28 | FEBRUARY 10 • 2022 

OBGYN in 2021 by the Ann 
Arbor Family Press. 
In addition to her day job, 
Monica is an active member 
of Ann Arbor’s Jewish com-
munity. She is the immediate 
past president of the Ann 
Arbor Orthodox minyan 
where she continues to serve 
on the board, and she also 
serves on the board of the 
Hebrew Day School of Ann 
Arbor where her children go 
to school. 
She is a grassroots Jewish 
leader who has initiated sev-
eral core Jewish community 
programs in Ann Arbor. 
During the pandemic, she 
organized weekly Shabbat 
activities for kids in a local 
park, including a community 
Tot Shabbat for younger kids 
and a mini minyan for ele-
mentary-aged kids. 
Perhaps most importantly, 
she and her husband, Ben, 
are proud parents to three 
children: Solly, 7, Gavi, 5, 
and Mira, 2. On Sunday 
nights, Monica can be found 
playing a mean game of 
mahjong.

VERA 
NEWMAN
Born and 
raised in 
Panama City, 
Panama, Vera 
Newman grew 
up in a close-knit Jewish 
community with Sephardic 
influences. 
 After marrying a native 
Detroiter and relocating 
to Michigan in June 2012, 
she began developing and 
experimenting with recipes 

that reflected her Syrian, 
Moroccan and Panamanian 
roots. 
In November 2020, Vera 
published The Marblespoon 
Cookbook, the culmination 
of a year-long effort that 
included writing, styling and 
photographing all 160 recipes 
herself. The cookbook, which 
has sold nearly 10,000 copies 
to date, was a natural exten-
sion of Vera’s mission — to 
help busy moms cook deli-
cious, easy and nourishing 
meals for their families. 
Vera also shares recipes on 
her Instagram “cooking blog,” 
@marblespoon, in magazines 
like Whisk by Ami and web-
sites like kosher.com. Fluent 
in English, Spanish and 
Hebrew, Vera gives cooking 
demonstrations over Zoom 
and Instagram. 
Vera’s passion for cook-
ing and party planning 
led her to start a private 
catering and event plan-
ning business in 2016, 
also named Marblespoon. 
Her goal? To beautify and 
enhance the celebrations 
marking the special mile-
stones in people’s lives. 
To give back to the Detroit 
Jewish community, Vera 
donates her time and services 
to support local organiza-
tions.
Ultimately, Vera seeks to 
utilize the talents God has 
blessed her with to help 
beautify the world and uplift 
others. 
She lives in Oak Park with 
her husband and their four 
kids. 

continued from page 27

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