Tiffan David: This podcast was made possible by the kind support of Emmanuel Arbib of IAM Capital, a global alternative investment group based in London, as well as the individuals, Alissa Bayer and Avatel Oisgild. Lessons from a grandfather on humility and kindness. Lessons from a founder who spotted talent and nurtured it, and advice putting negativity aside. Let’s hear from our next guest. I’m Tiffan David, and welcome to this 50 Faces focus series, which showcases inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond. I’m joined today by Rachel Fabian Edelman, who is a community manager at City Accelerator and Venture Investments, which is responsible for investment in a range of startups. She started her career in Mobileye, a mobility company and one of Israel’s most successful startups that is now part of Intel. She has a passion for connecting and amplifying the voices of women and has started a local women’s network as well as being committed to animal rights. Welcome, Rachel. Thank you for joining me today.
Rachel: Thank you for having me, Aoifinn.
Tiffan David: Can you talk us through your career journey and did it take any surprising turns along the way?
Rachel: So I started my career journey at Mobye. I started as a secretary and later on got promoted to being the PA of the CEO and co-founders, Ziva Viram and Amnon Shoshua. I worked closely with them and the VPs of the company and had great experience in the company and really growing myself in the career. And later on got promoted to project manager in the aftermarket department. As I mentioned, I’ve had a really, really strong career at Mobileye and helped them go through the IPO process, which they went in 2014 in the New York Stock Exchange. They later on got acquired for $15.3 billion by Intel. So So my Mobileye career was very, very, very strong and even shaped me to who I am today. I’ve learned a lot from working with the VPs, working with the CEO and co-founder so closely, and really even being in such a successful startup and watching them grow and going public and then being acquired has really left a very big mark on who I am today and has helped me later on in my career. After 5 years, I’ve decided that I no longer had room to grow. And I’ve decided to move on to my next change. I joined a startup called Quietlife as head of operations manager. And I think this is where the surprising turn in my career took. After leaving a very successful startup, as I mentioned, I joined this small startup. And after a few months, I’ve noticed and realized that unfortunately they were not able to secure the finances as we thought a few months before. So after a few months, I found myself jobless as a result because the startup was unsuccessful. So this was a very good life lesson for me and taught me to adjust to different changes, take a step back and refocus what I want to do in my life and my career journey. And as you mentioned before, I’m a very, very big animal lover and it’s been my passion for me to help and educate others. So my husband and I decided to open a small business called Age Dog Training to help and educate and promote for animal rights and dog training. This was a very successful endeavor, but unfortunately did not take off. I was able to mass over 15K followers and build a platform for educating and advocating for dogs. Until today, we still bring awareness. Amongst the dog training, you might find a few of my pieces that I’ve created a few years back. So this was really, really great. In 2018, actually, on my way to my last interview at Citi, I was apartment hunting with my husband and our last apartment, I actually fell down the stairs as I was job hunting. And at the time I didn’t know, but I broke my foot. This was on my way to my interview and I didn’t know what to do because this was my last interview. So I ended up deciding to continue going to the interview. It was 30 minutes before the interview. And as I’m actually hopping into the interview on one foot with no shoe because my foot blew up so much that I couldn’t put my shoe on and in excruciating pain, I walked into the interview, crushed it, literally. You know, as they say, break a leg. I actually broke my foot. So thankfully I got this position and now I’m currently at Citi. What we do at Citi is I work in the external innovation here at Citi where we bring startups and innovation into Citi. We have an accelerator program, and we also have a VC where we invest in startups. So right now I am at Citi working with many startups in the Israeli ecosystem. So as I like to say, so far my journey has given me the 360 view of the startup world. Being at a successful startup, a startup that failed, having my own business, and then working from the corporate side really has given me all the sides and all the points of view and given me a lot of personal growth and experience for me and my career and in the Israeli ecosystem, in the startup ecosystem.
Tiffan David: Those are some fantastic stories there. I think I’ll have to ask you whether what you’ve learned from dog training, you can import any of those lessons into dealing with humans, as I think there have been some overlaps there. Let me just ask one question about your work as a dog trainer and as a founder of a company. Is there any kind of core belief or core principle that you apply in dog training that you can share?
