How an Ultra Religious Girl Became an Educated Entrepreneur

I born into a an ultra-religious community, to a family of ten beautiful children in the heart of Jerusalem in Israel. I was supposed to go to religious school, study biblical studies and get married at 18 to expand the tribe. But around 13 years old I began having questions, doubts, curiosity, and an unstoppable urge to experience everything. At 14, I entered a religious seminary by the name of Moreshet Beit Ya'akov, in rough translation "School of Tradition of the house of Jacob". Philosophical questions were frowned upon, along with a long list of do's and dont's. But for me, as the 7th child in the family, I had to form strong opinions and fight to voice them, a darwinian trait of survival.

Naturally, the strict and sheltered life the seminary did not suit me. And so as a young, opinionated, and a rebellious 14-year-old, I began embarking on a campaign to leave my school. It was not enough to convince my mom, I needed to convince orthodox Rabbis that if they do not let me leave, it will just result in me hating Judaism forever and never forgiving them for forcing the religion on me.

I called the most respected Rabbi in the American Jewish community in New York, whom I met a month earlier (a whole story to itself) and begged him to help me. Long story short, he lobbied a principal in a school in Washington DC to accept me tuition-free. And thus began my journey for self discovery in the United States.

I discovered, for example, that I loved mathematics and physics. My hero became Einstein, also an underrated student who could not get good grades in school but still LOVED the rigorous sciences. Mathematics helped me make sense of my life and the world I lived in. Coming from a world where these subjects were so extremely undervalued and posed a direct threat to the ultra-religious system, I felt I was satisfying my rebellious feelings by studying these subjects with my whole being. I was only introduced to the idea of evolution at the age of 17. Slowly but surely, I began building my repertoire of academic studies and I began feeling more confident about my general intelligence.

I must mention that my journey was filled with pain and self-consciousness. When someone leaves a community, it is never done without backlash and bullying. I had to struggle with constant guilt and a constant urge to do better than everyone else around me, so I can prove that my path was not the wrong path.

Fast forward today, my personal journey to self discovery helped me quit a corporate six-figure-paying-job at JP Morgan in New York City. It helped me go against what society told me a recent graduate should do. It helped me continue QUESTIONING everything around me. When you live life questioning, observing, and absorbing everything around you, you live life full of meaning and purpose. You are never content with the status quo, you trust your intuition, and you let your passion lead your way.

I am living a passionate, curious, and explorative way of life. believe in the Vegan way of life because I've studied the facts, the system, and the reasons why we eat animas -- and I DECIDED it was against my core set of beliefs. When you live life used to questioning the norms around you, your life becomes full of passion and meaning. You are really alive. You own your consciousness.

You are a true living being.