Hi, I’m Allison Josephs

Allison Josephs has been involved in the field of Jewish Outreach for over twenty years and is the Partner in Torah mentor to actress Mayim Bialik. She was named one of NJOP’s Top Ten Jewish Influencers and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36. Allison has been quoted or written about in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, and Yahoo News. Pearson Education, the largest textbook company in the world, produced a video segment on Allison’s life for the Judaism chapter of their textbook.

Allison has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including CBS, ABC, Fox5, TLC, The Hallmark Channel, HuffPost Live, Associate Press TV, and NPR; her articles have appeared in numerous publications including the anthology Like Water on a Rock, The Washington Times, Kveller, and The Forward. She is a sought-after international lecturer whose corporate clients include Con-Edison and NYU Langone and hosts a weekly podcast on the Nachum Segal Network. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Philosophy and lives with her husband and four children minutes from the George Washington Bridge.

Ami Feinstein comes to the role of Chief Operating Officer for Jew In The City with a background in Advertising and Project Management. She has worked as a consultant in social media, event planning, detail administration and promotions. With a B.A. in Communications from Boston University, she started her career at ad agencies such as Young & Rubicam and BBDO on accounts like Colgate-Palmolive, Cingular Wireless, Pepsi and more. Her expertise is streamlining processes and procedures and helping all of the gears of an organization work in proper order. She happily wears many hats in her role as COO, being involved in many aspects of Jew In The City and Project Makom, including operations, marketing, production and programming. Ami is passionate about all that she does, especially being a mom and a wife. She lives with her husband and kids in Clifton, NJ.

A former Hollywood script editor, Sara Levine is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Her first screenplay was well-received by story executives at major studios. As a sought-after story consultant, her notes and critiques on novels and scripts have been used to select and improve material by top studios, networks, agencies and writers worldwide. As a journalist, her articles have been published internationally in popular magazines and websites. As a content director and editor, she brainstorms and elevates written and visual communications. She is currently at work on her first novel.

Elie is the Creative Director and owner of Elie Creative LLC. With a dual degree in film and photography from The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and over 18 years of photography and video production experience behind him, Elie has produced work for numerous corporations, non-profits and schools, including NBC, Hilton, Yeshiva University, The Maccabeats, and many more. Elie also enjoys creating stories from precious moments in people’s lives. Working with Jew in the City allows Elie to express his creative side and have a little fun with it. Action!

Seth Feldman is an Emmy-award winning television producer and digital news executive. He is currently Head of Content for Straight Arrow News, a digital start-up committed to fair, factual and unbiased journalism.  Previously, he was the Morning Content Director at TEGNA, leading morning content innovation across the company’s 49 local newsrooms. He also served as Vice President of Branded Entertainment & Program Development at Meredith Video Studios, where he created The Better Show, which aired for nine years in national syndication   He has worked under some of the biggest names in television including Barry Diller and Mark Burnett.

Jack Abramowitz is the editor of OU Torah www.ou.org/torah. Among the many educational initiatives he has created over the years are the Orthodox Union’s Nach Yomi – a daily chapter of study followed by thousands worldwide – and NCSY’s “Torah on One Foot” series. He is the author of six books, including The Tzniyus Book and The Taryag Companion. For more Q&A, follow his new video series, Ask Rabbi Jack, on YouTube.

Chaya is the founder and creative director of Teitel Creative. With close to 10 years of experience in design and marketing Chaya combines her knowledge, inspiration and keen eye for detail to provide custom design solutions along with the highest levels of customer service in the industry. Chaya’s obsession with logo design and deep understanding of branding and identity development makes her the go-to designer for any startup

Chanie Waxler is the founder and CEO of Buds Designs, a full service, upscale wedding and event planning company. Chanie joined the JITC team in 2013 and has put her unique touch on the five Orthodox Jewish All Star events since then. Chanie’s attention to detail and cutting-edge style has enhanced not only events, but shabbatons and mailings as well. Chanie was born, bred, and continues to live in Borough Park.

