About Us
What We Do
MyJewishCoach is a leadership and team development firm committed to serving as a central resource for all Jewish professionals, leaders, volunteers, and organizations worldwide. Through our engaging workshops, facilitation, coaching, consulting and on-demand learning, we help our clients improve their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to create strong Jewish communities, healthy and productive working environments, and fulfilling personal experiences while embracing Jewish values and business acumen.
How We Help
We offer customized, on-site workshops, coaching, consulting and retreats for professionals and lay leaders, as well as open-enrollment workshops, phone and Skype coaching, and on-line and on-demand webinars, courses, books and more.
Who We Are
Deborah’s energetic workshops, coaching and keynotes are in high demand with Fortune 500 companies, Jewish and other non-profit organizations, national and local government agencies, and small start-ups. Deborah teaches Management Communication at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a visiting Professor of Executive Communications, Presentation Skills and Business Writing at the Beijing International MBA Program at Peking University, China.
Our Team
Deborah Grayson Riegel
Noa Peri-Jensch
Orit Ramler Szulik
Donna Schwartz
Deborah Grayson Riegel, Head Coach
Deborah Grayson Riegel is a communication and behavior expert who helps corporations, Jewish organizations, and individuals achieve personal, interpersonal and professional success. Her clients range from American Express to the JCC Association to Toyota and the United States Army.
Deborah’s energetic workshops, coaching and keynotes are in high demand with Fortune 500 companies, Jewish and other non-profit organizations, national and local government agencies, and small start-ups. Deborah is a visiting Professor of Executive Communications, Presentation Skills and Business Writing at the Beijing International MBA Program at Peking University, China, and she also teaches Presentation Skills at the Fordham Graduate School of Business.
Deborah was the Director of Education and Training for the Mandel Center for Leadership Excellence at the Jewish Federations of North America, where she developed innovative training programs for Federation professionals and lay-leaders, and co-authored an award-winning interactive solicitation training website. Deborah also worked at the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA) as the Director of the only program in North America that trains senior citizens to be lobbyists.
Deborah has served on the faculty for both the Wexner Heritage Program and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical school. She is a member of the National Speakers Association, the Jewish Communal Service Association, and a credentialed member of the International Coach Federation. Deborah also sits on the Advisory Board of the Harvard Business Review.
Deborah has been a contributor and featured expert in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Fast Company, Fox Business News, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the New York Jewish Week, where her monthly column reaches over 160,000 readers. She is the author of “Oy Vey! Isn’t a Strategy: 25 Solutions for Personal and Professional Success.” (Behrman House, 2012)
Deborah earned a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Michigan, and her M.S.W. at Columbia University, supporting her expensive school habit by performing improvisational and stand-up comedy.
She and her husband Michael are the proud parents of twins, Jacob and Sophie, who inspire her to choose naches over tsuris every day.
Noa Peri-Jensch
Noa Peri-Jensch is an independent consultant who has worked successfully for over 15 years with thousands of individuals and numerous teams from small non-profits to international Fortune 500 entities around the world.
Noa earned her MBA degree in International business with specialization in organizational development. She currently owns and serves as President for a firm, The Global Momentum, that specializes in high- performance teamwork, exceptional customer service training, leadership training, executive coaching, and consulting in the arenas of strategic change. She is also known for designing and facilitating most productive and engaging advisory boards meetings. A few of her present clients include Marriott International, ABB Inc., Hands On Children Museum, Jewish Federation, and the Jewish Community Center Association. She has designed and delivered numerous practical and provocative training programs from how to develop dynamic teams in an organization to dealing with life transitions, career Development, and authentic leadership. Noa is also a proud team member, trainer and a coach of MyJewish Coach.Com where she enjoys working with professional staff, volunteers and lay leaders who play a vital role in the Jewish community.
