Every Friday at noon we’re joined by editors from The Forward and JTA, as well as special guest news writers and news makers, to discuss what’s happening in the world and how it affects women.
We start with a 10-minute news roundup, then take a 20-minute deep dive into a top-of-mind issue for the week.
This event is free.
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Every Thursday evening you'll get a reminder with links to tune in on Zoom or Facebook. We’ll also send a recording every Friday afternoon.
Journalists. Activists. Feminists. Panelists.
This week’s expert:
Jill Zuckman specializes in public affairs and crisis communications at SKDKnickerbocker, working with many of the country’s best known corporations and managing complex issue campaigns. She is well known for leading the communications effort to free Alan Gross, an American imprisoned in Cuba for more than five years. Over the course of his imprisonment, Jill kept the media engaged in Alan’s case – building public pressure to force the U.S. government to strike a deal with Cuba and bring Alan home. For that and other work, Jill was named by PR News as one of 2015’s “Top Women in PR” and received the Holmes Report’s SABRE Award for PR Agency Citizenship. Before joining SKDK, Jill was an award-winning political correspondent and served as assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. At the Transportation Department, Jill oversaw a high-impact social media operation, communicating the benefits of transportation investment on job creation, as well as the need for airlines to respect passengers’ rights. Prior to serving in the Obama administration, Jill worked as a national political correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and before that, The Boston Globe. She covered four presidential elections, as well as the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 and the subsequent Democratic comeback in 2006. Jill is a recipient of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress and the New Hampshire Primary Award. At SKDK, Jill co-chairs the firm’s cyber security practice, working with companies to prevent and prepare for the worst, or to handle the ensuing public relations crisis. She also serves as the chief spokesman for the Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, a coalition consisting of American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, along with seven labor unions.
Philissa Cramer is the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's editor in chief. Prior to joining JTA in 2020, she was a founder and editor at Chalkbeat, the nonprofit news organization covering education. She is a graduate of Brown University.
Laura E. Adkins is the opinion editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and an adjunct professor of journalism at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. She was previously the deputy opinion editor at the Forward, the editor of Jewish Insider, and an assistant blogs editor at The Times of Israel. At the Forward, she wrote about kosher wine, orthodoxy, data and built interactive maps — though usually not all at the same time. Laura’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, The New York Times, SELF, Glamour, and elsewhere. Laura is an avid marathoner and makes a mean garlic za’atar challah.
Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt is a journalist for the Forward, and was previously a writer for Haaretz. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Vox, and Salon
Helen Chernikoff is the Forward’s news editor. She came to the Forward from The Jewish Week, where she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website. Before that, she covered the housing, lodging and logistics industries for Reuters, where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a master’s of public administration from Columbia University and a BA in history and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @thesimplechild.
Jodi Rudoren became editor-in-chief of The Forward, the nation's oldest independent Jewish news organization, in September 2019 after more than two decades as a reporter and editor at The New York Times. At The Times, Jodi served as Jerusalem bureau chief from 2012 through 2015, covering two Israeli elections and two wars in Gaza. She previously covered the 2004 American presidential campaign, and served as Chicago bureau chief, education correspondent and education editor, and deputy on both the Metropolitan and International desks, before joining the masthead as associate managing editor for audience strategy. A longtime digital innovator, Jodi was executive producer of the multimedia series "One in 8 Million," which won NYTimes.com's first Emmy Award, in 2009, and served on the 2020 committee about the newsroom of the future. She also serves on the board of directors of the Fuller Project, a nonprofit newsroom doing groundbreaking investigative work on issues that affect women. Jodi grew up in Newton, Mass., and graduated cum laude in 1992 from Yale University, where she was managing editor of The Yale Daily News. She and her husband, Gary, combined their surnames in 2006 and live in Montclair, NJ, with their twins.
Meredith Jacobs (moderator), JWI's CEO, is an award-winning journalist and former editor-in-chief of Washington Jewish Week. She is the author of The Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat: Connect and Celebrate—Bring Your Family Together with the Friday Night Meal (HarperCollins) and co-author, with her daughter Sofie, of the bestselling series of interactive journals, Just Between Us (Chronicle Books). Prior to joining JWI, she founded ModernJewishMom.com, the first Jewish parenting website (now part of Kveller), and was the host of the WYPR radio show, Connecting Family and The Jewish Channel television holiday specials, Modern Jewish Mom.
Jacobs assumed the role of CEO after serving as JWI’s chief operating officer for six years; in that role she managed communications, branding, messaging, and development. She has shepherded the development of numerous JWI leadership initiatives, including the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project; Men As Allies: Leading Equitable Workplaces ; and the Young Women’s Leadership Network. Jacobs also works closely with JWI’s philanthropic partners, Sigma Delta Tau national sorority and Zeta Beta Tau national fraternity, developing initiatives like the award-winning Green Light, Go! and Girls Achieve GrΣΔΤness. A sought-after speaker, moderator and writer, her opinion pieces appear frequently in outlets such as JTA, eJewishPhilanthropy, and Washington Jewish Week.