WJC Sisterhood: Inspiring Women

June 18, 2024, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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Join us in the Activity Center to hear WJC Sisterhood members present their incredible journeys to their wonderful careers through small group Q&A sessions and guest speakers. Please bring your tweens and teens! This is an incredible opportunity for our children to have conversations with professionals in exciting fields.

See below for some of our presenters!

Elise Dowell is CEO of the JCC Mid-Westchester
Elise started her career in corporate marketing, but quickly transitioned to the non-profit sector. She has spent over 20 years working in executive roles in the Jewish community. Elise holds a BBA from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Suzi Oppenheimer
NY State Senator serving from 1985 to 2012. She earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, worked on Wall Street as an industry analyst for L.F. Rothschild, then moved to Mamaroneck where she became Mayor of VOM before running for state senate.

Judy Herbst
Executive Director Savvy Ladies, a non-profit organization empowering women through financial literacy

Kimberly Langus
Sales Director, Penguin Random House
Kim has worked in children’s books at Penguin Random House for over 24 years. She has been instrumental in nurturing established brands like Dr. Seuss and Little Golden Books, as well as growing sales for some of the biggest teen and middle grade books: The Book Thief, The Phantom Tollbooth, Eragon, Wonder and many many more! She works closely with Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Amazon, and loves any and all bookstores! She has a BA in Art History from Binghamton University and an MBA in Marketing from Fordham University.

Severine Chavel
Dermatologist in private practice in Stamford, CT
After attending Brown University, where I majored in neuroscience, I received my medical degree from Yale Medical School and stayed in New Haven for my dermatology residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. I have been practicing medical and cosmetic dermatology at the Dermatology Center of Stamford for the last 15 years.

Carolyn Rosen
I started my career as a production assistant at Montel Williams. In 2003, I moved over to a show called the Insider, and began to work in the NY office of both ET and The Insider. Insider was cancelled many years ago and I’ll be at ET 20 years in August. I am one of 3 producers out of the NY office of ET , and book all stories coming out of NY. It entails booking them, writing questions and content for the interview, and following it all through air .

Ruth Hendel, Theater Producer
Ruth Hendel is an active theater producer on Broadway, off-Broadway, US regionals, and in London. She is particularly passionate about musicals and plays that explore Jewish content (PARADE) and social justice themes (FELA!) and totally unrelated to theater, she enjoys weaving talliot.

Elizabeth Ehrlich, a writer, has worked in journalism and communications. She has published nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, and is now studying Midrash at JTS.

Erica Strongin
An art curator in New York City for 15 years working at the Guggenheim Museum, Neue Galerie, the Lauder Family Private Art Collection and the Estee Lauder Corporate Art Collection. When her daughter Chloe was born, Erica decided to stay home for a few years and had every intention of going back into the art world. An opportunity teaching at Westchester Day School presented itself so she took it thinking it would be temporary. Ten years and a 2nd graduate degree later she is still there!

Lauren Sholder, Business Development, Investment Firm
Lauren Sholder raises money and develops relationships with the prospects and clients of Winton Capital, a London-based hedge fund. She started her 20-year career in quantitative trading and research before transitioning to systematic-driven investment firms. Lauren graduated from the Management and Technology dual degree program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Allison Dubrow
Allison Dubrow is a partner in Caldwell, a retained executive search firm. As a core member of the firm’s Financial Services and Insurance practices, Allison focuses on the recruitment of senior business and functional leaders across the C-suite and boardroom in the insurance industry.

Barbara Richter
Writer, ghostwriter, translator, and podcast host Barbara Basbanes Richter is a 20-year veteran of the publishing world and founder of two writing companies. Some links to Barbara’s work are here writing4immortality | Instagram | Linktree and here: Writing Samples | In Ink Ghostwriting

Gali Lodish, MD/MPH, Physician
I have been working for 20+ years as a general medicine doctor, managing conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The most rewarding part of my job is connecting with people who have these, and other, medical issues, and trying to help them improve their physical health.

Rebecca Baron, Corporate Lawyer
Rebecca graduated from Georgetown Law School in 2001 and started her career as a Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity attorney for one of New York’s largest law firms. In 2008 she pivoted to working in-house, first as general counsel of an international spa management company and subsequently as associate general counsel of a distressed debt trading firm, Seaport Global, where she is currently employed. Her day-to-day responsibilities include the drafting and negotiation of the firm’s general contracts, the settlement of private equity and trade claims trades and addressing general corporate governance matters.

Risa Seelenfreund, Human Resources Consultant
Risa is an HR Consultant who specializes in Learning and Development and Organizational Development (i.e., executive coaching, designing /facilitating workshops, creating onboarding programs, designing organizational assessments, etc.). She worked for many years on HR Teams in the publishing, information services, and pharmaceutical industries and now has her own practice, elevating the leaders and staff of both for-profit and not-for profit clients.

Eliana Tretiak, International Tax Lawyer
Began working on Capitol Hill. After law school worked for the IRS as an attorney. Worked as an in house attorney specializing in international tax at GE, then as a managing director at PwC.
I graduated with a degree in Architecture & Urban Planning. Took a job in retail with Macys Executive Training Program to pay the bills and loans and found that I liked brand marketing and strategic planning – and build my career around that – all through work positions. I received a certificate in digital marketing from NYU when that became important to land a digital marketing job at a startup.