Rachel: Yes, absolutely. Positive reinforcement. And I can’t say this enough, really positive reinforcement with humans, with animals, and in leadership. Positive reinforcement will get us further and will get us what we want way better in a nicer way in both sides. When we use positive reinforcements with dogs, it’s amazing to see how they react and how much they can learn without lifting a finger and really just connecting with the dog. And it’s the same in leadership, as a boss or as a leader, and showing people and using positive reinforcement. It’s almost the same. And also as a new mom, now that I have a child, it’s amazing how a lot of the dog training, quote unquote, in terms of positive reinforcement is used in leadership and parenthood. So definitely positive reinforcement.
Tiffan David: And it’s also interesting, I think, just to hear when you start at a very successful startup, sometimes it might distort maybe your expectations for startups trajectory, whereas it was a good thing to start at a very successful one. I suppose it’s a reminder that that is perhaps a rarity. You intersect with many aspects of the tech world. What are your impressions of the experience of women in tech in Israel?
Rachel: That’s really a great question. And If you asked me this 10 years ago, my answer would be different. But I’m so happy that since the beginning of my career until today, there’s been a tremendous amount of changes. And it’s really so fascinating to see. If we spoke 10 years ago, I would be sitting in a meeting room of me, the only female, and 30 men. Being in a very male-dominated industry of automotive, it was very different. And it’s been great because the Israeli women and the ecosystem, I think not only in Israel, we’ve really have made a name for ourselves and we’ve spoken up and made a lot of changes. And in the past year, there’s been many organizations and small groups that have been formed and motivated and encouraged to help women in the startup industry. And actually, earlier today, I was just reminded of a post that I shared that one of the studies were shown that being a female entrepreneur is the best in Israel because of all the great opportunities that we have here. So it’s really— there’s so many organizations. And even before our interview, and I wanted to go and give you some numbers, but I was so overwhelmed with the amount of different organizations and communities. There’s Hamita Pisteot, Neshim Behaytik, Fintech IL, uh, Fintech Ladies. There’s all these groups, and it’s amazing. And I think that’s one of the reasons, and I identified that there was a small missing opportunity of a small tight-knit community. And this is why I created WLC, which is called Women’s Lunch Club, creating a tight small-knit community for women to share their personal and professional career lives and help empower and support each other through this tight-knit community. It’s really amazing to see how it evolved and how the women have really gained a lot from our community. And I really hope that it continues to grow grow, but stays as tight and small as I originally intended it to be.
Tiffan David: And how do you interact as a community? Do you have a WhatsApp group? Do you meet up? If it’s a lunch club, I would imagine there are lunches happening. Or do you have a kind of a website, a discussion room? How do you help each other?
Rachel: That’s a great question. So originally it started as meeting once a month for lunch. This is before COVID-19, obviously. And then we moved it to a remote platform. So we have an active WhatsApp WhatsApp group where we all communicate and ask questions. And it’s very important that everything is 100% confidential. And that’s why we all feel comfortable to share our personal and questions where women might not feel comfortable in larger forums, which are amazing. And there’s so many big organizations that really do amazing work, but I was looking for a more tight-knit community where we would all feel 100% comfortable to share everything and 100% confidential. So we’re actually having our first physical face-to-face meeting on this upcoming Sunday, which I’m super excited for. We have a WhatsApp group. We have virtual meetings on Zoom. On Sunday, we’re having our physical one, and we have done about 3, 4 events last year for women.
Tiffan David: That’s wonderful. Are there any particular topics that come up more often than others? I’m thinking sort of salary negotiation, maybe dealing with maternity leave, making a decision about a job when there’s maybe a young family in— concerned?
