I'm so proud and feel so fortunate to be a part of Chicago's young Jewish community—it's such a vibrant and diverse place with so many opportunities for involvement and so many amazing people doing incredibly amazing things.

With this in mind, last summer we launched Double Chai in the Chi: Chicago's first annual Jewish 36 under 36 list, and saw firsthand the great work young Jews are doing in Chicago—they are truly making a difference in all kinds of innovative ways.

A joint project of Oy!Chicago (www.oychicago.com) and JUF's Young Leadership Division (YLD), last year's inaugural list showcased that Chicago is full of young Jewish leaders, humanitarians, educators and social activists striving to make the world a better place.

Nominations are now underway for Chicago's second annual Jewish 36 under 36 list and we at JUF News and Oy!Chicago are super excited about this initiative and we want to make sure you all know about it!

I think what I like most about the 36 under 36 list is that it gives us a moment to reflect on all the great work and even greater people we have right here in our own community. With so much work to be done, we seldom stop to recognize the amazing people who make things happen and who are changing our world for the better.  When we step back and look at last year's list, it's clear that the future of Chicago's Jewish community is in good hands, and I know this year's list will be no exception.

We are still accepting nominations through Tuesday, May 28, so I encourage all of you to think about who you want to see on this list and nominate away!

Call for nominations for Chicago's second annual Jewish 36 under 36 list!  
We want YOU, the young leaders, humanitarians, educators, social activists, and movers and shakers of Chicago to be part of Double Chai in the Chi: Chicago's second annual Jewish 36 under 36 list.

Presented by YLD and Oy!Chicago, this venture will shine a spotlight on the faces of Chicago's Jewish future and recognize the amazing contributions of our generation.

What we're looking for: 
People who are making a difference through their work, who give back in their free time, are entrepreneurs, innovators, leaders within the Jewish community, or just Jews we should know.

Nominate an extraordinary Jew you know to be a part of Chicago's second annual Jewish 36 under 36 list. Winners will be announced and profiled July 16 on Oy!Chicago and highlighted at YLD's WYLD party on August 8.

 How to apply: 
To submit your nomination, please complete the application form and email it to DoubleChai@oychicago.com by noon on Tuesday, May 28.

For updates and to find out how you can be the first to see who makes the list, sign up to be a JUF Superstar and "like" YLD on Facebook.

Have you seen that new Dove commercial floating around YouTube? After seeing it shared several times through social media this week, and reading all the differing reactions to it, I decided it was worth a watch.

The video begins by asking several women to describe themselves to a forensic artist who creates a sketch of them on the spot based on their own description. Then, we find out that the women spent a few minutes getting to know another person-a stranger. That stranger then describes them to the forensic artist and the sketches are compared.

The results are remarkable, but not surprising.

I suppose we would expect that these women would be their own harshest critics, highlighting their personal insecurities. This definitely showed in the first set of sketches—they seemed more like unhappy caricatures than portraits to me. But what I found most significant, was how much more accurate the second sketches were—that someone who is essentially a stranger could capture their essence, beauty and light, so much more clearly than they could describe themselves after spending just a few minutes with them.

Obviously, this highlights the fact that women, and probably men too, are self-conscious about their looks. But this isn't a post about that. Rather, this video got me thinking about why it is that we undersell ourselves.

I'm completely guilty of this as well. About a month ago, I had the privilege of participating in a daylong seminar with The OpEd project. I think they describe themselves best, so here is a bit from their mission as listed on their website: "The OpEd Project's mission is to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world.  A starting goal is to increase the number of women thought leaders in key commentary forums to a tipping point."

According to their data, 15 percent of the voices being heard through influential platforms like opinion pieces, television pundits and in congress are women. So they focus on empowering women to claim and embrace their expertise and speak up.

The first exercise we did that day seemed easy enough, but proved to be quite challenging in the end. Each of us was tasked with determining one thing on which we were the expert in the room and selling the group on why.

Truthfully, I thought I had it in the bag. I was definitely the only expert in the room on connecting with Jewish 20- and 30-somethings. I am the editor of anthology on the topic and I run a blog for that demographic. But when it came to my turn, even though I knew for certain I was the expert and I work in communications and branding, I still undersold myself, failing until the third try to mention the most impressive recommendation the book had received, which really trumped everything else I had to offer. 

And what was even crazier—every single successful, intelligent woman in that room undersold themselves.

