Pride Month Wrap-up

For Pride month at Avodah, I had the opportunity to interview and write about five amazing members of the LGBTQ community. It was a real joy to have these conversations, especially as someone who is new to Judaism. I enjoyed learning about how religion and queerness can go together rather than conflict. “Judaism can uplift…

Personal Update: New Job, New School

It's been quite a while since I have made any sort of personal or life update on this site. For a long time, I have not had the time or energy to keep it properly updated. However, it definitely still serves it's primary purpose, which has always been as my digital portfolio. In the current…

Social Work with Heart: A Conversation with Avodah Alum Camellia Heart

This post was originally published here. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we spoke with mental health professional and Avodah Service Corps alumna Camellia Heart about her experiences in the field. Camellia Heart had just finished college at University of Georgia and was looking for her next move before graduate school. Combing through job…

Life in a Medical Van: Joshua Singer discusses his Service Corps Membership

This post was originally published here. Joshua Singer spends most of his time in a van, but he’s not on a road trip. He’s currently an Avodah Service Corps Member, serving with the New York City nonprofit, Project Renewal, which provides healthcare and social services to those in need. Joshua spends his days in the…

Supporting Survivors of Violence: A conversation with Kelsey Saragnese

This post was originally published here. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we spoke with Avodah Fellowship 2018-2019 alumna Kelsey Saragnese about her work in the field of violence prevention. Kelsey Saragnese photoA fervent advocate for violence prevention, Kelsey Saragnese has dedicated her career to helping people understand how to support and empower survivors…

Taking Climate Action Through Environmental Justice in Avodah’s Jewish Service Corps

This post was originally published here. “Climate justice intersects with all the other justice issues,” says Noa Gordon-Guterman. “The Earth houses all of both the beautiful work and all of our flaws as a human people. When the Earth is hurting, human beings are hurting as well. It is important to act on that interconnectedness.”…

Girls Rock! Indianapolis Facebook Fundraiser

Girls Rock! Indianapolis’ annual summer camp, like all events, looked differently this year. For the first time, the organization delivered its day camp entirely virtually. Rather than gearing up for an in-person concert, volunteers taught the kids how to produce songs digitally. While our total number of campers was smaller, post-camp survey results indicated the…

Website: Hirons.com

Over the course of the last several months, I have been heavily involved in the redevelopment of Hirons' website. This has included writing copy for web pages, editing the entire site's copy and providing feedback on user experience / navigation. Among the new features of the site, we made the decision to break out several…

LGBTQ Cultural Competency with Indy Pride, Inc.

As the leader of the firm's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, I had the pleasure of coordinating Hirons' recent LGBTQ cultural competency training with Chris Handberg, the executive director of Indy Pride, Inc. Part of the agency's DEI plan, distributed to all employees in October, was encouraging staff to share their pronouns on platform profiles…

No one benefits from uncertainty

Lessons learned in leadership from the COVID-19 pandemic The following post was written in collaboration with Deana Haworth, APR and was originally published here. I have always valued face-to-face communication, both in my personal life and in the myriad strategic communications campaigns I have led over the past two decades. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit,…