Rachel: Yes, absolutely. As you just mentioned, salary negotiation is a big one. Talking about family and work negotiation. In our group, we are fortunate to have a bunch of women who are also moms. 3 women just had babies in our group. So it starts, you have to renegotiate what are you doing with a child? How are we going back to work? How can we handle everything? So it’s a lot of negotiating. How do we talk to our bosses? There’s also been specific situations of this happened with a coworker. How do I handle this properly? Am I overexaggerating? You know, sometimes women were so sensitive of, are we overexaggerating? Are we not overexaggerating? Is this a legitimate feeling for us to feel? How do we handle different situations?. And these are very uncomfortable topics to talk about publicly on Facebook groups or in groups that have many, many people because you never know who knows who. And Israel is very small and the ecosystem is even smaller. So this opportunity and community gives us a chance to openly talk to each other and really help each other out. It isn’t very important for me that anyone in the group does not work together to give each of the women the 100% feeling and free to share and ask whatever is needed. To help and empower each other. And it’s really, from what I’ve seen, is really, really empowering. Even before going and speaking at an event, sometimes it can be nerve-wracking. Then we give each other that support and reassurance that women need, that men might also need, but maybe not as necessarily as women need. And that’s very important for us and my goal to help each other out. And as I mentioned earlier about all these women in the ecosystem, it’s amazing. It’s really, really amazing what’s been happening in the ecosystem. But let me remind you that the statistics are still not there. There’s still a very, very big gap. And we are here to continue and make sure and help promote women to get and make those gaps smaller and get women to be more in as entrepreneurs, in startups, in business. And as long as our numbers are still— there’s a gap in those numbers, I will help and empower women as much as I can. And hopefully one day we won’t have to have women groups and we can just have groups for everyone. But until then, I think it’s very, very, very important to empower each other and empower women and make it a point for everyone to help and change those gaps.
Tiffan David: That’s hugely impactful that you’re doing that. And on behalf of those women and your community, I thank you. Going back to your own journey now, who are some of the key people who influenced you in your career and in life so far, and in what way?
Rachel: That’s a great question. I have many people who have influenced me, really, and the two main people that I can think of are my late grandfather and Ziva Biram, the co-founder of Mobileye. At a young age, I would watch my grandfather, who led a very successful business, watch him treat his employees. And he’s taught me something very important: to treat each person as an individual, and that you treat every person as their own personal challenges So be kind. We never know what that person might be going through. My grandfather was extremely humble and he would take his shirt off his back for anyone any day. And from his perspective, that taught me a lot as a person and as an individual in business that we never know the other side of the story. We never know what the other person might be going through. And a very interesting story that I like to share with people just to give a small perspective of who my grandfather really was. So my brother was in the car driving with my grandfather down the road, and there was a very big sign saying, 75% off, we’re closing, the store went out of business. And my brother was extremely happy and cheered and said, oh, this is great. There’s 75% off. Let’s go buy some toys. And my grandfather stopped him and said, you have to understand that this sign means that someone just lost their business. Although this is a good opportunity, this is not a sign or a reason to be happy. We have to be sad and acknowledge that someone went out of business. So this was him, my grandfather. There was always two sides of the story. And I think this story really, really shows how even as a sign that might seem like a good deal for me, it would point out the other side of, oh, this means someone went out of business. So that was my grandfather.
Tiffan David: Can I just ask you what his business was, your grandfather’s business?
Rachel: So his business, it still exists. It’s called Triangle Plumbing. It’s a plumbing company. So, uh, Ziva Viram, the CEO of Mobileye, he’s taught me a lot. And as I said, I joined Mobileye at a pretty young age and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been there for 5 years and worked closely with him and other VPs. I remember walking into his room one day and saying, I’ve just completed a very, very, very big project. And it was successful, thankfully. And I said, I think there are some people who aren’t happy with the changes and the success. And he made sure to tell me that there’s always a position. And if you don’t have a position, you’re doing something wrong. Meaning there’s always people who are going to be on the other side, or aren’t going to be happy with what you’re doing. And it’s important that we follow what we think and believe is right and move that negativity to the side and continue. Because no matter where in our journey we are, there’s always going to be people who have something negative to say, have something else to say, jealousy or haters, quote unquote. So he really taught me that you have to do what you believe is right and move that negativity aside and just stick to what you believe, and succeed.
