Currently: Director of Campaign Outreach and Director of the Behrend Institute for Leadership at the United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, Inc.

School: New York University Dual Degree Program (Masters in Public Administration and MA in Judaic Studies). Graduated May 2007.

Looking back, my parents said that the path I’ve taken doesn’t surprise them. They say they always knew that I would want to live my Judaism in every way possible – including my career. I’m not as sure as they are that I’ve always been on this path, but I definitely see how it happened.

I applied to FEREP because I was sure that I would be a PR professional in the Jewish world. I had decided to take the skills I learned in my undergraduate degree in Public Relations and apply them to work in a Jewish non-profit. That way, I could do something meaningful and stay excited and challenged by the content of my work. Of all the Jewish non-profits out there, Federation made sense to me because where I grew up, “Federation” was synonymous with “Jewish life.” It was connected to and touched everything that was Jewish. To me, nothing made as much sense as working in the middle of all the action.

I was thrilled with my experience as a FEREP graduate student because I was given so many great opportunities to extend my education past the NYU curriculum and into real-life work. As a FEREP, I received additional graduate training, I experienced the General Assembly each year, and I found myself in an internship where I was taking big responsibilities and doing real work.

And when it came time to job search, FEREP was there again, making the process less overwhelming and giving me the support I needed to find my first placement. The PRO (the Federation job fair) offered me the opportunity to consider eleven communities where I could begin my career and make a difference. How could I possibly have made all those connections without FEREP? I quickly narrowed my interests down to four communities and before I knew it, I had multiple job offers.

I have been happily working in United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan, and Darien for over a year. I was hired as the Director of Community Outreach, charged with the task of working with all local Jewish organizations and synagogues to make our community a warmer and more welcoming place. We worked to identify, target, and offer programming for underserved populations and started many meaningful initiatives to engage Greater Stamford in outreach practices.

Less than a month ago, I was promoted to a completely new kind of position, full of new challenges and opportunities. I am both the Director of the Behrend Institute for Leadership, a local leadership training program for lay leaders, as well as the Director of Campaign Outreach, where my work includes running Super Sunday (the largest fundraising day of our year), the Real Estate Division, the Annual Meeting, and working with donors under the $500 level. What I love most about this work is that as much as it’s different from my work in outreach, there is so much that is the same!  The most valuable thing that I do now—and did then—is meet with volunteer leaders, listen to their ideas, and work with them to make them come to life. My personal mission and drive in my work is to make a better world and a better Jewish community. I count myself lucky and blessed that I go home each night satisfied with the work I’ve done today and the projects I’ll do tomorrow.