Jackie was raised in a traditional Jewish home, and during her teenage years she got involved with NCSY and discovered the meaning that authentic Judaism has to offer. She was blessed to learn from incredible people who helped her determine what role she wanted Judaism to play in her life, and after spending two years at a seminary in Israel, she received a Bachelor of Arts and began working for her family business. Jackie aspires to give back what was given to her all those years ago, and to help others see how Judaism and the values it encompasses can enhance their lives.

Mayer Fertig is a communications and public relations executive who served in senior communications roles at the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, the Orthodox Union, and Yeshiva University. Earlier, he was a journalist in both print and broadcast media, including as managing editor of WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York City, and publisher and editor of a weekly newspaper on Long Island called The Jewish Star. He co-founded a volunteer ambulance corps and serves at his synagogue both as a member of the board of directors and on the congregation’s security team.

An entrepreneur turned angel investor, Mark has been investing in early-stage ventures full time for the last 5 years. He founded Regah Ventures to invest in visionary entrepreneurs who are transforming the world and improving lives. Mark’s deep network in the VC community and startup venture space has propelled Regah Ventures to amass an impressive track record including 51 portfolio investments, 13 exits, and 7 unicorns. According to PitchBook’s “2018 Unicorn Report”, Mark is listed as one of the top unicorn investors at the seed stage

Elliot Press is a Partner on the Private Transactions team at Deerfield Management Company, a healthcare investment firm located in New York City. Elliot joined Deerfield in 2016 to work on structured transactions for the Deerfield Funds. Prior to joining Deerfield, Elliot was a Partner in the corporate department at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, where he practiced for 20 years and co-headed the New York securities group. At the firm, he represented investors and issuers in various public company investment transactions, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions and other securities-related transactions and advised investors and issuers on various securities law-related issues. Elliotreceived a B.A. from Yeshiva University, a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and an M.B.A. from Fordham Graduate School of Business Administration.

Michael Sage is a founding partner of Sozo Investment Partners LLC (SIP) and is a well-respected bankruptcy lawyer for over thirty years. Michael is an active member of his community and recently received the Community Leadership Award by the Jewish Family Service of Clifton/Passaic, NJ. Prior to SIP, Michael was the co-chair of the Dechert LLP’s financial restructuring practice. Michael is a member of the Board of Contributors of The Bankruptcy Strategist and has authored several bankruptcy related articles appearing in Practicing Law Institute publications. He is also a contributing author of Contested Valuation in Corporate Bankruptcy: A Collier Monograph, “Value Allocation,” (2011). Michael received his law degree from Emory University, with Honors, and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont.

In 2013, Sam Sherman started reselling tickets when he soon realized there was a bigger game to play. The ticket industry was missing intelligent, dynamic, and automated pricing technology. So he built a team to create it.

Since then, Broker Genius has grown from 3 employees in Far Rockaway, New York, to 115 employees across 3 continents. The company now helps hundreds of ticket brokers boost their profits and grow their businesses with the world’s most powerful pricing technology.

Joyce Azria is the founder and CEO of Aven Les Filles which debuted its apparel collection to 155 Macy’s stores in February. Prior to that, she was the Creative Director of BCBGeneration. In her five years leading the company, she took it to over a quarter billion dollars and brought it to over two hundred locations–spanning twenty-nine states. They partnered with Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Macy’s and Dillard’s.

Mike Swieca helps manage alternative investments at Talpion Fund Management, a private investment firm based in NYC. He has a BA in Middle Eastern & Asian History from Northwestern University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He is also on the board of his family’s philanthropic foundation which supports a number of Jewish and Israel related causes.

Sarah Hofstetter is the president of Profitero. Before that she was the president of Comscore and the Global CEO of 360i, a firm which was named No. 2 on Ad Age’s Agency A-List as well as Mashable’s best Digital Agency of 2013. Her clients included Coca-Cola, Ben and Jerry’s, Oreo, Verizon and HBO. Hofstetter has won numerous industry honors, including being named to Ad Age’s “40 Under 40” for 2013 and CableFAX’s Digital Hot List. She has been honored as a “Social Media All-Star” by the Social Media Society and as one 2012’s Female Advertising Executives of the Year at The Stevie Awards.