Noa serves as board member and a committee chair of St. Jude – Las Vegas Chapter, she is a committee member and Fundraising chair for the Las Vegas Israeli Scouts, She leads the Israeli-American Council – Professional Group and is involved with the Jewish Federation activities. She has spoken at numerous conferences worldwide and enjoys working with people engaged in constructive organizational and social change.
What started as 6 individuals with very different backgrounds, turned into one team working together to achieve a common goal. Noa has the great ability to help needed communication occur between people in a very fun and innovative way. Our team who has worked with Noa experienced an increased ability to be trusting and open, challenge each other, make good decisions, support each other in meeting goals, increased alignment, and most importantly, higher performance! I would personally highly recommend Noa for leaders who want to bring out the best in their teams.”
- Marcel Hinderer,
General Manager,
Miri Marriott Resort & Spa
Noa’s specialties include:
- Executive/Life Coaching
- Time Management and Personal Effectiveness
- Emotional Intelligence
- Myers Briggs Facilitation and Coaching
- Generations in the Workforce
- Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
You can reach Noa at: noa@myjewishcoach.com
Orit Ramler Szulik
Orit Ramler Szulik is a trained Jewish Community Educator and Professional, Learning Specialist and Certified Coach, who brings a wealth of professional experience to her activities as a Life and Organizational Coach and Consultant. Born in Israel, Orit has lived in seven different countries, including the Middle East, Latin America and the U.S. –always actively involved in Jewish Community affairs. She currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and two kids. As a true “citizen of the world”, Orit speaks Spanish, English and Hebrew.
Orit started her professional career as the Director of a Jewish Teen Leadership Development Program and Youth Movement for 500 urban youths in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During her tenure at the Centro Hebreo Iona, Orit built a strong team of young professionals and volunteers, developed and supervised programs, camps, community events, outreach and fundraising activities. Orit then became the Associate Executive Director of the Jewish elementary school, within the same Organization. During her tenure, student enrollment and retention increased significantly. Orit streamlined processes and fostered effective communications among all stakeholders, including parents, teachers, and the board. Orit went on to work at the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation for eight years, first as Director of the Jewish Community Center Without Walls and then as the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation.
During her tenure, she increased significantly programs offered as well as volunteer involvement and participation. Orit successfully increased the Annual Campaign in both number of donors as well as capital raised, earning the organization a national award in recognition of the campaign success. Orit led and built a stronger local Jewish Family Services organization, and co-managed the strategic plan and fundraising efforts to build the first Jewish Community Center in the Durham-Chapel Hill area, with a $8,000,000 Capital Campaign. The Levin JCC opened its doors in the Summer of 2011.
In 2011 Orit founded Make it a Good One® coaching and consulting in response to her life philosophy that no matter what, we can always make it a good one by taking ownership and action in our daily lives. She has been working with organizations and individuals in empowering them to identify and go for their goals while achieving their true fulfillment and meaning.
Since the days Orit worked at the Jewish Federation and later met Deborah, her dream was to join Deborah’s outstanding team and work. In 2012, and after giving all the adequate steps, her dream became true! Orit enjoys working with Jewish leaders, Rabbis, professionals and educators, as she continues to be truly passionate about Jewish life and continuity.
Orit has brought a whole new sense of clarity and direction to our organization. While passion fuels so much of the work we do, Orit brings a unique set of skills to help us structure and create steps towards fulfilling our vision in a sustainable manner .Beyond being an incredibly insightful listener, Orit adopts your organization as her own and becomes a team captain and cheerleader daring you to develop it to new heights. We have been so enriched by her professionalism and recommend her with the highest of praise.”
– Rabbi Zalman Bluming,
Executive Director Chabad
of Durham /Chapel Hill
Orit’s specialties include:
- Life, Transitions and Career Coaching
- Rabbi’s Coaching
- Teen and Teen Parenting Coaching, Outreach and Programming
- Community Outreach , Donor and Membership Recruitment and Retention, Planning and Execution,
- Professionals and Lay Leadership/Volunteers Relationships Coaching and Trainings.
