayer has spent her career as an advocate for New Yorkers. She is an experienced and progressive leader. Shelley was elected to the New York State Senate to represent the 37th District in an April 2018 Special Election, and she was subsequently re-elected in November 2018, 2020 and 2022. Prior to her time in the State Senate, she served in the State Assembly for six years.

Prior to being elected as a member of the State Legislature, Shelley served as Chief Counsel to the New York State Senate Democrats, where she helped draft critical legislation to reform Albany ethics and protect taxpayers. From 1982 to 1994, Shelley was an Assistant Attorney General in the office of New York Attorney General Bob Abrams where she handled major reproductive health litigation. Shelley served in the Civil Rights Bureau, as Chief of the Westchester Regional Office, as the legislative liaison for the Attorney General and ultimately as a senior advisor to the Attorney General. As an Assistant Attorney General, Shelley fought to protect civil rights for New Yorkers and to broaden laws protecting consumers and tenants. 

Shelley received a JD from SUNY Buffalo School of Law in 1979 and a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA in 1975. Shelley lives in Yonkers with her family.

An experienced and passionate advocate for equality, attorney Julie F. Kay is an expert on women’s human rights domestically and internationally. She is the co-author with Kathryn Kolbert of the acclaimed Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom (Hachette Books, 2021). 

As the lead attorney who designed and litigated the landmark case ABC v. Ireland, Kay successfully argued before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights that Ireland’s ban on life-saving abortion violated her client’s human rights. Kay’s legal work with the Irish Family Planning Association is credited with playing a vital role in abortion legalization in Ireland.  Her experience in Ireland and countries worldwide informs her strategies for abortion reform in the US. Kay also fights to protect the parenting rights of people leaving ultra-religious communities through her legal reform work with the non-profit organization Footsteps and in partnerships she creates with America’s leading law firms and legal non-profits. 

Kay began her legal career as a Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, litigating domestic reproductive rights cases nationwide on behalf of individual women and health care providers. She served as a founding President of Women’s Link Worldwide, and as a long-time board member for the Center for Constitutional Rights. Kay earned a B.A. in Women’s Studies and Social Studies cum laude from Harvard University, and a J.D. cum laude from Brooklyn Law School where she was an Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellow and an Executive Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. Immediately after graduating from law school, Kay had served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf.

Neshama Carlebach is an award-winning singer, songwriter and educator who has performed and taught in cities around the world.  A winner and four-time nominee in the Independent Music Awards for her most current release, Believe, and winner of the Global Music Awards Silver Award for Outstanding Performance by a female vocalist for the album, Neshama has sold over one million records, making her one of today’s best-selling Jewish artists in the world.

She collaborates with musicians of different faiths, and partners with organizations, synagogues, and churches. Neshama has been a cornerstone of major Jewish music festivals across the U.S. and globally, performing in front of thousands at an interfaith peace summit in Mt. Fuji, Japan, at the gates of Auschwitz on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and at countless concerts and gatherings for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Neshama began training as a singer and actress at the age of five. As a teenager she performed alongside her father, the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.  Today she lives in New York with her husband Rabbi Menachem Creditor, and their five children.

Andrea Salwen Kopel is the leader of the staff team at NCJW NY and as such is responsible for all aspects of organizational management including programming, fundraising, and administration. Andrea comes to NCJW NY with 25 years of experience in non-profit management in New York City. She began her career at the national office of Planned Parenthood, working in communications and media relations. She has since served as Director of Program Services for Citymeals-on-Wheels, serving homebound elderly New Yorkers; V.P. of Community Programs at the non-profit Big Apple Circus, bringing the joy and laughter of the Circus to disadvantaged populations nationwide; and as Executive Director of Room to Grow, providing comprehensive services to families raising babies in poverty. Andrea holds a B.A. from Barnard College and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Julia Jassey is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jewish on Campus, where she heads a staff from around the world as they respond to growing levels of antisemitism on college campuses. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as CNN and Forbes Magazine, and she has been recognized as a young voice leading the fight against antisemitism. Due to her advocacy work, she was an Honoree at the Anti-Defamation League’s 2021 Concert Against Hate. Julia was also awarded as one of Algemeiner Magazine’s “Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life in 2021.” Julia has proudly served as a Brume and Allen Scholar at the American Sephardi Federation as well as the host of the “Nice Jewish Girls” podcast with Opendor Media. She does this while also attending the University of Chicago, and she is expected to graduate in 2023 with a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and Jewish studies.