Tiffan David: Very good sound advice there. Speaking of advice, and you mentioned two people who are very influential, is there any one piece of advice that you received that really made an impact on how you see the world, or any creed or motto that you live by?
Rachel: Absolutely. So I think first of all, I would like to acknowledge my mom here, who is a huge influence in my life and in my upbringing and my success in business. So she always taught me that failing is part of life, it’s part of success. As long as you tried your hardest, that’s what really matters. I remember as a kid coming back from school and failing different tests, and she would never be angry or mad or saying, how come you failed this test, or how come this and this happened? Because she said, I know you tried your hardest, I saw you study, and it’s okay. And that’s what matters, as long as you tried your hardest. And that’s And that’s really, really something that was ingrained in me from a really, really young age. And that is my motto about it’s all right that you failed as long as you tried your best. And that’s also my really strong motto. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. And I still live by that today. I’ve tried so many things in life and so many different ideas and suggestions and initiatives, and it’s okay if they fail. But if you don’t try, you’ll never know. So that’s really my biggest motto. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. And what’s the worst that can happen? You’ll fail. That’s okay. It’s part of success.
Tiffan David: My last question is around any advice you might have for your younger self. Obviously you’re mid-career, so you’re not looking back too far, but is there anything that you know now that you wish you had known maybe coming out of school?
Rachel: That’s a great question. So I was very fortunate to have a very, as I mentioned before, a strong upbringing and very strong positive models in my life. So with your permission, I would like to adjust the question. And what advice would I give my daughter, if that’s okay with you?
Tiffan David: Absolutely. I’d love that.
Rachel: And as you know, I’m a new mom, so it suddenly changed my perspective in life. And suddenly it gives me a new perspective of what advice would I give my daughter? And that’s a great question. What advice would I give my daughter? And this is how I started living my life because I want my daughter to be around watching me be a strong, powerful woman. If I want to raise her to be a strong, powerful woman, I need to practice what I preach. So the advice I sort of, every time I question myself, is this what I want to do? I have given opportunities. As an example, when you approached me, if she asked me, my daughter asked me, mom, should I take this opportunity? I would tell her, of course, obviously this is a great opportunity. But for me, sometimes I re-question myself. Do I want to do this? Am I good enough? Should I do this? How should I do this? I’m going to be nervous. I don’t know if I want to do this. So I say, of course, I see myself asking her, asking me, and I say, absolutely. So I tell myself, you have to do this. I have to practice what I preach. And in order to bring up a strong and be a good model and give a positive example to my daughter, I need to live. By what I preach. So that’s what I’m doing.
Tiffan David: Oh, well, we’re so honored that you have. But I think you make a really excellent point. First of all, I may rephrase that question for some other guests because I think it is more relevant. But also that, I think, really gets to a difficult issue because sometimes you can see with utmost clarity what might be the right advice for your daughter or for anyone you love. It may be difficult to sometimes apply that same advice to yourself. And usually that’s around some of the more difficult decisions. I think that lens is actually a very, very useful one. Well, thank you, Rachel. It’s been a real pleasure speaking with you today and speaking about your journey. And thank you, as I said before, for what you’re doing in your community. I think it really is tremendous. And I’m not sure if you always get the thanks, but I’m sure the benefit is being felt. So thank you for coming here and sharing your insights with us.
Rachel: Thank you very much.
Tiffan David: I’m Aoifinn Devitt. Thank you for listening to our 50 Faces Focus Series. If you liked what you heard and would like to tune in to hear more inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, and all views are personal and should not be attributed to the organizations and affiliations of the host or any guest.
Tiffan David: This podcast was made possible by the kind support of Emmanuel Arbib of IAM Capital, a global alternative investment group based in London, as well as the individuals, Alissa Bayer and Avatel Oisgild. Lessons from a grandfather on humility and kindness. Lessons from a founder who spotted talent and nurtured it, and advice putting negativity aside. Let’s hear from our next guest. I’m Tiffan David, and welcome to this 50 Faces focus series, which showcases inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond. I’m joined today by Rachel Fabian Edelman, who is a community manager at City Accelerator and Venture Investments, which is responsible for investment in a range of startups. She started her career in Mobileye, a mobility company and one of Israel’s most successful startups that is now part of Intel. She has a passion for connecting and amplifying the voices of women and has started a local women’s network as well as being committed to animal rights. Welcome, Rachel. Thank you for joining me today.