Orit can be reached at: orit@myjewishcoach.com
Donna Schwartz
Donna Schwartz is a seasoned facilitator, speaker and trainer who gets her audiences excited about professional and personal development. Donna was a non-profit manager for almost 20 years where she successfully managed countless people and personalities in major event planning, marketing, and fundraising. Donna’s ability to tap into her deep knowledge and experience from the non-profit world makes her a relatable, relevant and passionate speaker about today’s challenges.
Donna has trained staff and lay leaders at various organizations including: UJA Federation, JCC Association, Hillel, BBYO, The Darrell Friedman Institute and Kayak.com. She has facilitated workshops on topics ranging from time management, communication skills, and lay/pro relationships, to committee responsibilities, solicitation skills and leading successful teams.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of South Florida and a Master’s degree in Social Psychology from Florida Atlantic University. Donna subscribes to the words of Maya Angelou who said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Donna’s training was especially apropos for our laid back office culture. It allowed our team to really figure out what personality totems drive our relations with colleagues and clients in a non-obvious way. During team building activities we rarely stopped moving which allowed for constant mental engagement, unexpected interactions, and plain old fun. These rare occasions in office life are incredibly valuable and our team now has another well of shared experience from which to draw thanks to Donna!
-Wayne Titus, Senior Account Manager, Kayak.com
I am grateful that NewCAJE chose Donna to present at our recent conference. Her presentation challenged each of us to think about fundraising in a totally new way! Her presentation was well-organized and engaging. I know everyone appreciated the wealth of resources she shared.
– Robin Eisenberg,
RJE Director of Jewish Learning
and Living, Temple Beth El, Boca Raton Florida
Donna’s Specialties Include:
- Team Building
- Communication Styles
- Customer Service Time Management
- 360 Managing (Situational Leadership but also Managing Up)
You can reach Donna at: donna@myjewishcoach.com
Jewish Organizations
- 92nd Street Y/Makor
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
- Board of Jewish Education of New York
- Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life
- Central Synagogue
- CJA Federation of Montreal
- Columbus Jewish Federation
- Congregation Shaaray Tefilah
- Congregation Beth Yeshurun
- Covenant Foundation
- Foundation for Jewish Camp
- Greater Miami Jewish Federation
- Hadassah
- Hillel International
- Israel Bonds
- JCC Association of North America (JCCA)
- Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
- Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago
- Jewish Federation of Philadelphia
- Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)
- Jewish International Connection of New York
- Jewish National Fund (JNF)
- Lincoln Square Synagogue
- North American Jewish Day School Conference
- Orthodox Caucus
- Orthodox Union
- Park Avenue Synagogue
- Saw You At Sinai
- The Associated: Baltimore
- The JWE: Jewish Women Entrepreneur
- Union for Reform Judaism
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
- UJA-Federation of New York
- Wexner Heritage Program
- Yeshiva University
- Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
Corporations and Other Organizations
- American Express
- Association for Talent Development
- Barclays Global Investors
- Barnard College
- Boston Consulting Group
- China Citic Bank
- Dell China
- Discover Financial
- Fitch Ratings
- Goldman Sachs
- Health Department of Michigan
- Hearst Publications
- IBM
- Kraft/Oscar Mayer
- Marriott Hotels
- Mercedes Benz
- Microsoft China
- Monster Worldwide
- NASDAQ
- New York City Department of Education
- Promotional Products Association International
- Ritz Carlton Hotels
- Sony Ericsson
- Standard Bank
- Tod’s
- Toyota
- The United States Army
- Training Magazine
Our Stories
LAY LEADERS AND PROFESSIONALS, LEARNING TOGETHER TO BUILD SKILLS AND COMMUNITY
Millstone Institute’s Need: A high level interactive program to bring lay leaders and professionals together from across the spectrum of the entire community for both immediate impact on leadership skills and long term impact strengthen their organizations.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Director Marci Mayer Eisen:
We have had the pleasure of bringing Deborah into St. Louis three previous times and each time she wowed our professionals and lay leaders with diverse topics including communication, supervision and motivation. In 2014, we made a major commitment to offer Deborah’s Jewish Coaching Academy and we were thrilled to recruit 25 professionals and 15 lay leaders to participate in an 8 hour training experience (20 each day) and to build on Deborah’s training with ongoing peer coaching in 2015. Every aspect of Deborah’s training met or surpassed our expectations. At the end of the day, most commented that their views of managing and motivating others completely shifted. Several referred to the experience as life changing. Deborah has a very special and unique ability to make the learning informative, interactive, inspiring and fun at the same time. Deborah Grayson Riegel’s Jewish Coaching Academy will impact our leaders and St. Louis Jewish community for many years to come.
