Barri Miller said she sees herself as a “communicator plus connector” in the Philadelphia Jewish community, as she loves to work with people and help them grow in their personal and professional lives.
Miller has the perfect opportunity to practice that passion every day as the director of communications and engagement at the Jewish Business Network, a nonprofit that helps Jewish professionals across the Philadelphia area.
Miller stresses the importance of networking professionally and enjoys being able to expand the network of Jews in the Philadelphia area. She grew up in the area, attended Temple University and participated in BBYO and CTeen programs, among many other experiences in the Jewish community.
She attends Lubavitch of Bucks County and lives in Fairmount.
Tell me about your background.
I am Philadelphia born and raised. I always knew that the Philadelphia community was going to be my home. I was never leaving. I grew up semi-religious. I was very active in BBYO and CTeen, which is the Chabad youth group, throughout my high school years.
So, I’ve always had a really close connection to my Jewish identity and the traditions. Once I graduated high school, I ended up taking a gap year through Aardvark Israel, and that really enhanced my love for Israel and my love for community and Judaism as a whole, which then led me to go and transfer to Temple University, where I majored in religion and studied all the different types of religion, not just Judaism.
So, that really expanded my love for sharing different traditions and different ideas between the different religions and different types of people.
What do you do for JBN?
I am a full-time staff member for the Jewish Business Network, which means I do everything and anything to help the organization continue running and continue being as successful as it is, whether that’s doing the marketing and the social media, keeping track of our finances, recruiting new members or doing all event logistics.
JBN works with a lot of young Jewish professionals. Can you expand on what that work entails?
We recently just launched a JBN mentoring program, which is going to be run with one of our other organizations, known as the Jewish Heritage Programs, a peer-to-peer college campus program that works with students to help them get set up with mentors and internships and career advice.
So, we recently started connecting that by inviting all our members to come and mentor these students on campuses such as UPenn, Penn State, Temple, Drexel, Rowan, and then sometimes we have them Zoom in to our other campuses as well. And it’s been a really great experience for our students.
A lot of them, especially some of the UPenn students, have gotten great internships from it through JP Morgan and a few of our other alumni and JBN members as well.
What speaks to you about this career path?
I think my reason for being on Earth was to educate. So, that’s always something that I’ve taken to heart, and something that I think is super powerful. I think that’s the reason why I got brought into this field, because of how bubbly my personality is, how much I love to work with people and help them grow, whether that’s in their personal lives or their professional lives. That has just been the most amazing experience out of all this.
Can you share about the importance of networking?
I think all the stuff that I’ve been working on throughout my entire life, the volunteering through the Jewish Relief Agency, Hebrew school, BBYO, my college curriculum, has all been connected to Judaism in some way that’s helped lead me to being in a role where I can now help other Jewish individuals.
What does it mean to you to make connections across Jewish Philadelphia?
It is a super, super powerful experience to be able to be the one behind the scenes helping to foster these relationships. It’s super empowering to hear the connections that are being made, and it’s super heartwarming that people tend to thank me for the connections being made, which is something that I really take to heart, and is something that makes my job so amazing.
What’s something people might not know about you outside of work?
I spend most of my time with my family and friends, whether that’s going on an adventure, going to a park, sitting and reading, or if it’s just watching a Philly sports game at home. I also have a three-year-old Schnoodle dog who I am obsessed with, who I spend all my time with. She goes with me everywhere, and I guess in my free time, I’m a huge TV show guru. I love all reality TV game shows. I’m big into SoulCycle and cycling as well.
