Online platform seeks to empower Jewish women in business and leadership

Kings, princes, and presidents from around the world converged in Jerusalem to be welcomed by then-Israeli president Reuven Rivlin for the 2020 World Holocaust Forum. Lavish receptions and gatherings were held at the end of January for the International Holocaust Remembrance at Yad Vashem.

As the official motorcades noisily made their way through Jerusalem, the main streets were blocked to traffic and often to pedestrians as well. 

A few weeks later, the world, not just Jerusalem, began shutting down under the threat of a hitherto unknown virus, COVID-19. A record number of businesses worldwide were devastated. 

Based in Jerusalem, business consultant Nathalie Garson saw the need for entrepreneurs stuck at home because of COVID to connect online. In 2020, she launched a community of a few hundred Jewish women. The initiative has grown into the Global Network for Jewish Women Entrepreneurs and Leaders (GNJWEL).

Empowering Jewish women entrepreneurs

The Global Network’s vision is to empower Jewish women entrepreneurs to become Jewish leaders by aligning their business with Jewish leadership so that they can become agents of change and contribute to the Jewish people with social impact projects.

Karen Reb Rudel, an American living in Paris, founded SightSeekersDelight.com, which provides Jewish-oriented walking tours for tourists. She is an example of a female Jewish entrepreneur who joined the Global Network. With the pandemic, there were no tourists in Paris, so she started to offer virtual tours.

She joined Garson’s GNJWEL when it was launched, and participated in every month’s Zoom networking meetups. Rudel told The Jerusalem Report, “This fabulous networking leadership sisterhood has brought me so much joy and lots of work coming my way. As well as helping more women find their mojo with their own companies.”

I, too, was involved with the Global Network from the beginning. Those monthly Zoom meetups were a lifeline when no public events were permitted in Jerusalem. After meeting Rudel and experiencing her virtual tour of Paris, we became long-distance friends and colleagues, sharing experiences and suggestions. While sitting at home in Jerusalem during a pandemic, how else would I have seen the room where the Lubavitcher Rebbe prayed in Paris?

Garson, who has an MBA, has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs over the past 12 years. “Business is where my head is, but it’s not where my heart and soul are. My heart is with women. I love the feminine dimension, our ability to be strong and vulnerable at the same time, our capacity to see things from the heart, our softness and courage, our emotional intelligence, and our intuition,” she explains.

Further, she adds, “My soul is with my Jewish identity and Israel. I am part of the Jewish people, and the Jewish people are part of me. I am in awe of our history and proud of what Israel is today. I write those words, and tears fill my eyes when I feel the pain and suffering our people and our country are going through since October 7.”

The Global Network has grown over the past four years. The private GNJWEL Facebook group has close to 2,000 members. The Zoom meetings continue to be held on the first Wednesday of the month, to help women succeed and grow in their business on a global level, reaching 20 countries. 

In addition to the international outreach the Global Network provides with its online meetings, it seeks to strengthen connections with the local chapters, offering in-person monthly meetups. One of the first to be established is in Paris, led by Rudel. There are active chapters in Paris, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Modi’in, and most recently, Jerusalem. 

The Global Network had planned an in-person conference in Jerusalem for January 2024. After months of organization, the event was forced to move online due to the uncertainty of travel in the days soon after October 7. Rivlin’s chief of staff Rivka Ravitz was one of the keynote speakers, along with Justine Zwerling, a founder of the UAE–Israel Business Council; Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan Nahoum; and other impressive women leaders such as Olga Israel, Vice-President of NGO Monitor, and Chantal Belzberg, CEO of OneFamily.

Mara Weiner, who lives in Boston, wrote, “I have been an entrepreneur for over 25 years, continually growing my business through networking. Initially, all my networking was done in person, but during COVID I began joining global networking opportunities. It was exhilarating to connect with people worldwide, many of whom became friends. After October 7, however, I noticed that I was the only one grieving during our networking Zooms – everyone else seemed fine. I was devastated, heartbroken, and felt as if my whole world had erupted. No one seemed to know or care. I no longer felt comfortable or safe with these connections I had fostered over several years.

“When Nathalie [Garson] reached out and told me about the GNJWEL, I felt a glimmer of hope. Joining the Zoom meeting, I felt safe and understood for the first time since October 7. Every Jewish woman entrepreneur needs this right now. When Nathalie suggested I create the Boston Chapter, I jumped at the opportunity to bring this amazing group here. It is so exciting to be able to laugh and cry together; that feeling of being understood is so important right now. Bringing it to women who live near me feels like the greatest thing I can do at this time.”

From Madrid, Spain, member of GNJWEL Advisory Board Judith Benchabo, when asked why the Global Network is important to her, responded, “The Global Network creates a unique space to grow as entrepreneurs and leaders, leveraging on our Jewish values and collective experience to impact the Jewish world.” She added, “As a board member, I am privileged to contribute to enhancing our leadership from a Jewish perspective. It feels like my ‘Jewishness’ and professional life are finally coming together.”

The Be Part of the Solution initiative has grown within the Global Network, born from the desire to help the Jewish people inside and outside Israel in these difficult times. From focus groups and surveys, Martine Alperstein, who heads the organization’s Social Impact Committee, endeavors to match the many women who want to help with existing organizations to develop Jewish leadership with social impact while helping with the war effort in Israel or combating antisemitism in the world.

Another initiative that the Global Network is working on is a Jewish Leadership Program in which the Jewish women entrepreneurs will be able to align their business with Jewish values and Jewish leadership in order to work on a project that will have an impact on the Jewish community. “When you bring these three dimensions together – business, women, and Jewish identity – something amazingly powerful and essential happens,” says Garson. 

“We are working on all these projects because we believe that Jewish women entrepreneurs and leaders are the impact agents that we need to bring change to the Jewish people and the world,” she explains. “It is the ripple effect that happens. When you empower a woman, you empower a family. When you empower a business owner, you impact her followers. And when you empower a Jewish leader, you empower Jewish communities.”

Though not part of the monthly online networking meetings, philanthropic consultant Arnie Draiman, who is a member of the advisory board, adds, “I am happy to support the leading online platform for Jewish women entrepreneurs from all around the world. This is a group of people often overlooked, and it is nice to see that hundreds of women have joined this very vibrant community.”

After encountering advisory board member Joelle Eckstein two years ago during a monthly GNJWEL Zoom meetup, her work to help widows inspired me to write the article “Raising Awareness for Widows” for The Jerusalem Report.

“I had been participating in the Global Network meetups on Zoom more or less since the beginning and started getting more involved with the conference planning,” says Melissa Goldwag, CEO of PackForCamp. “I jumped at the chance to volunteer with Nathalie, as she is a dynamic powerhouse and also so down to earth. I love the camaraderie of other women. There is a special magic in the air when we get together and brainstorm or network or just chat. The feeling of wanting to help others as much as I can overcomes me. And when you put that together in a room (or Zoom) full of women, it’s magic.”■