“GOLD STANDARD” LEARNING FOR LAY LEADERS
Wexner Heritage Program’s Need: “Gold-standard”, innovative leadership development seminars for volunteer Jewish Leaders.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Rabbi Jay Moses, Director, Wexner Heritage Program:
The Wexner Heritage Program has set the gold standard for inspiring and educating volunteer Jewish leaders, primarily through the study of Jewish history and text. In an effort to experiment with new ideas and techniques in bridging the worlds of serious Jewish study and leadership skills and ideas, we engaged Deborah Grayson Riegel, MSW, PCC to teach a pair of leadership seminars. Deborah brought creative, well-thought-out ideas to the table with beautifully prepared materials. She was efficient, diligent, and delightful to work with in the preparation. And her students were intrigued, enriched, and entertained by her dynamic presentations, vivacious personality, and thought-provoking content. Our members have a deeper and broader vision of themselves and their own leadership skills as a result of learning with Deborah. I would recommend Deborah to any Jewish organization looking for creative leadership training.
INCREASING COMPETENCE AND CONFIDENCE AMONG FIRST-YEAR MANAGERS
Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Need: To train new managers in Jewish camps to become effective, supportive coaches through distance learning.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Naomi Less, VP of Programs 2004-2007, Foundation for Jewish Camp
Deborah was hired to focus on the professional development of 1st year managers in Jewish camps through its inaugural program called CALL – the Cornerstone Alumni Leadership Ladder, now named Launchpad. Deborah was hired to work with the CALL program’s faculty, training them to be coaches for the young leaders they would ultimately train. She was very organized and well prepared for our sessions together. Our desire was to have her help us create a common language and understanding of coaching among a diverse group of Jewish educators for their own faculty work. Deborah produced excellent tools and resources for us that were very understandable and user-friendly. She was able to lead the group through distance training effectively, though she had met none of the faculty in person — a true gift. Deborah was very good to work with from a professional competency perspective and very responsive to her task. She was encouraging and helped keep all of us on task. In terms of training, Deborah Grayson Riegel is a great resource for Jewish professional development.
CAREER COACHING
Client Need: To find a professionally and personally fulfilling position in a specialized industry.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Coaching Client:
Working with you gave me the confidence to approach people and let my best characteristics shine through. Last week I was at a conference where I approached someone for advice on how to best tailor my career search. I was expecting a nice conversation and maybe an introduction or two, but I ended up getting a job interview instead! The combination of networking and interview skills I learned from you were absolutely essential to finding my dream job. I had an offer within a month of filing my application, which is almost unheard of in my specialized line of work.