The rest of the session was incredibly eye-opening and inspiring and if you're interested in learning the most effective way to share your opinions and make an impact, I highly recommend checking The OpEd Project out. I think we all left that day owning our expertise more than when we first walked in.

I took away so much from the session, but was left with this nagging question that I hope you'll help me answer: Why do we undersell ourselves?

I think we all need to make a conscious effort to stop selling ourselves short and embrace who we are and what we have to offer.

When I was in junior high, I had my life figured out: I would get married on a sunny May afternoon, just months before my 25th birthday. Having established my career as a hard hitting reporter, I would change paths to work from home as a magazine columnist after I had my first child at 27. Second kid at 30 and smooth sailing from there. It may have been a bit more detailed (such as which Chicago suburb we would reside in), but you get the general idea.

And it seemed a great blueprint—until I turned 24 and realized I was nowhere near ready to get married. And when I did get married a few years later on my 27th birthday, having my first child then seemed laughable. 

Since today is Dec. 31, a day as well known for goal and resolution setting as it is for champagne and glittery outfits, I started thinking about the goals I’ve set for myself, how I’m measuring up, and where I want to go from here. 

In 2011, I accomplished two major life goals: I got married and bought a house.
In 2012, I got a dog and published a book. These were pretty big ones as well.

In 2013, I’ll turn 29, leaving me just a year before my naïve teenage girl plan was supposed to end. I wish I could ask 13-year-old me, what happens after 30?

Nearly every day, I make resolutions for my day to day life. Get up earlier, eat healthier, spend more time with family, be a better listener, worry less. Sometimes, I even make deals with myself: If I get through this crazy week, I promise I will work out every day next week. Sometimes I keep these deals, but most often I do not. I think we all do this kind of daily self-reflection and correction to some extent—and we should probably do it more often and take it more seriously.

But this New Year’s Eve, I think I’d like to take a different approach. I want to take this as an opportunity to take a step back, and reflect on my big picture resolution. I guess, when I really look at it, teenage Stefanie wasn’t too far off—she just wanted to grow up a little too quickly for 20-something Stefanie’s taste. And even though I didn’t follow my plan to a tee, fortunately for me, all the pieces in my life have fallen into place, and the life I have for myself is even better than the one I could have predicted.

I guess all these years later, looking back at what I thought I wanted for myself, I’ve realized that while having goals and aspirations is incredibly important, having a detailed plan is just plain silly. Now more than ever, it’s evident that we live in a world with so many moving parts, so much unpredictability and so much we can’t control. This may sound cliché, but with so much tragedy around us, I’ve been struggling with how to really live my life, without worrying about what might happen. So I’m making that my big picture resolution for 2013—care to join me? 

Wishing you all a happy, healthy start to 2013!

We are coming up on my favorite time of year again—Jewish Book Month.  As I wrote last year around this time, as a blogger and editor, I love seeing what's new on the Jewish bookshelf each year and wish I had time to read and write about every book that comes my way.

This year the tables have turned, and suddenly I'm the one hoping and wishing that Jewish editors and writers will choose my book from among the great pile for review—the thought makes me feel proud, humble, and frightened all at once.

My new anthology, Living Jewishly: A Snapshot of a Generation was published in August, and since then it's been a whirlwind. This is my first go around at this, and I've already learned so much. Promoting a new book is both exciting and challenging, and I've been so lucky to have so many supportive colleagues and friends.

Let me tell you a little about the book:

Living Jewishly: A Snapshot of a Generation (Academic Studies Press), is a collection of personal essays and memoirs from Jewish 20- and 30-somethings from across the country. Each contributor—there are over 40—brings a unique perspective as they tell their self-defining Jewish story. In his essay, "Shomer Negiah in the City," Matthue Roth tackles the conflicted and sometimes hypocritical nature of the modern Orthodox dating world. In "To Be a Jew in the world" Stacey Ballis makes the Passover Seder her own. "My (Jewish-Interfaith-Lesbian) wedding," by Chai Wolfman explores the challenges of same-sex and interfaith relationships today. Other essay topics include JDate, connection-or lack thereof-to Israel, issues surrounding conversion, and the seemingly impossible task of defining what it means to be a young Jew in America today.

As the editor of the anthology, I put these essays together to create a window into our Jewish lives and identities. Each essay is beautiful, unique, brutally honest, and revealing. In truth, it is my contributors who make this book-without them, the story, the picture, would not be complete.