Danielle Berfond is a partner in The Bridgespan Group’s New York office. Since joining the organization in 2014, she has worked with nonprofits and philanthropists across several domains, with a focus on development work with clients across the globe.

From 2015 to 2017, Danielle acted as one of the founding members of the organization’s Mumbai office. Her work in India included strategy projects in the areas of women and girls, skills development, and rural livelihoods, as well as research on the state of NGO leadership development. In her time in the New York office, Danielle worked in the areas of education and children, youth, and families; she has also focused on the “what works” movement, and the use of evidence on effectiveness in government decision-making, co-authoring the report “The What Works Marketplace: Helping Leaders Use Evidence to Make Smarter Choices” (Bridgespan.org, 2015).

Prior to joining Bridgespan, Danielle was an engagement manager at the management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, working on strategic and operational questions for a variety of financial services clients. Danielle is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School and a BA in Political Science from the College of Arts & Sciences.

Lauren Brathwaite is a writer and editor for Philanthropy News Digest, a news service of the nonprofit Candid. In her years of experience in the philanthropic sector, she has provided insights benefiting the social sector. Lauren’s diverse portfolio encompasses news exclusives, book reviews, executive interviews, and news features. She’s written extensively about Feminist philanthropy, funding for environmental justice, Black philanthropy, and Black wealth generation. Lauren’s professional journey also includes working with esteemed publications like O, The Oprah Magazine, and GQ Magazine. She’s interviewed such nonprofit luminaries as LaTosha Brown, founder of The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium and co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Monique Couvson, president and CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color, the Global Fund for Women’s president and CEO, Latanya Mapp Frett, the founder and publisher of Philanthropy Women, Kiersten Marek, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute’s Jeannie Infante Sager, and the Ms. Foundation’s president and CEO Teresa Younger.

PeiYao Chen [she/her/hers] is the Senior Vice President, Global Operations, at Global Fund for Women.

PeiYao has an extensive career in the non-profit sector, including serving multiple leadership roles in research, evaluation, grantmaking, and strategic planning. In her current role, she oversees the organization’s operational functions to ensure effective and efficient implementation of Global Fund for Women’s strategy to support gender justice movements globally. Prior to joining Global Fund for Women, PeiYao was Associate Director of Evaluation at TCC Group, a management consulting firm providing strategic planning, evaluation and capacity-building services to foundations and nonprofit organizations. She currently serves on the board of the Support Center for Nonprofit Management and is a member of the Wellesley Centers for Women Council of Advisors. PeiYao received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Shanie Reichman is the IPF Atid national director at Israel Policy Forum, based in New York City, where she works to elevate the discourse around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shanie serves as the founding co-chair for the Forum Dvorah U.S. committee, on the board of Queens College Hillel, on the advisory council for the Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding, as the Deputy Communications Director for Young Professionals in Foreign Policy’s (YPFP) NY Chapter, and as a mentor with Girl Security. Her work has been published in the Forward, the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Hey Alma, Jewish Unpacked, and International Policy Digest.

Attorney Michal Gera Margaliot served as executive director at the Israel Women’s Network (IWN) from 2016 to 2020. Michal has vast experience in initiating, developing and implementing initiatives that promote gender equality and women’s rights, both in the public and the NGO sectors. Michal served as Chief of Staff and parliamentary advisor to MK Merav Michaeli (Labor, opposition whip), for four years prior to joining IWN. Michal’s vast experience in the NGO sector stems from years of service, as a volunteer and an employee, in NGOs like HOSHEN – The Israeli LGBT Center for Education; Metzilah – The Center of Zionist, Jewish, Liberal and Humanist Thought; and at the Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 2012-2016, she volunteered at the IWN as a board member. Michal has a BA in Philosophy, Economics and Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in addition to LL.B. and LL.M. degrees in Law, specializing in gender studies, from the same university. She is the 2018 honorary award winner of the Bernice Tannenbaum Prize for an up-and-coming feminist leader. 

