For Ari Eisen ‘11, the pandemic helped solidify the trajectory her career would take. Ari currently works for Build Consulting, a nonprofit strategy and technology consulting firm based in Washington, DC. At Build, she helps nonprofits all over the country better align their technology strategy with larger organizational strategy. Ari’s work with Build was born out of years of running and consulting for nonprofits in the environmental, political, and mental health sectors. During the pandemic, Ari co-founded the COVID Grief Network (CGN), an international mutual aid organization that provides free emotional support for people in their 20s and 30s who are grieving a COVID loss. “The organization was created based on the work I was doing at my previous job, where I ran grief retreats for young adults who had experienced significant loss. The grief retreats were unbelievably powerful and, right when the pandemic started, my collaborators and I were in the middle of conversations about forming an organization.” Ari currently works part-time as CGN’s Executive Director, managing all strategy, staffing, fundraising, and communications for the organization. She could not have imagined a more meaningful and impactful way to contribute to the current global crisis, and she is grateful that she gets to continue this work alongside her work with Build.
When Ari was a student at JDS, along with her siblings Tamar ‘13 and Jonah ‘17, she learned the importance of cultivating and nurturing community. The community that she has built in Berkeley, CA where she currently lives, and which includes several of her close friends from JDS, has been instrumental to her personal and professional growth. “Just as JDS provided a solid support system from which to learn and try new things, so too does my community today offer a solid foundation from which to take risks and draw support.”
Prior to Ari's work with Build and CGN, she worked for several Jewish nonprofit organizations. “My Jewish education was a critical part of my success at these organizations, offering a shared language, set of values, and experience. My Jewish identity and practice have evolved over the past several years, but the strong foundation that I gained from JDS has been invaluable to that growth.”
Ari also coaches young professionals about their careers, and the main advice she gives is for them to experiment as much as they can. “Most of what I have learned so far about what I like and don't like to do professionally, has been through trial and error.” She feels it is important to keep an open mind about how one’s future might unfold, to try as many new things as possible, to pay attention to what works and what doesn’t, and to know that there are infinite paths toward success and happiness.
In her free time, Ari tries to spend as much time as possible outside and away from the computer. Most days after work she is hiking or trail running in the Berkeley Hills and many weekends she backpacks in the Sierras with her partner, Sarah. Ari also loves to play guitar and sing and regularly hosts Shabbat dinners and holiday meals that end in jam sessions.