The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Simone Szalmuk-Singer, a lawyer by profession, has been a leader in Jewish communal organisations in Australia for nearly a decade. Her first communal leadership position was as President of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Victoria and National Vice-President of JNF Australia. In her early 40s, at the time, Simone was considered to be a relatively young leader of a major Jewish organisation. Says Simone, ‘I didn’t appreciate that it was a big deal to become President in my early 40s until I was congratulated by others who pointed out that I was both ‘young’ and ‘female.”

A member of a new, young generation of leadership, Simone used the skills she developed in the corporate world to evolve and develop governance and innovative leadership in the Australian Jewish community. Mentored by a wonderful woman, Sara Gold, Simone now fosters young leaders, women and men, and encourages them to take up leadership opportunities in the Jewish community.

Simone is currently Co-Chair of the Australian Jewish Funders, the network of philanthropists committed to inspiring effective philanthropy and strengthening Jewish community. She is also a board director at Jewish Care Victoria – the largest Jewish services organisation in Victoria. Simone co-founded and co-edits Jewish Women of Words – an online writers’ platform for emerging and established Jewish women writers. In 2017-18, Simone is a fellow in the prestigious Schusterman Foundation Fellowship program, a global leadership development program for senior Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders.

Simone does these things while managing the responsibilities of family and home life; experiencing the dynamic challenges posed by that juggling act along the way. In the communal space, Simone has found that she can have meaningful and profound impact on the sector whilst still able to retain work-life balance.