ON THE COVER
OUR COMMUNITY

uronic acid and natural extracts 
to help smooth skin and reduce 
signs of aging. Polaris Cream is 
available at NorthStarLuxe.com 
and in select salons.

OLIVIA GUTERSON

Olivia Guterson is 
a Detroit-based 
mother, creative 
and community 
organizer. She is 
committed to 
growing, building and sup-
porting the diverse entrepre-
neurs and artists in her com-
munity and beyond. As an art-
ist, she is deeply influenced by 
the textures, landscapes and 
patterns of her upbringing, as 
well as her Jewish and African 
heritage. She works predomi-
nately in black and white for 
its stability, intensity and hon-
esty while incorporating 
ancestral patterns and narra-
tives. In 2020, she curated her 
first exhibition, The Space 
Between, at the Ann Arbor 
Art Center. She presently is a 
resident at Sibyls Shrine and 
AS220’s Practice//Practice. She 
is a founding member of Art 
Mamas Alliance. Her work has 

been shown at the Arab 
American National Museum, 
Art Week Miami, JADA Art 
Fair, Norwest Gallery, Detroit 
Artist Market, Ann Arbor Art 
Center and more.

KYLE ZWIREN

Kyle Zwiren, 36, 
joined the Rashty 
Group at Morgan 
Stanley in 2020. 
Kyle loves serving 
their clients, learn-
ing how they accomplished 
their success and helping them 
achieve their goals. Kyle is an 
alumnus of Birmingham 
Groves High School, Michigan 
State University and Boston 
University School of Law. He 
practiced law for seven years 
before changing careers to fol-
low his passion. Kyle has been 
involved in the Metro Detroit 
Jewish community since mov-
ing home from Boston. He is a 
past board member of 
Tamarack Camps, where he 
co-chaired the agency’s signa-
ture fundraising event and 
chaired the Young Adult 
Advisory Board. He has also 
been involved with AIPAC and 
ADL, having chaired the 
Michigan Glass Leadership 
Institute. Kyle lives in West 
Bloomfield with his wife, Jodie, 
three sons and dog. Kyle enjoys 
spending time with family and 
friends, running and reading.

SOPHIE LOEB

A Michigan trans-
plant from 
Southern 
California, Sophie 
Loeb dedicates her 
personal and pro-
fessional life to tikkun olam 
and firmly believes: “The arc 
of the moral universe bends 

toward justice, but it does not 
bend on its own.” Loeb has 
learned from and engaged 
with the Detroit community as 
a former DPSCD middle 
school teacher and current cli-
ent advocate with the Detroit 
Public Defender Office. Loeb 
actively works toward building 
a more equitable world, start-
ing at the micro-level. As a 
DEI Committee member, 
Loeb confronts and unravels 
white supremacy within West 
Bloomfield Schools. A first-
year University of Michigan 
MPH student, Loeb sees racial 
injustice as the preeminent 
social determinant of and 
gravest threat to public health, 
propelling her to address 
health inequities at the root. 
In the future, Loeb seeks to 
obtain her law degree to fur-
ther marry this passion for 
public health and law.

RABBI ARI WITKIN

Rabbi Ari Witkin 
is the director of 
leadership devel-
opment at the 
Jewish Federation 
of Metro Detroit. 
A graduate of Goucher 
College, Ari also holds a mas-
ter’s in Nonprofit Leadership 
from the University of 
Pennsylvania and rabbinic 
ordination from the 
Reconstructionist Rabbinical 
College where he was a 
Wexner Graduate Fellow. 
Raised in Minneapolis, he has 
lived and worked in Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, Uganda and 
Jerusalem. At Federation, Ari 
combines his love of Jewish 
tradition and community. He 
is passionate about building 
diverse leadership pipelines 
that represent the full spec-

trum of Jewish life. The great 
joy of his job is supporting 
Metro Detroiters leadership in 
the work of building and 
strengthening our community. 
In addition to his role at 
Federation, he currently serves 
as the part-time rabbi of 
Temple Beth Israel in Bay City. 
He and his wife, Liz Traison, 
live in Huntington Woods 
with their son, Hadar, and 
three backyard chickens.

JAKE EHRLICH

Jake Ehrlich (he/
him) is a radical 
Jewish culture 
worker, a title that 
incorporates his 
work in music, 
activism, community-building 
and social work. Originally 
from Long Island, Jake came to 
Michigan in 2015 and graduat-
ed from the University of 
Michigan Jewish Communal 
Leadership Program in 2018. 
Since his arrival, he’s been a 
member of Detroit Jews for 
Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace 
and other orgs, and has provid-
ed spirited song to hospices, 
protests and Shabbats across 
our region. As the community 
engagement associate for 
T’
chiyah — a “progressive, 
intergenerational, queer-loving, 
justice-pursuing” Recon-
structionist synagogue — Jake 
works with Rabbi Alana Alpert 
to connect people to Jewish 
spirituality and to one another. 
A socialist, Jake seeks to use 
creativity to critique power 
structures and to curate 
empowering spaces for margin-
alized people. He lives in 
Detroit with his partner, Nina, 
and their kiddo Oscar, and is 
currently recording an album of 
Leftist folk music.

“I FIRMLY 
BELIEVE: 
‘THE ARC OF 
THE MORAL 
UNIVERSE 
BENDS TOWARD 
JUSTICE, BUT IT 
DOES NOT BEND 
ON ITS OWN.’” 

— SOPHIE LOEB

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12 | FEBRUARY 11 • 2021 