For weeks before the book came out, I was super nervous. I'm sure you can all relate to the feeling—you work so hard to create something and then you put it out into the world, not knowing how it will be received. But so far, people seem to like it—even some pretty cool people have spoken up.

Actress and author Mayim Bialik called the book "the definitive 'Who am I? and why am I?' book for Jews of our generation."  And author Elisa Albert called it an "engaging chorus of voices much greater than the sum of its parts." Pretty good, right?

This process has opened me up to a lot of new things: reaching out to new people, pitching stories to the press instead of writing them, finding myself as a speaker at events. And while this is all a bit overwhelming, it's also really exciting. For now, I think I'll just take a deep breath and enjoy the experience.

In the meantime, I have a much greater appreciation for books, publishers and authors. And this Jewish Book Month, I plan to check out a lot of new books and I hope you will too. I'd recommend checking out One More River, this year's book selected for the Spertus One Book One Community Program. Oh, and if you do check out Living Jewishly, I'd love to know what you think! Comment below or email me at livingjewishly@gmail.com.

Happy reading!

Living Jewishly is available in paperback and hardcover on Amazon.com and from other book retailers. For more information about where to buy the book, the contributors, and how you can share your Jewish story, visit www.livingjewishlybook.com or at www.facebook.com/livingjewishlybook

Recently, while on a girls' trip to Orlando with my mom and sister, we pulled out the vintage 1998 Disney World park passes that in true Disney fashion, magically still had two days left on them. So we put on our mouse ears and ventured back in time to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

When I was a kid, we visited Disney often, sometimes twice a year. My favorite ride, oddly enough, was always Figment—you know, the little purple dinosaur, dragon guy who sang about imagination? Apparently, I used to make my family ride it again and again and again and I still have my Figment doll proudly displayed in my childhood bedroom.

So it was no surprise when this grown up, married woman dragged her protesting mom and sister onto the Figment ride. I'm not going to lie, this time around I found the ride just a little bit creepy. But as cheesy as it is, the message of Figment's song, "Just One Spark," stuck with me:

Imagination, imagination.
A dream, can be a dream come true.
With just that spark, in me and you.

Hey, I turned to my mom, as the train moved slowly through the ride's neon scenery; maybe this is the reason I decided to work in a creative field.

I was reminded again of Figment Tuesday night when I attended Launch Night for the 2012 JCC PresenTense Chicago Fellowship. On the cover of the evening's program, it reads "it starts with an idea."  The program offers a competitive six-month fellowship for young social innovators who want to develop their socially responsible ideas into sustainable businesses. It aims to "engage young Jewish adults in Chicago around a communal goal and provide them with an avenue to mend the world through social entrepreneurship."

Each of the 12 fellows had that one idea, that one spark, which they hope will better our Jewish community and presented a pitch to those of us in the audience that night. Many of the ideas focused around food and others around Israel education, music and community. The presentations were incredibly thoughtful and insightful, but what struck me the most was the energy in the room, which by the way, was overflowing with people. While there were some familiar faces, it was refreshing to see so many people who were new to me and so passionate about Jewish life in Chicago.

I've often heard people say that innovation happens on the coasts and that the Midwest is more staid and traditional. I've heard this specifically in reference to Jewish communal life, that people take more risks on the East Coast or in California, than they do here in Chicago and other Midwest cities. I think to some extent it's true, and just the nature of each region's demographic. But innovation is taking place right here in Chicago's Jewish community—the spirit of last night's event confirmed what I already knew.

Innovation is happening in the minds of these fellows and the fellows to come. And innovation is happening here, at JUF. Like other Jewish Federations and Jewish institutions throughout the country, JUF is considered by many to be old school and traditional. And we are old school, in that we are an incredibly successful organization that sticks with what works. But what many people don't see is that we are also an organization on the cutting edge of innovation. YLD's Big Event, our Israel Education Center, our Joyfully Jewish programming for young families, Oy!Chicago, VOICES: The teen giving circle…I could go on.

This is the kind of stuff that motivates me, that gets me excited as a young Jewish professional, about the future of our community. The energy is there, and the potential is great. From here we need to harness that energy, let it flourish and grow and watch what happens.

We should all take a nod from PresenTense and fashion ourselves social innovators. I've loved the term since I first heard it. It makes me think of Figment, of someone who uses their creativity to make the world a better place. It's what I want to be when I grow up. Hopefully, I'm already on my way.