Rachel: Thank you for having me, Aoifinn.
Tiffan David: Can you talk us through your career journey and did it take any surprising turns along the way?
Rachel: So I started my career journey at Mobye. I started as a secretary and later on got promoted to being the PA of the CEO and co-founders, Ziva Viram and Amnon Shoshua. I worked closely with them and the VPs of the company and had great experience in the company and really growing myself in the career. And later on got promoted to project manager in the aftermarket department. As I mentioned, I’ve had a really, really strong career at Mobileye and helped them go through the IPO process, which they went in 2014 in the New York Stock Exchange. They later on got acquired for $15.3 billion by Intel. So So my Mobileye career was very, very, very strong and even shaped me to who I am today. I’ve learned a lot from working with the VPs, working with the CEO and co-founder so closely, and really even being in such a successful startup and watching them grow and going public and then being acquired has really left a very big mark on who I am today and has helped me later on in my career. After 5 years, I’ve decided that I no longer had room to grow. And I’ve decided to move on to my next change. I joined a startup called Quietlife as head of operations manager. And I think this is where the surprising turn in my career took. After leaving a very successful startup, as I mentioned, I joined this small startup. And after a few months, I’ve noticed and realized that unfortunately they were not able to secure the finances as we thought a few months before. So after a few months, I found myself jobless as a result because the startup was unsuccessful. So this was a very good life lesson for me and taught me to adjust to different changes, take a step back and refocus what I want to do in my life and my career journey. And as you mentioned before, I’m a very, very big animal lover and it’s been my passion for me to help and educate others. So my husband and I decided to open a small business called Age Dog Training to help and educate and promote for animal rights and dog training. This was a very successful endeavor, but unfortunately did not take off. I was able to mass over 15K followers and build a platform for educating and advocating for dogs. Until today, we still bring awareness. Amongst the dog training, you might find a few of my pieces that I’ve created a few years back. So this was really, really great. In 2018, actually, on my way to my last interview at Citi, I was apartment hunting with my husband and our last apartment, I actually fell down the stairs as I was job hunting. And at the time I didn’t know, but I broke my foot. This was on my way to my interview and I didn’t know what to do because this was my last interview. So I ended up deciding to continue going to the interview. It was 30 minutes before the interview. And as I’m actually hopping into the interview on one foot with no shoe because my foot blew up so much that I couldn’t put my shoe on and in excruciating pain, I walked into the interview, crushed it, literally. You know, as they say, break a leg. I actually broke my foot. So thankfully I got this position and now I’m currently at Citi. What we do at Citi is I work in the external innovation here at Citi where we bring startups and innovation into Citi. We have an accelerator program, and we also have a VC where we invest in startups. So right now I am at Citi working with many startups in the Israeli ecosystem. So as I like to say, so far my journey has given me the 360 view of the startup world. Being at a successful startup, a startup that failed, having my own business, and then working from the corporate side really has given me all the sides and all the points of view and given me a lot of personal growth and experience for me and my career and in the Israeli ecosystem, in the startup ecosystem.
Tiffan David: Those are some fantastic stories there. I think I’ll have to ask you whether what you’ve learned from dog training, you can import any of those lessons into dealing with humans, as I think there have been some overlaps there. Let me just ask one question about your work as a dog trainer and as a founder of a company. Is there any kind of core belief or core principle that you apply in dog training that you can share?