Karyn Grossman Gershon is the CEO of Project Kesher (PK) in the US and architect of the PK international network of feminist Jewish leaders. Project Kesher’s programs build intergenerational Jewish life, advance gender equality, and promote public health and wellness. Karyn has helped raise over $40 million for Jewish women and girls in this region of the world. Most recently, she has been instrumental in helping to create a gendered response to the war in Ukraine. Karyn is a graduate of Cornell University and Northwestern University School of Law. Project Kesher’s archives and Karyn’s body of work have been included in Brandeis University’s Archives and Special Collections on Jewish Feminism. She has spoken extensively about women’s rights and Jewish life in post-Soviet countries on public radio and at universities including Stanford, Northwestern, Columbia and Wash U.

Bonnie Dimun is the Executive Director of the Museum at Eldridge Street and brings a wealth of experience in the non-profit, corporate and university arenas. She founded and was President of Dynamics for Change, a management consulting firm. Bonnie also served as National Director of Education and Public Policy at Hadassah, where she created and managed the Leadership, Education and Training Center. Bonnie holds an Ed.D from Columbia University as well as two degrees from Rider University.

Marilyn Gottlieb is Chair of the Personnel Committee and past President of JWFNY and served as an inaugural Co-Chair of one of the Visionary Circles. Currently retired, she was formerly the Chief Deputy County Executive of Nassau County, having also worked for the Anti-Defamation League and as an attorney in private practice. Marilyn is deeply engaged with UJA Federation of New York as a former member of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Government Relations and Advocacy Committee, and co-Chair of the Heritage Society. She also sits on the Family Violence Task Force and is a past Chair of Manhattan Women’s Philanthropy.

Ela Alon is the Executive Director of Itach-Maaki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, which gives voice to women who have faced discrimination in Israeli society through legal aid and representation, multicultural gender discourse, creating innovative community models for leadership, and advocating for legislation.

Ela is an attorney with varied experience in the public sector including as head of the legal department and deputy to the Regulator of Cooperatives in the Ministry of economy and as a lawyer at the Legal Clinics and at the Law and Public Interest Program in Tel-Aviv University. She took part in the foundation of “Koach LaOvdim” – Democratic Workers’ Union, and initiated the union’s volunteer lawyers network. Ela published research on legal aspects of volunteering in Israel and a comparative study, which was the basis for a Government Bill proposal on the subject. In 2015 she was chosen as an outstanding worker by the Civil Service Commission. Ela holds a Bachelor of Law and a Master of Law, both with Honors, from Tel-Aviv University.

Rina Ayalin-Gorelik (Adv) is the Executive Director of the Association of Ethiopian Jews (AEJ), which confronts discrimination, advocates for social change, equal opportunities, racial equality, civil and human rights, improved perceptions and better policies on behalf of Ethiopian Israelis. 

Rina spent 16 years in the private sector before co-directing Bar Ilan University’s Clinic for the Promotion of Equality and participating on the legal team of the late Solomon Tekah’s (z”l) family in court. In April, 2023 Rina addressed 170,000 protesters in Tel Aviv against judicial reforms and how Israel’s marginalized and minorities suffer from unequal treatment and policies. She represents AEJ on the Steering Committee of the Jewish Agency’s MOED initiative- Global Jewish Partnership for Racial Justice. Rina has a BA in Law from Hebrew University, a MA in Law from Bar Ilan University and a MA in Public Policy from TAU.

Jamie Beck is the Founder, President and Managing Attorney of Free to Thrive, a Southern California-based organization that advances justice and transforms the legal system for human trafficking survivors.