This month's issue of JUF News, which should be hitting your mailboxes very soon, focuses on the lives of young Jewish Chicagoans—those of us in our 20s and 30s. The image on the magazine's cover mimics The Game of Life, with a road paved with the different milestone events and decisions we face: graduate, start a career, join JDate, get an apartment, join a synagogue, get married, go to grad school, have a child. But these days, life as a 20- or 30-something is often not as linear as the clear cut path of a board game, as the variety of articles in this month's issue tell us, and that's okay.

An extra-packed Oy! Ink section kicks off with my complete roundup on my trip to Vegas for JFNA's TribeFest. And in her column, JUF News Editor Cindy Sher talks about how her experience at TribeFest made her feel lucky to be a member of the tribe.

We also reached out to the general community to add some new voices into the mix. In her piece The wandering Chicagoans, Anna Abramzon writes about being a part of a new generation of wandering Jews, Polly Levy Levinson writes about meeting her beshert when and where she least expected it—in the luggage department at Macy's—and Esther Bergdahl takes an unusual route to her Passover seder this year. For young Jewish professional Aaron Levine, visiting Israel helped shape his career and Max Friedenberg is cleaning up the streets in Israel. And finally, Rivka Nehorai talks about the inner battle of the Orthodox Jew.

Through these stories, the voices of young Jewish Chicagoans. at all points along their Jewish journeys. are heard. There is much more in this month's issue including interviews with TV journalist Meredith Vieira, Ambassador Dennis Ross and comedian Susie Essman. Additionally, there is an opportunity for you, as JUF News readers, to have your voice heard.

In your May JUF News, you will find information about our 2012 JUF News reader survey. You can also take the survey here.

We are interested in hearing from you, our reader, about what you like, don't like, and want to read more of in JUF News. The survey only takes a few minutes, and will provide us with important information and feedback for the future direction of JUF News.

The JUF News staff really cannot wait to hear from you, so please take this opportunity to tell us how we've been doing! Thanks in advance!

I'm writing this post fresh off the plane from a trip to Vegas. And despite how the old saying goes, this time, I hope what happened in Vegas won't stay there.

You see, for the past three days, I joined over 1,500 young Jews representing 81 communities throughout North America as we literally took over the Venetian Hotel in Vegas for JFNA's second annual TribeFest. There is something so cool about walking around a gigantic hotel and recognizing members of your community in the elevators, at the blackjack table and all around you. After spending three days and nights learning, networking and partying with my peers, I am physically exhausted, but mentally and spiritually, I feel energized and invigorated.

I've only been back a mere 24 hours, and aside from needing a good night's sleep, I also feel a need to take some time away from this experience, to step back and fully process everything. I wanted to share my initial reactions with you here, but you can find an in-depth piece with specific details on the speakers and program in the May issue of JUF News.

I have to say that I was a little anxious going into TribeFest. I knew with Las Vegas as the backdrop, this would not be your typical conference and I wasn't sure what to expect from the programming or the people. I was pleasantly surprised by both.

During the days we heard from incredibly powerful speakers, who inspired us to take action, get involved—who let us know that the actions of one small person can make and impact, and that together we can change the world. We learned about the important work of Federation, and how to take responsibility for the future of our communities. We woke up early after a long night out to share our morning reading to a young child from an underfinanced Las Vegas school, to deliver them a gift of a backpack full of books. We talked to each other, face-to-face, and tweeted at the same time. We engaged in conversation, networked with our peers, made lasting connections.

 
Some of the Chicago TribeFest participants

At night we dressed up and bonded while dancing to Israeli bands, waiting in excruciatingly long lines to get into night clubs and around the roulette table. We met people we might never have otherwise. "Where are you guys from?" was a common conversation starter, often sparking this retort, "Oh, do you know so and so?" Somehow, in the oversized, overstimulated setting of a Vegas night club, our Jewish and social worlds seemed both larger and smaller at the same time. I reconnected with old friends from college who I hadn't seen in years, became friends with members of my own community who I hadn't yet had a chance to meet, and put faces to the names of the Jewish professionals I had heard of, or spoken to via email or over the phone.

At the closing session on Tuesday, we were shown a video of reactions to the trip by participants, which you can see on the TribeFest website. I found their sentiments echoed my own. As a group, we left feeling pumped up, filled with ideas, and encouraged by the video's message to take that momentum home to our respective communities, to ensure that for once, what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas.