Leading by Example

When we are young, we look up to our mothers, aunts, and grandmothers watching all the tasks they carry out. Like figure skaters in a rink, they make their daily rituals seem seamless, graceful, and elegant; however as we grow up and we face our own responsibilities, we begin to comprehend the extent of women’s roles in our society, and how those roles have never been as demanding as they are today. Many of the female figures prevalent in our media, culture, and society manage a slew of multi-tasking responsibilities, including being mothers, activists, artists, politicians, wives, businesswomen, and more. The pressures and the demands that society puts on women to carry out so many roles has never been greater. In honor of all the women of the world who are juggling all the moving parts in their lives – while still making time, effort, and energy to nurture themselves and the people around them – we’ve highlighted several local women who exemplify top achievements, inspiration, and strength.

LIMOR GOTT RONEN

Ever wonder who’s behind the massive upsurge in Israeli TV shows transplanted overseas? In recent years, Israel has made a name for itself as being one of the biggest marketers of TV formats all over the world. You’ve got Limor Gott Ronen to thank for award-winning shows like “Homeland,” based on the original Israeli series “Prisoners of War.”

Perhaps the most crucial element of Ronen’s job as Keshet International’s Director of Marketing and Communications is understanding what makes a good story and moreover, which stories will resonate with international audiences. With a background in content development, communications and sales, she joined Keshet in 2012 and in less than four years has cemented the company’s lauded position in the global TV marketplace. “The combination of rich, voice-driven stories and unique delivery has both made Israeli storytelling a success and an industry I am proud to be part of,” she says.

Ronen spearheaded a deal with Fox International for the rights to remake the award-winning espionage show “False Flag,” which tells the story of five ordinary Israelis who wake up to find they’ve been embroiled as suspects in a high-profile kidnapping. The main characters will become American in the Fox version. Meanwhile, “Prisoners of War” is slated for remakes in Korea, Russia, and Latin America.

Dramatic thrillers aren’t the only successes Ronen has chalked up on her impressive resume. She was also the driving force behind “Rising Star,” the fastest-selling talent format on record, and the explosive game show “Boom!” which has aired more than 400 episodes worldwide across more than 12 countries including the US, France, Spain, and Argentina.

NATASHA GUTMAN

When Natasha Gutman looks back at her memories, she vividly pictures her mother and her aunt in the living room of their house in South Africa secretly meeting with black women as a part of a hidden organization called Kontak that helped to empower and bridge the gap between the two divided communities.

She remembers the women singing together, laughing, and dancing. It became this page in history that inspired Gutman for the course of her life. Through the pursuit of studying art and later art therapy, she found a path in building a career doing the thing she loves and empowering disenfranchised communities through building a career with art.

It was with this in mind that Gutman teamed up with Dr. Diddy Mymin to develop The African Refugee Development Centre which enabled the formation of Kuchinate (the word for crochet in the Eritrean language of Tigrinya). Kuchinate is a women’s collective in Tel Aviv that creates handmade crochet baskets and rugs. The women of this collective not only produce items that generate income, but they also have a physical space to come together and support one another in their unique journey. Gutman faced her own personal battle of pursuing a career and trying to build her family, and when struggles with infertility became an issue, she understood the power of art and community to overcome obstacles and face challenges.

Today, pregnant with twin girls, she’s able to look at the work she’s doing to see how it’s influenced her life and the lives of so many others – how strength, perseverance, and compassion are never in vain.

JUDITH AMARA

Hailing from France, Judith Amara began her career in pharmaceuticals. After learning in-depth about the intricate science of medicine, she became intrigued with alternative medicine and homeopathics.

“Everyone comes into this world with a mission, but we forget why we are here. A majority of the time our physical pain is only a manifestation of our soul’s desire to remember what we are here for,” she explains.

“My job, through homeopathics, is to help people look within themselves to remember who they are so that they can fill their inner void – to reconnect their mind and body with their soul.” Amara’s success with clients around the world in her private clinic brought the concept into the mainstream, garnering the attention of Israeli pharmacy chain Superpharm, where she now spearheads the Superpharm Homeopathic Laboratory, developing a line of alternative treatment for the in-house brand, Life.