She founded Free to Thrive after providing pro bono legal services to human trafficking survivors and discovering that there was not a dedicated legal services provider for trafficking survivors in San Diego. Jamie is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Law at USC Gould School of Law teaching a course on “Trauma-Informed Legal Skills” and serves on the Dean’s Board of Advisors for the University of San Diego Kroc School of Peace Studies. She has trained thousands of attorneys, students, stakeholders and community members on human trafficking and trauma-informed practices. Prior to starting Free to Thrive, Jamie practiced civil litigation at Procopio, Cory, Hargeaves & Savitch LLP.  Before joining Procopio, Jamie served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Michael M. Anello, Federal District Court Judge for the Southern District of California. Jamie graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law.  

Kerry Brodie is the Founder and Executive Director of Emma’s Torch, a non profit social enterprise that provides culinary training and job placement services to refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking. 

Kerry founded Emma’s Torch with a passion for cooking and desire to help refugees. She previously worked as the Global Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and the Director of Communications at the Israeli Embassy. Emma’s Torch was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Greatest Places in the World in 2018, and has been featured in The New Yorker, The Rachael Ray Show, The New York Times, Vogue Magazine, and others. Kerry was named one of CNN’s Heroes in 2019, JWI’s Women to Watch in 2022, and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 in 2018. She is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, where she won the Wusthof Award for Leadership. She holds  a Bachelors in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and a Masters in Government from Johns Hopkins University.

Jodi Bromberg is the CEO of 18Doors, formerly InterfaithFamily, which supports interfaith families in exploring Jewish life and strengthens Jewish organizations’ understanding of interfaith inclusion.

Previously, she was an attorney in Philadelphia. Jodi has written for several publications, and spoken at conferences and Jewish organizations around the country about creating inclusive Jewish spaces for interfaith families. Most recently, she authored a chapter in the book Warm and Welcoming: How the Jewish Community Can Become Truly Diverse in the 21st Century. She is an advisor of JPro’s WellAdvised program, and an active alumni of Leading Edge’s CEO Onboarding Program. Jodi is a proud graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Wendy Goldberg is a founding board member and the Executive Director of Tri-Faith Initiative, which brings together in permanent residency a synagogue, church, mosque, and interfaith center on one 38-acre campus in America’s heartland.

For over 20 years, she has worked with clergy, lay leaders, social sector and nonprofit organizations, community leaders, and local educators to make interfaith cooperation a social norm. Wendy is chair of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity, and Equity (CODE) Advisory Council, on the advisory boards of The Journal of Interreligious Studies and UNO Tell All the Truth Project, a LeadDiversity and Racial Equity Institute’s Racial Equity Workshop alum. She is a 50 Over 50 honoree, and a finalist in the Visionary category for Omaha’s Inspire Award. She served on Temple Israel’s Board of Trustees for 10 years, including a two-year term as congregation president. She served on the Temple Israel staff for seven years as Program Director. Wendy earned an MA in Communication and a graduate certificate in Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and has served on the staff of Project Harmony.

Rabba Sara Hurwitz is the Co-Founder and President of Maharat, a rabbinical school that trains and ordains women across the world to serve as spiritual leaders. She is also a member of the Rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.

In 2009, she became the first Orthodox woman to be publicly ordained and serve in an Orthodox synagogue. Rabba Sara helped create the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s (JOFA) Gender and Orthodoxy Curriculum Project. She has received many awards including the Hadassah Foundation Bernice S. Tannenbaum prize, the Myrtle Wreath from the Southern New Jersey Region of Hadassah, and the Trailblazer Award Recipient at UJA Federation of New York. Rabba Sara was chosen to be a member of the inaugural class of Wexner Foundation Field Fellows. Rabba Sara was named one of the Forward50 most influential Jewish leaders and Newsweek’s 50 most influential rabbis. She graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University then completed Drisha’s Scholars Circle Program. 