Rachel: Yes, absolutely. Positive reinforcement. And I can’t say this enough, really positive reinforcement with humans, with animals, and in leadership. Positive reinforcement will get us further and will get us what we want way better in a nicer way in both sides. When we use positive reinforcements with dogs, it’s amazing to see how they react and how much they can learn without lifting a finger and really just connecting with the dog. And it’s the same in leadership, as a boss or as a leader, and showing people and using positive reinforcement. It’s almost the same. And also as a new mom, now that I have a child, it’s amazing how a lot of the dog training, quote unquote, in terms of positive reinforcement is used in leadership and parenthood. So definitely positive reinforcement.
Tiffan David: And it’s also interesting, I think, just to hear when you start at a very successful startup, sometimes it might distort maybe your expectations for startups trajectory, whereas it was a good thing to start at a very successful one. I suppose it’s a reminder that that is perhaps a rarity. You intersect with many aspects of the tech world. What are your impressions of the experience of women in tech in Israel?
Rachel: That’s really a great question. And If you asked me this 10 years ago, my answer would be different. But I’m so happy that since the beginning of my career until today, there’s been a tremendous amount of changes. And it’s really so fascinating to see. If we spoke 10 years ago, I would be sitting in a meeting room of me, the only female, and 30 men. Being in a very male-dominated industry of automotive, it was very different. And it’s been great because the Israeli women and the ecosystem, I think not only in Israel, we’ve really have made a name for ourselves and we’ve spoken up and made a lot of changes. And in the past year, there’s been many organizations and small groups that have been formed and motivated and encouraged to help women in the startup industry. And actually, earlier today, I was just reminded of a post that I shared that one of the studies were shown that being a female entrepreneur is the best in Israel because of all the great opportunities that we have here. So it’s really— there’s so many organizations. And even before our interview, and I wanted to go and give you some numbers, but I was so overwhelmed with the amount of different organizations and communities. There’s Hamita Pisteot, Neshim Behaytik, Fintech IL, uh, Fintech Ladies. There’s all these groups, and it’s amazing. And I think that’s one of the reasons, and I identified that there was a small missing opportunity of a small tight-knit community. And this is why I created WLC, which is called Women’s Lunch Club, creating a tight small-knit community for women to share their personal and professional career lives and help empower and support each other through this tight-knit community. It’s really amazing to see how it evolved and how the women have really gained a lot from our community. And I really hope that it continues to grow grow, but stays as tight and small as I originally intended it to be.
Tiffan David: And how do you interact as a community? Do you have a WhatsApp group? Do you meet up? If it’s a lunch club, I would imagine there are lunches happening. Or do you have a kind of a website, a discussion room? How do you help each other?
Rachel: That’s a great question. So originally it started as meeting once a month for lunch. This is before COVID-19, obviously. And then we moved it to a remote platform. So we have an active WhatsApp WhatsApp group where we all communicate and ask questions. And it’s very important that everything is 100% confidential. And that’s why we all feel comfortable to share our personal and questions where women might not feel comfortable in larger forums, which are amazing. And there’s so many big organizations that really do amazing work, but I was looking for a more tight-knit community where we would all feel 100% comfortable to share everything and 100% confidential. So we’re actually having our first physical face-to-face meeting on this upcoming Sunday, which I’m super excited for. We have a WhatsApp group. We have virtual meetings on Zoom. On Sunday, we’re having our physical one, and we have done about 3, 4 events last year for women.
Tiffan David: That’s wonderful. Are there any particular topics that come up more often than others? I’m thinking sort of salary negotiation, maybe dealing with maternity leave, making a decision about a job when there’s maybe a young family in— concerned?