Finding her inner peace in discovering a form of treatment that helps people live fulfilling and happy lives, Amara teaches her methods to other practitioners and is in the process of writing two books on her unique approach, making it possible for more people to have access to this groundbreaking method. Confident and driven by her passion to guide people to their personal success, Amara exemplifies the female power of nourishment.

EINAT TSARFATI

A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Tel Aviv-based illustrator Einat Tsarfati is well on her way to the big leagues when it comes to Israeli designers. A quick scroll through her online portfolio offers an escape from reality in the most colorful way. In Tsarfati’s world, sea creatures host live concerts and dreams are preserved in glass jars.

She compares illustrating to making new friends: “Slowly you find out what they love eating, what they collect over the years or what do they have printed on their favorite PJs.” Her most famous work has to be her “Things That Annoy Me” Facebook page, on which an adorable black and white cartoon figure humorously acts out all the little mischiefs of life on a bright red background. Nearing 40,000 likes, Tsarfati’s blog is a masterpiece in the making.

“I draw my inspiration from daily life, things that happen to me and are funny,
or things which aren’t funny at all and all that’s left is to make fun of them,” she says. She’s worked with fashion houses, musicians, filmmakers, and even the Tel Aviv Municipality on a variety of projects that all demonstrate her wonderfully eccentric imagination.

Some of her illustrations even come to life thanks to digital work such as a mini movie for the digital creative agency Richkid, made as part of a collaboration with Manky Studio. Tsarfati just released her first interactive children’s book app for iPad and iPhone entitled “The Stories of Endless Lucy & Bob.”

KORIN AVRAHAM

Today the Ya Salam fashion blog is one of the biggest and most well known fashion blogs coming out of Israel, which makes it hard to believe that its founder, Korin Avraham, didn’t begin her career in the fashion industry.

It wasn’t long ago that Avraham was making her way up the ladder in the legal world as one of Israel’s up-and-coming litigation lawyers. Although Avraham was skilled at her career in law, she felt that in the process of creating thicker skin to manage the shark-eat-shark world of litigation, she was losing touch with her emotions and ultimately her femininity.

Her blog began as an outlet for her lifelong passion for fashion and it wasn’t long until fashionistas around the world began to notice. After a lot of determination, drive, and rising up despite hearing “no” all along the way, Avraham became the leading fashion ambassador for Israel, creating a consulting and branding network through partnerships with fashion and lifestyle companies around the world, including brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, Missoni, Moschino, and H&M.

“I love my work so much that it’s easy for me to work without stopping, so I constantly have to learn when to create boundaries and focus on my family, friends, love, and things that constitute a part of my identity.”

NATALIE SOLOMON

Am Yisrael Foundation describes itself as a nonprofit that empowers modern pioneering among Jewish young adults.

In practical terms, the foundation acts as an umbrella for a plethora of grassroots, volunteer-run organizations that provide an answer for every facet of modern Jewish life in Tel Aviv – from Friday night meals courtesy of White City Shabbat to debates by globally-renowned personalities at the Tel Aviv International Salon.

The foundation’s recently appointed CEO is Natalie Solomon, a Birmingham, Alabama transplant with a big personality and an even bigger dream. Together with President of Am Yisrael Foundation Jay Shultz, their aim is to turn Tel Aviv into the most desirable place in the world for young Jews to make a life. A graduate of George Washington University and New York University, Solomon speaks four languages and has lived all over the world. Nevertheless, she now claims she can’t imagine living anywhere other than Tel Aviv, which she has called home since 2009.

Formerly the New York liaison for Birthright Israel, Solomon brings a decade of professional and lay leadership within the Jewish nonprofit sector. Although she’s proud, in her words, “to often be the only woman at the table,” Solomon is paving the way for more female social entrepreneurs to emerge in community life. “I never take for granted the freedoms I have as a young woman in Israel. I often think about all of the women in the world, all of the women in this region especially, who don’t have a voice,” she says. “I am so proud to live in Israel, where as a woman, the only challenge to my potential is just how big I can dream.”

