So what’s your deal? Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m married, with 3 children, was born in South Africa, grew up in Toronto, became religious in NCSY (like Bnei Akiva) at 16 years old, and moved to Israel with my husband in 2003 and we are living in Modiin. 

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What made you move to Israel? What brings you here? 

I always had a love for Israel. Came to Israel at the age of 18 for an NCSY trip and fell in love with the country and culture, returned to study the year in Israel in the Old City in Midreshet Harova. My husband and I decided we’d get our degrees in America and make Aliyah right after, and we did just that. 

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Do you feel Israeli? If yes, why? If not, what do you think you need to do in order to become one?

Yes, in some regards. I know I drive like an Israeli when I’m abroad (or so my family says) and I feel immersed. I no longer have to translate what people are saying it's just understandable, and home to me. But in other regards, I’ll never understand why customer service is a foreign concept here. Whenever I go to America/Canada I enjoy the customer service so much! 

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What do you do for work? What did you have to do to get to where you are right now? 

When I first made Aliyah I had a BA in Judaic Studies. I knew no Hebrew, and knew I wanted to be a teacher, everyone said oh perfect you can be an English teacher. So, I started out as an English teacher which lasted for 10 years. After 10 years of being screamed at by students, teachers, parents, a stabbing in my classroom, and too much more to divulge, I marched down to the Ministry of Education and insisted they close my file. They thought I was crazy, maybe I was– for being a teacher for 10 years!

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I started preparing for the change while I was teaching, doing content writing on the side, and creating a portfolio for myself. I left teaching in June 2015 and landed my first Content Writer role in September 2015 with the best Marketing Guru out there, Yael Kochaman. Best decision ever!

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Now, I am Content Marketing Lead at Dataloop AI, an enterprise-grade Data Platform for AI in Production: Data Management, Automation Pipelines & Annotation. Fantastic company and I am truly happy working for a company who treats their employees well and really appreciates my work. 

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What's something about your work that you find super interesting to share?

I find my transition from teacher to Content Writer the most interesting and how I adapted accordingly. I always say I just adjusted my audience of students to a more hi-tech audience (over the years I have written about Digital Marketing, Mobile, Cyber Security, IT Service Management, and now I write about Dataloop AI’s Data Management Platform, AI-Assisted Annotation Platform, and Automation Pipelines as well as the industry surrounding it.

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What are your biggest challenges, work, and life-wise? 

For teaching, I’d say the language and culture, but in content writing, I’d say finding the right company and fit for me. 

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What advice do you have for soon-to-be Olim or those who could use the extra boost? 

People who have gone through what you plan to do are happy to share their advice and tips, so network! Also, the Hebrew will come, take it from me who came here not understanding a word, couldn’t form one sentence in Hebrew, and who can now converse and listen to conversations and understand most of what’s being said. Ulpan is a must. 

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Lastly, what is a fun fact about your life right now? ‍

Love working in hi-tech. They treat you really well. My company just started doing the 1st Sunday of every month as a day off, lunch card, Pesach, Rosh Hashana & bday gift cards, fun days, company trips, etc. It’s really a blast working in hi-tech! And thanks to Covid my work schedule is very flexible, working from home is a game changer! I actually started my current job during lockdown and surprisingly it turned out to be the most fruitful onboarding process to date. I now feel super connected with everyone in the company and especially the Sales & Marketing teams. 

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