Ruby Russell is a poet and activist from Somerville, MA. She is a Junior at the Cambridge School of Weston and an alumna of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel. Russell is a fellow with the Jewish National Fund as well as an intern with StandWithUs. She is a published and awarded slam poet who uses her words to contribute to the voice of the female, Jewish, and LGBT communities. Russell is a co-head of her schools Jewish Affinity Club and Interfaith Club. In the future, Russell aspires to work in the field of politics and international affairs.

Nina Baran is a sophomore at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, Kansas where she enjoys tutoring younger students, working in the library, and debating issues like G-d, gender roles, and sexuality with peers and faculty. Nina loves reading - especially John Grisham novels and feminist and political literature - and babysitting, bike riding, listening to NPR, and watching endless Grey's Anatomy re-runs. Nina's second home is Camp Daisy & Harry Stein in Prescott, Arizona, where she spends a month every summer, and she is always happy to show off her collection of activist t-shirts and stickers.

Abigail Glickman is a senior at Ithaca High School, in New York. Prior to moving to Ithaca, she lived in Columbia, South Carolina where she attended a Jewish day school. At IHS, she is a member of the feminist club, the leader of the Social Justice Week planning committee, and an occasional writer for the literary magazine and newspaper. Abigail also plays varsity soccer, writes poetry, and with a grant from Sustainable Tompkins, is co-leading, Keep it Cool, Tompkins!, an initiative to study the effects of refrigerants on climate change. She volunteers at Planned Parenthood and for local political campaigns.

Emma Cohn is a student at UNC Chapel Hill studying political science and French. Outside of the classroom, she serves on the statewide Board of Carolina Jews for Justice, a North Carolina social action organization. Previously, she was the secretary and Social Action VP of her synagogue's NFTY chapter, served on her town’s Jewish Community Relations Council, and was a member of 2018-2019 JWA’s Rising Voices Fellowship cohort. In her spare time, Emma can be found listening to podcasts about art theft or color-coding her Google Drive. 

Ava Berkwits is a sophomore at Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago, IL, where she is involved in musical theater, the female a cappella group, and the golf team. She serves as the co-communications vice president on her local USY chapter board, and is passionate about learning, social justice, reading, traveling, and the arts. She is periodically subjected to existential crises and enjoys thinking philosophically. Ava is the loving sister of a cavapoo named Suki and a human named Talia.

Emily Axelrod is a recent graduate of Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC and will soon be attending Williams College. When not discussing politics, she can be found running, climbing, rowing, or registering voters. In addition to leading a volunteer group through her school at an assisted living home, Emily is also a member of her school's Model UN club, math team, and non-male affinity group. Emily is also her temple youth group's Social Action VP. She enjoys playing with her puppy, watching the West Wing, and talking about Camp Chimney Corners, where she's found many of her female role models.

Amy Jarkow is a senior at Marlborough School in Los Angeles, California. She is the co-captain of her school's Debate Team and competes on the national circuit. She also sings in the choir and loves to play the piano. In her free time she enjoys listening to music, going to brunch, and watching Netflix comedy specials.

Ilana Jacobs is a Senior at Gann Academy in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is the editor in chief of her school's satirical and literary magazines, the captain of the math team, leader of poetry club, assistant editor of a student perspective magazine, a member of the mock trial team, a leader of a feminist minyan at her school, and a student advisor for freshman. She also plays soccer, basketball and lacrosse. In her spare time she enjoys writing, reading trashy YA fantasy, watching Doctor Who, or listening to Passenger.

Hannah Downing is a junior at Scripps College where she is pursuing a BA in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She is an author, a poet, and an essayist, and describes her writing as having a distinctly Jewish perspective. She is also an alumna of the 2018–2019 JWA Rising Voices Fellowship cohort. In her free time, Hannah can be found baking pastries, watching trashy reality TV shows, and walking her dogs.

Molly Weiner is a senior at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, where she is the co-editor in chief of the student newspaper, runs for the cross country and track teams, and can usually be found painting in the art studio. Molly volunteers at Clinic by the Bay, a free medical clinic for the uninsured. She was also a camp counselor at First Step for Families, a transitional housing program for homeless families in her neighborhood. Molly is a current 2019-2020 Bronfman Fellow. She was a member of JWA’s 2018-2019 Rising Voices Fellowship cohort.

Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin is a senior at Iowa City High School in Iowa City, Iowa. She is the executive editor of her school paper, The Little Hawk, president of her youth group, plays violin, and runs cross country. She enjoys volunteering, spending time outside, playing with her dog, and cooking. She is always available to talk about her point of view on feminism, gun control, and many other social issues she’s passionate about.

Lily Drazin is a senior at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles, California, where she's captain of the varsity basketball team, president of the GLI (Girls Learn International) club, and a dedicated AP Art student. Each summer she attends Camp Ramah in California where she further explores her Jewish identity and learns how to enrich her leadership skills. When she's not exploring thrift shops on Melrose or binging Comedy Central's Broad City, Lily enjoys cuddling with her dogs, strengthening her passion for feminism, and discovering new Indie/Alternative music.

