MARCH 14 • 2024 | 39
says Marianne Milgrom
Bloomberg, director, philan-
thropy at Jewish Federation
of Detroit. They’ve also got a
Facebook page that continues
to grow and are a longtime
destination for a broad group
of Jewish women hoping to
help each other advance.
The JWWN is always looking for ways
to draw in working women and, in the fall,
offered a business accelerator series called
“Level UP!” that brought together some
60 women business owners to hear about
growing and branding. In January, they
offered a program on incorporating AI into
your writing.
“We’re always looking for ways that will
help women grow,
and networking is
part of everything
we do,” Milgrom Bloomberg says.
“Everyone wants to help each other, and
that’s the power of women. No matter what
you’re looking for, I think, you find it in
this group,” she says. “We always spend
time introducing ourselves to
each other, meeting each other.
We just always do that.”
Karen Faith Gordon of
West Bloomfield says as a
Jewish woman and business
owner, she enjoys supporting
and helping create opportu-
nities for other women. The networking
group, she says, allows her to connect with
like-minded individuals.
A licensed clinical social worker focused
on the older adult demographic, she says
the women in the network can refer busi-
ness to each other and know they’re send-
ing clients on to the right people. “When
I’m involved with people from Jewish
Working Women’s Network, I feel I’m
among women of integrity, and I feel good
about being a part of that,” she says, adding
that she’s been involved with the group for
more than a decade.
Her favorite events, she says, are casual
morning coffees that allow the women to
mingle and casually connect with each
other. “I have a list of women I could tell
you I have connected with at these events
that have converted into either clients for
me or clients for them, so I’d say it’s been
a mutually beneficial opportunity both for
the professionals and the clients we see,”
she says.
The current con-
text of the world
makes being part of
communities even
more important, she
adds. “I feel a cer-
tain sense of pride
and confidence in
being connected to
other like-minded
women.”
Emma Zerkel of
West Bloomfield, a
branding specialist
who co-owns a
trophy and awards
business, says she
values the safe space
the group creates and believes
there’s something different
about how women communi-
cate with each other.
“There are so many times
that women haven’t been invit-
ed to the table, and how they
communicate is seen as ‘less
than,’” Zerkel says. She says she’s had expe-
rience in her entrepreneurial career where
it’s been a disadvantage in networking to
be female, “so getting to work with other
women takes that barrier out and you can
go back to being an intelligent equal where
you’re discussing business and other factors
Marianne
Milgrom
Bloomberg
Karen Faith
Gordon
Emma
Zerkel
continued on page 40
PHOTOS BY JOHN HARWICK
The Jewish Working Women’s Network
members at the Level UP event last fall. RIGHT:
Amy Neistein, Women’s Philanthropy director,
and Alissa Pianin of Huntington Woods.