Lela Klein is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Co-op Dayton, an incubator for worker- and community-owned businesses that broaden economic opportunities and strengthen working class and Black neighborhoods in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

Lela has spent her career fighting for economic justice and equity for working people. Lela started her career supporting domestic and international campaigns to build democratic, worker-led organizations. She staffed organizing drives around the country, and worked in the legal department of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), before serving as the first female General Counsel to the IUE-CWA, a 45,000-member manufacturing union. After witnessing the destructive impact of the 2008 recession, Lela felt the pull to move home to use her legal and organizing training to build innovative, worker-centered solutions to help rebuild her city. Lela holds a BA from Cornell University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

SooJi Min-Maranda is the Executive Director of ALEPH:  Alliance for Jewish Renewal, which brings spiritual vitality and passion into the daily lives of Jews through programs that train clergy, empower leadership, build communities, and generate powerful experiences and practical resources. 

Previously, she was the executive director of Temple Beth Emeth, a 600+ member reform Jewish synagogue in Ann Arbor, MI. She also worked at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH) and Korean American Community Services. The Asian Health Coalition of Illinois presented her with its Outstanding Community Health Advocate Award in 2008. SooJi was in Cohort 3 of Leading Edge’s CEO Onboarding Program, served on Governor Quinn’s Illinois Human Services Commission from 2010-2012 and is a member of the Selah Leadership Program’s National Executive Cohort 9. She was a Chicago Community Trust Fellow and a Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Awardee. She was a Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership Delegate and a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. SooJi holds a Bachelor’s from Barnard College and Master’s degrees from Northwestern University and The University of Chicago.

Kai Gardner Mishlove is the Executive Director of Jewish Social Services of Madison, which  empowers families and individuals across generations and cultures to build community and self-sufficiency, with a strong commitment to the Jewish community and inspired by Jewish values.

She is the first Jew of Color (JOC) to hold this position nationally and the first JOC to be hired at JSS. Kai was formerly the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Milwaukee. She has served on many boards including Hillel Milwaukee, JCRC Milwaukee, NCJW Milwaukee, SE Asian Literacy Project, Wisconsin African Community Association, Hands and Voices and various disability rights groups. She is an alumnus of the Selah JOC Cohort 15 and the Jewish Women of Color Resilience Circle 2. Kai was awarded the Building Bridges award by NCJW Milwaukee and recognized as one of 12 Milwaukee Sheros in 2020 by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Kai was also featured as one of 100 Milwaukeeans interviewed regarding democracy and citizenship in the This Is Milwaukee Project. Kai was awarded the 2021 Woman of Faith award by the Salvadoran Sisters of the Divine Savior in recognition of her Tables Across Borders Project, restaurant and community gathering pop ups highlighting the cuisine and cultures of diverse local refugees. Kai has a BA in Political Science from Boston University with graduate studies in Public Health from the University of Illinois. 

Kimberly Novod is the Founder & Executive Director of Saul’s Light Foundation, a New Orleans-based nonprofit that provides support and community to families with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Kimberly was named a 2021 Fearless Striver by The Fearless Fund and Mastercard, received the 2019 Millennial Changemaker Award and a New Orleans City Council Proclamation for exceptional community service and was appointed to Governor John Bel Edwards’ Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Advisory Council. Kimberly’s passion for the well-being of families is bolstered by her decade of experience as a public school teacher prior to founding Saul’s Light. She is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and received a Master’s degree from Troy University. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Fraidy Reiss is the Founder and Executive Director of Unchained At Last, the only organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and advocacy.

Fraidy Reiss is a survivor turned activist, using her personal story of escaping a forced, abusive marriage to found Unchained At Last. Fraidy’s research and writing on forced and child marriage have been published extensively, including in the New York Times, Washington Post and Journal of Adolescent Health and by Oxford Press, making her one of the foremost experts on these abuses in the U.S. She has been featured in books (including as one of the titular women in Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s The Book of Gutsy Women), films (including the award-winning documentary Knots: A Forced Marriage Story) and countless television, radio and print news stories. Legislation she helped to write and promote has been passed into law in multiple U.S. states. She has a Bachelor’s from Rutgers University.

Jessica Sager is the Co-Founder & CEO of All Our Kin, Inc., an organization that trains, supports and sustains family child care educators – and in doing so, fosters economic development, gender equity and racial equity.