SYNAGOGUE LEADER DEVELOPMENT
Lincoln Square Synagogue’s Need: To instill professional leadership and executive management skills in the current and prospective lay leaders of the community
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Alan Samuels, LSS Officer and Program Director, Lay Leadership Training Program:
In searching for professional training and development for the more “tangible” professional skills of meeting management, presentations and strategic thinking, Deborah was recommended to us. Deborah worked with us to understand our goals and our audience and tailor a series of sessions and workshops to develop and enhance our year-long program. She delivered each of these sessions in her unique style that was content-rich yet incredibly engaging, thought provoking yet practical and, always, on-time and on point. She was a pleasure to work with and built a tremendous rapport with the participants and other synagogue officers. Personally and professionally I would recommend Deborah wholeheartedly. She brings best-in-class management and coaching skills, but with a unique sensitivity to the nature and needs of Jewish individuals and organizations. She was exactly what we were looking for!
FUNDRAISING AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING FOR RABBINICAL SCHOOL PROFESSIONALS, COMBINED WITH ONE ON ONE COACHING
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School’s Need: Professional development for staff, faculty and rabbinical students in communication skills, fundraising and etiquette through ongoing training and one-on-one coaching
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Oksana Bellas, Former Director of Operations, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
Deborah has been a tremendous asset to our organization! I feel truly blessed to have been able to find someone like her to work with our rabbinical students and staff on an individual basis and in Pastoral Counseling classes. Deborah has coached some of our students and staff in improving interpersonal communication styles, etiquette, and helping them develop professional conduct. We also booked Deborah to do a training session in fundraising for our alumni, which was both practical and educational. Her energy and can-do attitude are contagious! I have found Deborah has a unique ability to break down what might seem to be complicated into simple steps. The breadth and depth of her consulting and coaching expertise are most impressive. She works hard to please and to deliver positive results. She is a true professional – in and out.
YOUNG LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Wechsler Leadership Development Institute’s Need: To provide an exciting, interactive opening session that sets the tone for a year-long leadership development program.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Emily Farkas, Director, Young Adult Division, United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh
Deborah Grayson Riegel, MSW, PCC has led the opening session in this 11-part series for the past four years and has been instrumental in exciting and encouraging the participants to learn about each others’ backgrounds, Jewish history and beliefs, and to think about their leadership strengths and what they have to offer each other and the community. She is a great person to launch the program and excite the participants about the opportunities ahead. Deborah is a pleasure to work with. Each year Deborah brings with her some new concepts and exercises…and brings back some of the great exercises that are worth repeating. Her energy is infectious and she works with the energy of the crowd to get them excited. She is extremely responsive with regards to scheduling, program content, and beyond. She is also enthusiastic and always has some new, and funny, stories to share. Deborah does a great job of getting people to think about themselves as leaders and what it truly means to be a leader in the Jewish world. Pittsburgh has welcomed Deborah for four years running and hopes to continue enlisting her help for many years into the future. She runs a wonderful opening workshop that is engaging, educational and, most importantly, fun! I would recommend her to any community who is looking for someone with intelligence, insight, and enthusiasm!
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT - TO IMPROVE DONOR RELATIONSHIPS
Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago’s Need: A fun, educational professional development retreat to help staff improve donor and colleague relations.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Audra Berg, Assistant Vice President, Leadership Development, Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago
We hired Deborah to run a department retreat for 50 people. Once we gave her an idea of what we hoped to achieve, she presented us with a creative and engaging day-long program for the department. The retreat exceeded our expectations. Not only did we learn new and interesting ways to interact with our donors and colleagues, we had a great time and got to know each other on a deeper level. I would highly recommend Deborah to other organizations. Her enthusiasm and energy as a facilitator is contagious!
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO MANAGERS
JCC of Greater Boston’s Need: To offer professional development to managers at all levels.
MyJewishCoach’s Deliverables, from Mark Sokell, President/CEO
“Donna is an excellent and skilled teacher. She possesses both the depth of experience and a talent for making that experience relevant to a wide variety of professionals. Donna provided relevant hands on tools and strategies that staff can use in formulating goals and giving feedback. So many of our staff found that her sessions gave them the opportunity to think about how we supervise, build partnerships with our staff and provide feedback throughout the year. I would highly recommend working with her to improve communication and performance.”
