3 LA Innovators Selected for Prestigious Global Summit

Photos: Talia Bender (1), Nora Feinstein (2), and Danya Shults (3) (Courtesy).

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles natives Talia Bender, Nora Feinstein, and Danya Shults were selected to join over 150 of the Jewish world’s leading young innovators from 29 countries who will convene in Jerusalem, June 24-28, to connect with other change makers, gain new skills, and find renewed inspiration at the 2018 ROI Summit. The summit is the flagship program of ROI Community, an initiative of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

Bender is chief catalyst officer for The Female Quotient, an organization that advances gender equality. She oversees The Girls’ Lounge, a powerful international community of over 17,000 female leaders, as well as partnerships with more than 50 Fortune 500 companies. To learn more about Bender, click here. Feinstein is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and a student rabbi and rabbinic intern at Temple Akiba and Congregation Havurim. In addition, she is student representative to the Women’s Rabbinic Network of Reform Judaism. To learn more about Feinstein, click here. Shults is the founder of Arq, a lifestyle brand and community that helps any interested individual connect with Judaism in a relevant, inclusive, and convenient way. To learn more about Shults, click here.

This year’s ROI Summit participants bring a diverse set of interests and achievements, ranging from boosting political involvement; to promoting acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in the Jewish community; to leveraging 'maker' technology to create solutions for people with disabilities; and much more. These innovators share a commitment to building a more vibrant, inviting and inclusive Jewish future for the benefit of the Jewish community and the broader world. For a full list of this year’s participants, please visit this page.

The 2018 participants hail from: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Inspired by Israel’s 70th anniversary and its accomplishments over seven decades, the summit will focus on the theme of independence and the interplay between dependence, independence and interdependence.

“The 70th anniversary of the state of Israel provides a theme and framework for the journey we hope our participants will undergo during the summit, both as individuals and as a community,” said No’a Gorlin, associate executive director of ROI Community. “By bringing greater awareness to, and understanding of, our relationships with others, we aim for these leaders to walk away with a heightened sense of intention, belonging and responsibility as they continue pursuing social change in the Jewish community and around the world.”

For more details on this year’s ROI Summit, visit this page.