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. 

