Austin Van Grack has found solace in working with other women, learning from their intelligence and leadership. She channels those skills into her role as president of Jewish Women International’s Young Women’s Impact Network D.C.
Van Grack has been involved with JWI since 2012, when she began as an intern in the organization’s development department. On top of her presidential responsibilities, she works as a clinical trials manager in the public health sector. You can find Van Grack trying out new restaurants, spending time with friends, going on walks or crafting in her Dupont Circle home.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I was born in Washington, D.C. and went to preschool at Washington Hebrew Congregation and Adas Israel. Then I was raised in Reform Judaism [in Colorado]. I went to Sunday school and Hebrew school; I had my bat mitzvah. For me, after my bat mitzvah, I kind of took a step back from the religious aspect. In college, I got really involved with Hillel and the Jewish community. The values and culture of being Jewish is so important in my life now.
I spent about six months living in Tel Aviv when I was in my 20s, interning for a nonprofit; that was a really cool experience that got me back onto a Jewish path. I also worked at the Denver [Jewish community center] for about a year after living in Israel, [which] was my first job when I got back to the States.
What brought you to JWI?
As an intern, I helped with [JWI’s] Women to Watch program, which honors Jewish women who are excelling and leading in their career. I helped with getting donations and data stuff.
Fast forward to 2018: I found out that JWI had started a Young Women’s Impact Network chapter in Denver. When I lived there, I got involved at the chapter there more just as an attendee [at] events; I really loved the community they were building. I didn’t have a social circle in Denver because by the time I went back, all the people I knew [had] left, so [JWI] was a great way to meet women who were similar and had similar jobs. It gave me an opportunity to start to grow my community and social circle. When I moved to D.C. in 2020, I got involved with JWI here. For me, it was especially important because I moved right before COVID, six weeks before COVID hit. I really didn’t know anyone besides some family. JWI continued to have events on Zoom.
In 2021, I joined the JWI board, so I was helping plan events and build community. For the past year, I’ve been president of the D.C. board. We have seven women on the board and we put on events once a month. It’s been a really great place to grow and become myself. I’ve been able to learn so much about women in the community.
What do you enjoy most about JWI?
I think it’s the building of community and the opportunity to meet new people pretty often. One of my favorite JWI activities is their leadership conference, which they host once a year the day before the Women to Watch event. It’s an amazing day of hearing from speakers — we hear from some of the women [who] are going to be honored the next day.
Another aspect important to me is the financial literacy piece. One of the big pillars of JWI is teaching financial literacy to women. They focus primarily on developing programs for survivors of domestic violence because, often, one of the biggest things when a woman leaves a situation of domestic violence is they have no money of their own. We teach women skills and how to be financially literate.
How do you balance your JWI responsibilities with your job?
I’ve been lucky in that I work from home, so I have a little bit more flexibility in my schedule, and I prioritize my role in JWI as one of the things I do in my free time. I think JWI does a really good job of acknowledging that we’re all working; we all have many things going on in our lives. In times when I’ve been stressed with work or other things, JWI and the other women on my board have given me the space and extra support so I could deal with whatever I was dealing with and come back even more engaged [with] JWI.
What drives you to get out of bed every morning?
The idea of making a difference and having an impact on the world. Especially right now, we live in really difficult times. Between Oct. 7, [2023], and everything that’s currently going on in politics, building my Jewish community and building community at JWI is that much more important.
Our chapter, last year, didn’t have the ability to host as many events, so this year was about rebuilding our network. We started out with eight attendees earlier this year and now we’ve seen 30 women attend our events. Getting to see the outcomes of [my] hard work is what gets me up in the morning and the feeling that I’m doing something good.