CHEN LEVANON

ClicksMob tells the story of the Startup Nation’s success – but with a feminist twist. The mobile advertising platform, which was ranked in Forbes magazine’s list of the most promising companies for 2015, was founded by four men who implemented the old adage “behind every successful man is a woman” by choosing Chen Levanon to run the company in 2013.

A former European champion hurdler, Levanon personifies everything that women need to overcome in order to succeed in a male-dominated arena. In under two years, she grew the startup from $1 million to $10 million in annual revenues, and – wait for it – also had time to birth two children.

Even though the former Lehman Brothers financier became pregnant shortly after starting her position as ClicksMob’s CEO, her employers were entirely sympathetic of her responsibilities as a new mother, awarding her full maternity leave and a flexible schedule thereafter, allowing her to steer the company without shirking her role at home.

“The more I see women rising to leadership roles in the Startup Nation, the more I’m encouraged that this society has a unique ability to promote gender equality and perhaps even serve as a model for other tech hubs,” Levanon told Women 2.0. And she isn’t simply paying lip service: with over 50% female employees – and more than half of the company’s management being women – ClicksMob is something of a unicorn when it comes to employee demographics in the high-tech world.

Under Levanon’s stewardship, ClicksMob has grown into a leading player in the mobile advertising space and its recent expansion into Silicon Valley means that she now divides her time between Israel and San Francisco.

DANIELLA BLOCH

Daniella Bloch is the founder of Nehara, Israel’s only Orthodox Jewish dance troupe that performs in front of mixed-gender audiences. Nehara’s stated mission is to provide a home for Orthodox female dancers to promote their careers as professional dancers without compromising their observant way of life. While dancing in front of men and being religiously observant may seem like a contradiction, Bloch insists otherwise.

“Dance is the divinest art form,” she tells Time Out. “It is a way of life. But Judaism, too, is a way of life. It therefore behooves us as dancers, and as God-centric people, to find a way for the two to come together in harmony. We were blessed by God with this gift,” she continues, “and it is our duty to utilize it and present it to the world.

This is our calling – as artists, as Orthodox Jewish women, as mothers, and as dancers.” Bloch’s company performs all around the country, including at the famed Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater. The dancers, some of whom sport headscarves traditionally worn by married Jewish women, present a new dimension to dance that lies at the intersection between the physical and the spiritual. Apart from being Nehara’s Artistic Director – which Bloch admits is a “fulltime passion project” – the New York native is also a classical ballet teacher at several of Israel’s major dance schools.

Her dance career includes a five year stint at the Bat Dor Dance Company where she performed all around the world with renowned international dancers, as well as being a regular fixture at the Israeli National Opera, performing in productions of “La Gioconda,” “Samson and Delilah,” and “La Pique Dame,” among others.

MERAV OREN

Merav Oren is on a many-woman mission to tip the scales in the male-dominated startup ecosystem. Her company, Agora, launched WMN, a social initiative that provides startups with a co-working space, professional workshops, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

But here’s the catch: Only startups with at least one woman in a key position can benefit from the services provided by WMN, whose tagline is, aptly, Women Lead Ventures. Oren’s stated aim is to change the numbers in the startup landscape, as currently, the percentage of female employees in the field hovers at a dismal 13%.

“There is a shortage of women-led ventures in the ecosystem of entrepreneurs that has roots in education and societal expectations,” she says. “WMN aims to bridge that gender gap by building a community of startups with women leaders and providing them with mentors, workshops, and support networks to empower, enable, and inspire.” An entrepreneur herself, Oren already has considerable experience under her belt for selling her company BLT, an experiential marketing agency that later became part of the McCann group in Israel. The actual space WMN offers is breathtaking.