Jessica co-teaches a Yale University seminar on “Child Care, Society, and Public Policy.” Her many honors include the U.S. Small Business Administration’s “Women in Business Champion” award, the Ashoka Changemakers/Robert Wood Johnson Champion of Children’s Well-Being award, and the Care 100 list of the Americans doing the most to re-imagine and re-humanize care. Jessica is an Ashoka Fellow, a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, and an Aspen Braddock Scholar. A frequent voice for child care in publications such as Time, The Hill, New America and Education Week, she is also a trustee of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, and sits on the Board of the Low Income Investment Fund. Jessica is a graduate of Barnard College and Yale Law School.

Dina Shalev is the Executive Director and Head of Advocacy at Lada’at – Choose Well, which promotes reproductive rights and healthy sexuality in Israel. 

She joined Lada’at as a volunteer in 2013 and previously served as the counseling center coordinator. Representing Lada’at, Dina was a founder of the Coalition for the Abolishment of Abortion Committees.Previously, Dina worked as a crisis intervention manager at the Crisis Center for Children in Be’er Sheva. Dina also completed a course in couples’ counseling at the Yahel Center for healthy sexuality in the religious community and a Matan Israel course in managerial excellence. She holds a BA in Psychology from Ben Gurion University and a MSW from Hebrew University. 

Nina Smith is the founding Chief Executive Officer of GoodWeave International, the leading global NGO working to stop child labor in supply chains worldwide. GoodWeave brings visibility to workers; restores childhoods; and provides assurance to companies and consumers that select products with the GoodWeave® certification label are produced free from child labor. 

Nina is a longtime advocate for children’s rights and an expert on addressing labor violations in manufacturing supply chains. She has spoken on these issues at fora such as the Skoll World Forum, the World Economic Forum, Harvard University, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the American Bar Association, among others. She is winner of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Schwab Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurs, the Tufts University Alumni Award for Active Citizenship and Public Service, and the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s EXCEL Award for excellence in chief executive leadership. Currently, Nina sits on the boards of the Fair Labor Association and the Better Buying Institute, as well as the Takoma Park Cheder Community. She is a graduate of Tufts University.

Orit Sulitzeanu is the Executive Director of The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI). ARCCI combats sexual violence at the national level and is an umbrella organization for the nine regional Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. 

Before joining the ARCCI, she served as Head of Communications at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she also chaired the Gender Equality Committee. Prior to this, she was the Spokesperson for the Israel Women’s` Network (IWN), Israel’s leading women advocacy group, for seven years. Under Orit’s leadership the ARCCI has received the Emil Grunzweig award for Human Rights in 2015 and the Minister’s Award for Social Equality in 2017. She was awarded the Jerusalem WIZO Award for Groundbreaking Woman in 2018, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to present at the UN, and was nominated as a representative of all women NGOs to serve on a governmental committee to establish a national program against sexual harassment in Israel. She appears extensively at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, as well as in media, op-eds, and public statements. Orit holds an MA in Nonprofit Management (Cum Laude) and an MA in Communications (Cum Laude), both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Dana Talmi, Founder and Executive Director of Yahel – Israel Service Learning, trains, supports, and inspires individuals and organizations to take part in responsible and sustainable volunteering in Israel alongside local community members.

After working for several years as a tour guide throughout Israel, Dana moved to the United States and was an educator at the Teva Learning Alliance and a teacher at the Florence Melton School. She spent several years leading service learning programs for Jewish college students and then worked for AJWS, where she responsible for hiring, training and managing group leaders for service-learning trips to Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2007 Dana returned to Israel with her family and soon after, founded Yahel – Israel Service Learning. Dana holds a B.A. in Israel studies from Bar-Ilan University and an M.S.W. with a focus on community organizing and group work from the University of North Carolina. 

Ruth Zakarin is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, which brings together stakeholders from across the Commonwealth to work to address all forms of gun violence.

Ruth spent over 25 years working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence before becoming the inaugural Executive Director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence in May of 2019. She is particularly interested in creating models of trauma informed advocacy and is very involved in local interfaith organizing. Ruth has her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania and is trained as a community organizer.