
Ivanka Trump recognizes that women are super multi-taskers, blending many facets of themselves to live the fullest lives possible.
Trump launched the #WomenWhoWork initiative to honor the multidimensional lives of women who inspire her. “We celebrate all women–there is no one right path.”
Trump, smart, poised, hard-working, and passionate, is an example of a “woman who works”: She’s an executive, an author, a visionary, a TV personality, a wife, a mother, a Jewish person–and a half-marathon runner too.
She spoke about all the parts that make her who she is to a room of nearly 1,000 women at the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago’s Women’s Division’s 2015 Spring Event on Tuesday, May 12.

Trump, who has a business degree from Wharton, is charged with the domestic and global expansion of the Trump Organization’s real estate interests and she’s the founder of Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry and Ivanka Trump Footwear.
After meeting her husband, who is Jewish, Trump converted to Judaism, and the couple has a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.
She spoke about the importance of Judaism to her and her family. She said she has visited Israel several times.
And every Friday, she gives her daughter three pennies to take to her school to help buy food for people in need. Trump said she hopes that the tzedakah her daughter is learning about as a little girl will blossom into the type of tzedakah on a grander scale that the crowd of women in the room perform in their lives through JUF.
Trump said she loves to put the chaos of her busy life on hold every Shabbat. “The Sabbath is almost like a weekly meditation,” she said, “where we can be fully present.”
Jenniffer Weigel, a Chicago author and broadcast journalist, moderated the conversation with Trump. The two women both followed in the professional footsteps of their famous fathers, Donald Trump, and Tim Weigel, the late sports broadcaster. The women spoke about the challenges that come with their famous names. Ivanka said she “utilized the expectations [of being her father’s daughter] as a motivator” to work even harder.
Trump said her dad always taught her that “the only way to be great at something–is to love it.”
In addition to hearing from Trump, the women at the luncheon learned about the vital work and impact of JUF and supported the 2015 JUF Annual Campaign.
Other speakers included Gail Rudo, chair of Spring Event; Pam Lookatch, chair of JUF’s Young Women’s City Council; Linda Schottenstein Fisher, JUF’s 2015 Women’s Vice President of Campaign; Sofia Kenzer, Young Women’s Board Event Chair; and Zoe Zirlin, a high school junior and an alum of JUF’s Diller Teen Fellowship.
Learn more about the #WomenWhoWork initiative here .