Housed in a trendy, refurbished hangar, WMN boasts joint and private work spaces, meeting rooms, lounges, brainstorming rooms, a kitchen, and of course, the requisite bar. And the best part? It’s situated directly opposite the sea in Tel Aviv’s Port.

Oren is also the brainchild behind the Open Restaurants Initiative, a four day event this month (March 9-12) that enables participants to enjoy kitchen sneak-peeks, culinary workshops, and chef-guided tours of Tel Aviv’s culinary scene and open-air markets (open-restaurants.co.il)

SIVAN YA’ARI

Sivan Ya'ari is Israel's original Sunshine Girl. She earned the moniker ostensibly as a result of her work bringing Israeli solar technology to rural Africa, but perhaps no less because of her stellar personality. Armed with state-of-the-art solar systems and an infectious energy, Ya’ari brings new meaning to the term "lighting up a room." A graduate of Columbia University, she founded her company, Innovation: Africa, when she realized the tremendous need – and potential – for sustainable energy solutions in Africa. Eight years later, Innovation: Africa operates in seven African countries and has provided light, clean water, food, and proper medical care to more than 750,000 people.

Ya'ari, a mother of three including 6-year-old twins, received a prestigious award from the United Nations in recognition of her efforts helping rural Africans lead better and healthier lives. One of the significant byproducts of the systems was affording local children an education. Whereas in the past children would spend their days hunting for clean water with their mothers, the installations now allow children to spend those valuable hours in a classroom learning to read and write.

As a result, graduation rates tripled. "Women are the solution," she says. "They are the opportunity. Thanks to Innovation: Africa's Israeli technologies, we are impacting the lives of so many women and young girls across Sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls truly are the agents of change."

MARTA RIGER

“It doesn’t matter what you do, do it completely.” This is the ethos that Marta Riger lives by and teaches each one of her three children. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Riger convinced her parents to let her move to Israel at a young age with the promise that she would not pursue a career in art, her deepest passion, but that she would study something more practical.

This led to a career in social work, which she did wholeheartedly for five years before facing the truth that she was not being true to herself; and so, Riger left her steady job and took a chance on her art. Her path began on a small scale with pottery and ceramics as a teacher and a producer.

As a devoted mother, she built a life where family and work could be harmonious, creating a studio in her home. Now at the age of 52, Riger has taken her art to a whole new level. She has dedicated herself to her creative expression, creating large-scale ceramic installation pieces for galleries around the world. Putting her fears, disbeliefs, and trepidations behind, Riger spends long periods of time in Jingdezhen, the world’s porcelain capital.

Here, with the help of a team, she creates and designs breathtaking large-scale ceramic pieces that evoke both the harmony and dissonance that reverberate through each one of us. Never allowing any obstacle to discourage her, she has come up with the conviction that, “if I can think, I can do everything.” Life always has a solution, you just have to look for it, and Riger serves as living proof that it’s never too late to get started.

SMADAR SCHECHTER

For Israel's first female commercial pilot, Smadar Schechter, the sky really is the limit for what women can achieve.

When she was just a teenager about to be drafted into the army, Schechter pleaded with the Israeli Air Force (IAF) to accept her into the pilot's course. The answer that she received was that there were no female pilots in the army. So she settled for becoming an operator for the IAF's F-15 squadron.

Twenty-seven years later, Schechter is living her dream as a captain for Israel's national airline, El Al. In January of this year, she made headlines for breaking the record by heading up an all-female cockpit for a flight from Tel Aviv to Larnaca in Cyprus.

These days, the 44-year-old only flies once a week and spends the rest of her time serving as a technical supervisor for El Al's fleet 737. This allows her to spend more time with her family, and especially with her daughters, ages eleven and eight. She admits that when they were younger, it was tough to be away so much, but adds that help from her husband and mother was indispensable.

Schechter rejects the notion of "men's jobs." According to the captain, any job that is not dependent on physiology should be open to men and women alike. "I think that my story emphasizes that if you want, you can, as long as you persevere," she says. "But I also say that aside from your abilities, you also need good timing and a little bit of luck on your side."