Mady Gelb is a senior at Central Bucks High School East in Doylestown, PA. She is passionate about feminism, Judaism, environmentalism, and social justice. She is an active congregant at her synagogue, where she volunteers. She also spends time volunteering at A Women's Place and is the co-president of the Women of the World club at her school. She spends her summers at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, where she has found some of her best friends. Mady enjoys dancing, comedy, reading, and spending time with her friends.

Emma Gottlieb joins the rabbinic team at Temple Israel in Cape Town, South Africa, in Fall 2018. She grew up in Toronto and was ordained in 2010 at HUC-JIR in New York. Rabbi Gottlieb is deeply appreciative of the ways in which Judaism brings meaning to both the sacred and everyday moments in our lives and endeavors to ignite that same appreciation in others.

Rakhel Silverman is grateful to JWA for giving them an outlet for their many Jewish feelings. Rakhel recently graduated from Bryn Mawr College, where they majored in Religion and Sociology. They are currently in the Avodah Jewish Service Corps and work at Jews United for Justice as a community organizer and program assistant. Rakhel spends much of their time thinking about queer Torah, faith-based organizing, ritual innovation, making Jewish spaces more accessible, and cults. Their crowning achievement was at age 13 when they wrote a 20-page paper on why Rakhel was not into Jacob. Rakhel plans to attend rabbinical school. They are also the proud mother to Li'l Sebastian the guinea pig. To read more of their Jewish social justice rants and attempts at humor, check them out on Twitter @rachbsilverman.

Steph Black is a Jewish activist and writer based in DC, where she fights to expand abortion access and reproductive justice. She writes newsletters, funds abortion, clinic escorts. Read her writing, follow her work, and subscribe at her website, stephblack.blog. All typos in her work can be attributed to her cat, Goose.

Dahlia Japhet was born in Israel but grew up in the United States and studied at the University of Michigan and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received her Master’s Degree in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto where she also studied at The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Dahlia taught at CUNY and at Bar Ilan University. She has taken courses at the Jewish Theological Seminary, YIVO, and at synagogues on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She now lives in New York City, where she works for ReServe, volunteers at the Leo Baeck Institute, and is completing a novel about German Jewish life during World War One.

Sky Karp is a proud queer, non-binary reconstructionist Jew. They are currently a sophomore at Smith College studying History with a concentration in Archives. Sky is a self-proclaimed LGBTQ+ and Jewish history nerd and they hope to create their own queer Jewish archives someday. They are passionate about creating community based archives that are accessible to all. They believe that history is a collection of stories, and that giving everyone an opportunity to tell their story, especially the most marginalized, is crucial in creating meaningful history. When not writing blog posts for JWA, Sky is very involved with Jewish and queer activism on campus. They serve as the Chair of Smith’s J Street U chapter, a board member of Smith College Jewish Community, and Chair of Smith Senate’s Trans Inclusivity Committee. They are currently an intern for Keshet and a fellow for the Vote Yes on 3 campaign for transgender rights in Massachusetts. Sky loves to read, write, and go on adventures. They believe that by telling the stories that haven’t been told yet, we can change the world.

Zoë Shannon is a rising junior at Binghamton University with a double major in History and Middle East Studies. Additionally, she studies Arabic, and is particularly interested in forced migrations. Last year, she participated in a course where she volunteered at a refugee shelter, raising funds and awareness for women’s health. Before college, Zoë served for City Year New York, an AmeriCorps program, working as a middle school reading specialist and after-school teacher. In her spare time, Zoë is a self-proclaimed ‘professional dog petter,’ having petted over 50 breeds of dogs.

Lisa Kahn is a Class of 2018 graduate of UCLA with a major in History and a minor in Film, Television, and Media Studies. At UCLA, she completed an undergraduate honors thesis that compared the development of and the relationship between Jewish American and Black American feminisms during the 1970s. In addition to her studies, Lisa also participated as a tech director, scene director, actress, improver, and producer of UCLA's LCC Theatre Company for three years. She has interned in the archive department of 20th Century Fox Studios and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. In the Fall, she plans to apply for Masters of Library and Informational Studies programs and pursue her dream to become an archivist.

Savoy Curry is JWA's food writer. She is a current PhD student at Northwestern University, where she studies Jewish women in the medieval period. She’s currently working on a project that looks at the intersection of religion, gender, and conversion in twelfth to fourteenth century Paris. She loves a good knit crop top, and she loves knitting them herself even more. When she isn’t knitting or reading books for school, Savoy loves going on long walks with her dog and cooking meals for her friends and family.  

Rena Lubin earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Asheville in Religious Studies with a minor in History. She has a passion for preservation, curation, and education; she has worked as an intern specializing in digitization at the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center, served as the Exhibits and Global Education Coordinator and Artifact Lending Intern for UNC Asheville’s Center for Diversity Education, and is working toward a career in museum education. While at UNC Asheville, she did independent research on the often stereotypical and one-dimensional representations of Jewish women characters in American popular culture. She is dedicated to making history more accessible and inclusive, giving volume to the individual voices and experiences that are often left out of the narrative. Rena is also a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, an avid re-watcher of the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates, and an aficionado of 90s TV dramas.