Skylar Marcoux, 35, is Jewish. She had a bat mitzvah while growing up in central Maryland. She just didn’t live near many other Jews.

Some of her friends at her bat mitzvah actually thought she would be “speaking Hindi,” Marcoux said.

“It’s not a community people knew about,” she added.

But eight years ago, Marcoux moved to Philadelphia to work for The Lab, a health and wellness concierge service that connects users to instructors and coaches in the area who match their needs.

Since then, she has become an active member of NextGen, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s under-40 group; a frequent participant at Jewish Business Network events, even launching her new startup, ALINE, a social network for professionals who want to meet in person, at a summer meetup; and a recurring host of Shabbat dinners with fellow young Jews.

Marcoux has found the Jewish community she never had growing up. For a tech founder who has helped build two apps, The Lab and ALINE, designed to lead to in-person connections, it’s fulfilling a need she never fully realized she had.

“It’s nice to have little Shabbat traditions and things like that. Finding parts of Judaism that are meaningful and people you can do them with means a lot. And this is the first place I have found that,” she said.

Marcoux moved to Philadelphia because she used technology to make an in-person connection. She saw a posting for The Lab on an online job board through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

The former Division II lacrosse and field hockey player with a master’s in exercise science was working as a health coach under contract for Noom, a large corporation. The size of the company didn’t allow her to tweak her own product as she went. She thought The Lab might offer that opportunity.

“I wanted to be part of building the solution instead of doing things because that’s what the job description says,” she explained.

She got on a bus to meet Aaron Bonser, the Philly-based founder. Marcoux was living in New York, and she never imagined she would one day move to Philly. But she liked Bonser, the company and the area. She thought it would be a good place for her and her dog.

“It seemed like a great opportunity,” she said.

Marcoux also worked as an instructor for The Lab, and one of her clients was Holly Nelson, a Federation board member. Nelson connected her to Sarah Lefkowitz, the director of NextGen. And through Lefkowitz, she met Arielle Lechner, NextGen’s board chair.

Marcoux told the Federation leaders that she couldn’t really offer regular financial contributions, but she was a skilled community builder and fitness instructor. So, she teamed up with Lechner to host a community-building event.

“We clicked right away,” Marcoux said.

They started planning and leading Shabbats together, too. That ultimately led Marcoux to the Federation’s Pathway Fellowship, a selective, cohort-based training program for future Jewish community leaders.

Jewish community was therefore on her mind when she saw a flyer for a Jewish Business Network event while playing pickleball at Ballers in Fishtown over the winter. She decided to go, but she really only talked to people she knew from the Federation.

That was the pain point that led her to connect with ALINE founder Andrew Line, whom she knew from a networking event the previous summer. Line had presented a different product he was building.

Over the spring and summer, Marcoux began to focus full-time on building ALINE, becoming the startup’s chief operating officer. The app uses location-based proximity technology to connect people in the same geographical area. It just does so for professional networking instead of fitness needs.

JBN director Barri Miller had identified a similar pain point in surveys about the organization’s events: Participants were mainly talking to people they knew. Miller had connected with Marcoux at the February JBN event.

They stayed in touch, and once Marcoux, Line and their team launched the app on Apple’s App Store in May and Google Play in July, Miller and Marcoux decided to roll it out publicly at JBN’s Rooftop Summer Social at The Sporting Club at The Bellevue.

The event had space for 200 people. It sold out. ALINE hit 1,000 users later that month.

“ALINE is designed to answer one simple question: ‘Who should I meet in this room?’” stated a news release about the event. “Using real-time proximity technology and mutual networking intent, the app connects attendees with people who align with their professional goals, making networking more intentional, efficient, and impactful.”

“Hopefully after this event, people will leave with more connections than any other event,” Miller added. “I’m hoping this will lead to business conversations and outside business deals.”

Today, Marcoux finds herself not only connected to Jewish Philadelphia, but in many ways at the center of its under-40 activities.

She remains deeply involved with NextGen. She continues to host Shabbat dinners with Lechner. She might form a long-term partnership with Miller to use ALINE at JBN events.

And this year, she will participate in Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia’s Glass Leadership Institute, which gives young future Jewish leaders an inside look at the ADL’s advocacy work.

“It’s funny how fast things can change,” Marcoux said.

Marcoux said she would love to help other Jews “feel like they can be involved and have Jewish community” as well. After all, that’s what she does: help people make in-person connections.

“It’s great to have the accessibility when it comes to things like The Lab. But it’s not a replacement for in-person,” Marcoux said.

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com