Meet the Staff: Rachael Weisman, Director of Operations
Rachael in costume as “Princess Pantry” at the Great Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt & Celebration
The work of Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary and its beneficiary agencies is possible thanks to the effort and dedication of its staff. Meet Rachael Weisman, Director of Operations!
Name: Rachael Weisman
Role at the Federation: Director of Operations
Years at the Federation: I started working with the JCC as a cooking instructor 4 years ago, but I started working full time for the Federation around 2 ½ years ago.
Where are you from? I grew up mostly in Michigan, though my family lived in England for 4 years when I was finishing elementary school through middle school. I also consider myself “from” New York City a little bit after living there for 8 years after college.
List 3 words that describe you: Eclectic. Empathetic. Boisterous.
What are your favorite hobbies? Just about anything to do with food, especially making it for friends and family. Yoga. Tap class! Reading. And I recently became mildly obsessed with needlepoint felting.
What is your favorite piece of advice to live by? Can I have two? One is a quote from Pema Chödrön: “You are the sky, everything else is the weather.” The second was told to me in a Lenormand Card reading by a former boss’s dad, evidently a well-known psychic from the West coast: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t get lost”. Words to live by.
What do you like most about working at the Federation? The people – my teammates and the community members we serve. It feels good to know that even when we have our most frustrating days, we’re doing it to do good things for our community.
Who was your biggest inspiration while growing up? Probably my mom and my maternal grandmother. My mom is where I get my fondness for organization and getting things done. My grandmother is where I got my love for cooking and feeding people, as well as my love of education.
What is your most significant achievement? Learning to show up unapologetically as “me”: anxious days, happy days, sleepy days, energetic days, etc. I think figuring out who we are is a lifelong process, but I’m no longer so worried whether someone will like me or not because of who I am and how I show up in the world.
What is your favorite song? Tough one, but currently I’d say it’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake just because it makes me want to dance and you can’t be mad when you listen to it.
What book are you reading now? Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Where is your favorite place to travel? England. It just still feels a little like home!
What do you hope to see at the Federation in the next five years? A steadily growing Annual Campaign, which means we have the means to not just continue the great work we do but also take on new challenges and areas of focus. It also means we’re reaching more people! I’d LOVE to see some initiatives around climate change, and get to do more food and farming related programming, where my personal interests overlap more directly with the work we do to bring our community together. I also am excited by the idea of more interfaith collaboration. I believe improving the greater Raleigh area community for everyone improves it for our Jewish community and vice versa.