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degree from the University 
of Michigan in 2020, where 
she studied nonprofit man-
agement and the Jewish 
community as part of the 
Jewish Communal Leadership 
Program.

 In her free time, Ashley 
enjoys trying new restaurants 
and breweries, playing board 
games with friends and travel-
ing with her partner, Josh.

LAUREN 
EDELMAN 
WILLENS
Lauren 
Edelman 
Willens is a 
partner at the 
law firm of Jaffe Raitt Heuer & 
Weiss, P.C. She is a member of 
the firm’s Intellectual Property 
& Information Technology 
and Data Privacy & Cyber-
security practice groups and 
specializes in providing stra-
tegic legal and business advice 
to clients to protect, defend 
and enforce their intellectual 
property rights, as well as 
preparing and enforcing data 
privacy.
Lauren attended Wayne 
State University Law School, 
where she was vice president 
of the Jewish Law Students 
Association. Lauren was previ-
ously an executive member of 
the Jewish Bar Association of 
Michigan.
In 2018, Lauren discovered 
that she had a BRCA1 gene 
mutation. Despite diligent 
screening, in 2021, Lauren was 
diagnosed and courageously 
defeated triple-negative breast 
cancer. She is now an advocate 
for genetic testing within the 
Jewish community (1 in 40 
Ashkenazi Jewish women will 
have a BRCA gene mutation), 
for BRCA1/2 previvors and 
those suffering with genetic 

cancer-related disease.
Lauren grew up in Metro 
Detroit and currently lives in 
Huntington Woods with her 
husband, David, children, 
Carter and Stella, and dog, 
Miss Maisel. Lauren’s kids 
attend Hillel Day School, 
where she is a member of the 
PTO. 
Lauren is happiest spend-
ing time with her family and 
friends, cooking, baking, rid-
ing her Peloton, hiking and 
traveling. Lauren and her hus-
band hope to travel to Israel 
this year. 

JORDAN 
ZUPPKE
Jordan Zuppke 
is one of the 
founding part-
ners at Zupac 
Law, a criminal 
defense firm with an office at 
12 Mile and Crooks in Royal 
Oak. Its motto: We are your 
best defense. Zupac Law’s trial 
lawyers handle everything 
from traffic tickets, license 
restorations and misdemean-
ors to felony cases. They help 
clients navigate the justice 
system and have the resources 
they need to overcome life 
obstacles, like substance abuse. 
 Jordan is also vice president 
of the Jewish Bar Association 
of Michigan (JBAM) and 
a board member of the 
Criminal Defense Attorneys of 
Michigan (CDAM). 
 He and his law partner, 
Marina Chupac, believe in 
community. Zupac has an 
open-door policy and treat 
clients like family. The office 
functions not only as a law 
firm but also as a wellness stu-
dio. Zupac Life, on the lower 
level, is equipped with a full 
kitchen and studio space. It 
offers donation-based yoga 

classes and other wellness-re-
lated events. In addition, 
Zupac also has a traveling free 
legal advice trailer with an 
on-the-go office space. 
Jordan’s first passion in life 
is skateboarding, and he is 
known around town as the 
Skateboard Lawyer. He’s been 
riding since he was 10 years 
old and considers his skate-
board his guiding force. He 
often represents fellow skaters 
in the local community, spon-
sors events and aims to inspire 
the future generation. 
He studies Torah every 
Tuesday at Platform 18 with 
his dear friend and rabbi, 
Leiby Burnham, and cherishes 
Shabbat dinners with his love, 
Rachel Goutman, and their 
cat, Bowie. 

RACHAEL 
DAWSON-
BAGLIEN
Rachael was 
born and 
raised in Metro 
Detroit. She is 
a graduate of both Hillel Day 
School and Frankel Jewish 
Academy and was active in 
BBYO. She earned a master’s 
degree in macro social
work/community organiz-
ing from the University of 
Michigan.
Rachael works as a proj-
ect manager for Catholic 
Social Services of Washtenaw 
County. Her position entails 
reducing barriers for caregiv-
ers and older adults seeking 
resources. Passionate about 
inclusion, Rachael works to 
ensure the Jewish community 
knows her program is open 
to all.
Rachael has been involved 
as a board member of Jewish 
Young Professionals of Ann 
Arbor (JYP). As one of the 

event co-chairs, Rachael 
enjoyed creating events that 
she did not see elsewhere in 
the community. When she 
and a friend were lamenting 
the lack of Jewish events in 
Ypsilanti, they worked togeth-
er to create JYP’s first Ypsi 
Shabbat. Once COVID hit, 
Rachael researched best prac-
tices to successfully pivot from 
in-person programming to 
virtual programming.
One of Rachael’s favorite 
aspects of Judaism is cele-
brating Shabbat. Recently, she 
led a Friday night Shabbat 
celebration at Youmacon 2021, 
Detroit’s largest pop culture 
convention. The convention 
regularly holds a Sunday 
morning service; this was the 
first time in its 17-year history 
that another religion’s services 
were included.
Rachael lives in Ypsilanti 
with her husband, Evan, and 
their dog, Ender. In her free 
time, Rachael enjoys going 
to comic conventions (pre-
COVID) and has been a pan-
elist at Youmacon since 2016.

ALAN 
POSNER 
Alan Posner 
was born and 
raised in the 
Metro Detroit 
Area and is a 
lifelong member of Temple 
Beth El. Alan is currently the 
band director at Bloomfield 
Hills High School and has 
been teaching for 13 years. 
He holds an undergradu-
ate degree in instrumental 
music education from the 
University of Michigan and a 
master’s degree in instrumen-
tal conducting from Oakland 
University. Alan was a quar-
terfinalist for the Grammy 
Teacher of the Year in 2020. 

continued from page 11

OUR 
COMMUNITY

