Entries by Devon Spier

From Survive to Thrive: Maximizing Your Impact on Philanthropy Day

I’m a recovering helper. The one who brings the casserole dish, and the flowers. And who calls you at 2am when your boyfriend just left, your cat is in the pet hospital and your mother-in-law is nagging at you so relentlessly that your conscience feels the weight of a 1955 Brisket Pan (I happen to […]

November 15, 2017 by

Careful, Your World is Flooding: An Entrepreneurial Response to #MeToo

Over the last week, many Jewish entrepreneurs have been chiming in to the viral #MeToo campaign on social media. Here at Jewcer, we think that it is incredibly important to call attention to this serious issue that many women face in their workplace, community, social lives, and in public. So we turned to one of […]

October 23, 2017 by

When The Cab Driver is Elijah the Prophet: The Accidental Jewish Entrepreneur (Part 2)

This story is the second in a series called the “The Accidental Jewish Entrepeneur“, profiling Jews in unexpected places whose innovations and ideas change their communities for good. The second story comes to us from a traveler in Los Angeles, California: I was visited by three prophets this Jewish New Year. They were not the people pouring off […]

September 27, 2017 by

The Year I Woke Up and Became a Jewish Entrepreneur

For years, it was drilled in to me to follow my strengths. With a spatial sense that was and remains virtually non-existent, I was told to focus on what I could do. So I went to drama camp, and Jewish camp, and became a camp counselor and then – before I knew it – I […]

September 6, 2017 by

The Accidental Jewish Entrepreneur

This story is the first in a series called the “The Accidental Jewish Entrepeneur“, profiling Jews in unexpected places whose innovations change their communities for good. The first story comes to us from a woman in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Diana was 50-years-old when she learned how to create a website. Working with her niece, she helped create […]

August 10, 2017 by
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Jerusalem of Gold, Not Gold-Plated: Visions of Jewish Entrepreneurship on the 9th of Av

The journal stood on the shelf as plain as day: “Eff-ing Brilliant,” it read, emblazoned across the front. I let out a loud gasp. When was the last time any idea – let along the bulk of my ideas – was brilliant? Smack dab in the middle of an article re-write, all I could think […]

August 1, 2017 by

Beyond Deadlines and Compromise: Learning to Tend to Your Work Soul

It begins innocently and self-indulgently: It’s close to midnight and you would rather just go to sleep. That report you have been compiling gets a lot shorter than it should be. Rationality enters: You have no caffeine, three looming deadlines, and an early morning meeting.  Is this not the perfect time to re-watch Seasons 3-5 of Grey’s […]

July 9, 2017 by

Guts, Glory, Pajamas & Netflix: Why Entrepreneurs Get Sick and How to Prevent It

I’m thinking of where I was a year ago. About to get married, with one foot in a new career and hefty baggage filled with the old ones, I could barely remember the last time I took a lunch break, let alone an email exodus longer than 30 seconds. This time last year, I was designing the seed paper […]

June 25, 2017 by

What I Learned about Jewish Entrepreneurship at Interfaith Camp

There I was in the craft store parking lot. Twenty-four, clueless and trying to budget for enough tack and glitter to make this a day camp that was recreationally appealing, let alone worth attending. But there I was. Dreaming of craft supplies and the opportunity to coordinate an interfaith children’s camp. I was excited and terrified. I had […]

June 18, 2017 by

Entrepreneurs Need to Lead and Be Led

“You talk as if you only like the sound of your own voice. Is it deliberate?” I was stunned silent at the other end of the line. My first six months as a manager and I was on a rapidly sinking ship, a non-profit voyage of the damned, with staff who loved everyone else and couldn’t […]

June 11, 2017 by