Rockville resident Meredith Jacobs has worked in the Washington, D.C., Jewish communal area her entire professional career, through various avenues as a journalist and author.
And earlier this year, Jacobs reached a decade professionally with Jewish Women’s International, spending the past four years as the organization’s CEO, a career path that wasn’t something she initially planned.
Jacobs was involved in Jewish life throughout her youth, frequently attending Temple Sinai while growing up in Philadelphia, before attending Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, as an undergraduate and moving to Maryland for her master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University.
From there, Jacobs started a writing career in 2005 in the DMV area, working as a columnist for the Baltimore Jewish Times and founding her website Modern Jewish Mom — work that led to her hiring as the editor-in-chief of the Washington Jewish Week in 2011.
“I had started writing parenting columns that, at first, were run in the Baltimore Jewish Times when they were published all over the country. When Phil Jacobs was hired to be the editor of the Washington Jewish Week, he reached out to me because he knew I was very involved in the Jewish community of Greater Washington. And he had been a fan of my parenting columns. He asked me to become his managing editor,” Jacobs said.
The editor role suited Jacobs, and she said that she became familiar with the work of various local Jewish organizations during her time there.
But Jacobs’ eventual interest in serving Jewish women that led to JWI had its seeds planted about two years before her move to the WJW. She attended JWI’s Women to Watch event and was inspired by the organization’s work.
“Anyone who’s been to that luncheon knows you leave so inspired by the women who are honored but also the work of the organization. I reached out and I was, like, how can I get involved? I ended up being introduced to [Laurie Weinstein] the CEO at the time,” Jacobs said.
“I had a radio show with WYPR in Baltimore at the time. And so, I invited Laurie Weinstein to come be on the show, do a segment. She got to know me and asked me to join the board of JWI,” Jacobs added.
Jacobs joined JWI’s board in 2009 but stayed with the JT and WJW until 2014 when she realized the time had come for a career change. She moved to JWI full time as its chief operating officer after conversations with Weinstein.
“I remember having a conversation with Lori because I saw her as a mentor. [I was wondering] is this the right career? I wasn’t passionate about hard news. I was passionate about community and then about family and about our traditions,” Jacobs said.
Weinstein told Jacobs that she should consider joining JWI and overseeing its communications, hinting that she was approaching retirement and that Jacobs could eventually be in the running for CEO.
“I just thought, if I’m going to take a job that’s going to pull me away from time with my family, I wanted to feel like I was making a difference in the world,” Jacobs said.
And since that move, Jacobs has been heavily involved in JWI’s efforts to provide domestic violence support, financial literacy, and leadership programs to women around the world.
Jacobs said that JWI has focused on providing for Israel and Israeli women after the Oct. 7 attacks and the wave of gender-based violence reported during the attack.
“We’re doing a campaign right now called I Believe Israeli Women, and we’re asking people to join that movement so that they can become part of our work to raise awareness to fight back against disinformation and to hold Hamas accountable for the violence,” Jacobs said.
She added that JWI is working to expand its network for young women and wants to provide a space where they can thrive and be pro-Israel.
But outside of purely Israel-related work, Jacobs was proud of the critical issues impact on girls and women around the world that JWI is at the forefront of solving, putting considerable resources into protecting women from violence and giving them the tools to succeed on their own.
“I wish more people knew about our work because the work we’re doing is significant and my team works hard, and I’m very proud of them,” Jacobs said.
That work allows Jacobs to fulfill her commitment to the Jewish people and stay true to her Jewish identity which has been a foundational piece of her personal and professional life.
“It was just always just such an inextricable part of who I am. Not just keeping a kosher home and going to synagogue, but who I am as a person. When they talk about Judaism as a people, I get that. That is just in my DNA,” she said.