Rachel: Yes, absolutely. As you just mentioned, salary negotiation is a big one. Talking about family and work negotiation. In our group, we are fortunate to have a bunch of women who are also moms. 3 women just had babies in our group. So it starts, you have to renegotiate what are you doing with a child? How are we going back to work? How can we handle everything? So it’s a lot of negotiating. How do we talk to our bosses? There’s also been specific situations of this happened with a coworker. How do I handle this properly? Am I overexaggerating? You know, sometimes women were so sensitive of, are we overexaggerating? Are we not overexaggerating? Is this a legitimate feeling for us to feel? How do we handle different situations?. And these are very uncomfortable topics to talk about publicly on Facebook groups or in groups that have many, many people because you never know who knows who. And Israel is very small and the ecosystem is even smaller. So this opportunity and community gives us a chance to openly talk to each other and really help each other out. It isn’t very important for me that anyone in the group does not work together to give each of the women the 100% feeling and free to share and ask whatever is needed. To help and empower each other. And it’s really, from what I’ve seen, is really, really empowering. Even before going and speaking at an event, sometimes it can be nerve-wracking. Then we give each other that support and reassurance that women need, that men might also need, but maybe not as necessarily as women need. And that’s very important for us and my goal to help each other out. And as I mentioned earlier about all these women in the ecosystem, it’s amazing. It’s really, really amazing what’s been happening in the ecosystem. But let me remind you that the statistics are still not there. There’s still a very, very big gap. And we are here to continue and make sure and help promote women to get and make those gaps smaller and get women to be more in as entrepreneurs, in startups, in business. And as long as our numbers are still— there’s a gap in those numbers, I will help and empower women as much as I can. And hopefully one day we won’t have to have women groups and we can just have groups for everyone. But until then, I think it’s very, very, very important to empower each other and empower women and make it a point for everyone to help and change those gaps.
Tiffan David: That’s hugely impactful that you’re doing that. And on behalf of those women and your community, I thank you. Going back to your own journey now, who are some of the key people who influenced you in your career and in life so far, and in what way?
Rachel: That’s a great question. I have many people who have influenced me, really, and the two main people that I can think of are my late grandfather and Ziva Biram, the co-founder of Mobileye. At a young age, I would watch my grandfather, who led a very successful business, watch him treat his employees. And he’s taught me something very important: to treat each person as an individual, and that you treat every person as their own personal challenges So be kind. We never know what that person might be going through. My grandfather was extremely humble and he would take his shirt off his back for anyone any day. And from his perspective, that taught me a lot as a person and as an individual in business that we never know the other side of the story. We never know what the other person might be going through. And a very interesting story that I like to share with people just to give a small perspective of who my grandfather really was. So my brother was in the car driving with my grandfather down the road, and there was a very big sign saying, 75% off, we’re closing, the store went out of business. And my brother was extremely happy and cheered and said, oh, this is great. There’s 75% off. Let’s go buy some toys. And my grandfather stopped him and said, you have to understand that this sign means that someone just lost their business. Although this is a good opportunity, this is not a sign or a reason to be happy. We have to be sad and acknowledge that someone went out of business. So this was him, my grandfather. There was always two sides of the story. And I think this story really, really shows how even as a sign that might seem like a good deal for me, it would point out the other side of, oh, this means someone went out of business. So that was my grandfather.
Tiffan David: Can I just ask you what his business was, your grandfather’s business?
Rachel: So his business, it still exists. It’s called Triangle Plumbing. It’s a plumbing company. So, uh, Ziva Viram, the CEO of Mobileye, he’s taught me a lot. And as I said, I joined Mobileye at a pretty young age and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been there for 5 years and worked closely with him and other VPs. I remember walking into his room one day and saying, I’ve just completed a very, very, very big project. And it was successful, thankfully. And I said, I think there are some people who aren’t happy with the changes and the success. And he made sure to tell me that there’s always a position. And if you don’t have a position, you’re doing something wrong. Meaning there’s always people who are going to be on the other side, or aren’t going to be happy with what you’re doing. And it’s important that we follow what we think and believe is right and move that negativity to the side and continue. Because no matter where in our journey we are, there’s always going to be people who have something negative to say, have something else to say, jealousy or haters, quote unquote. So he really taught me that you have to do what you believe is right and move that negativity aside and just stick to what you believe, and succeed.
Tiffan David: Very good sound advice there. Speaking of advice, and you mentioned two people who are very influential, is there any one piece of advice that you received that really made an impact on how you see the world, or any creed or motto that you live by?
Rachel: Absolutely. So I think first of all, I would like to acknowledge my mom here, who is a huge influence in my life and in my upbringing and my success in business. So she always taught me that failing is part of life, it’s part of success. As long as you tried your hardest, that’s what really matters. I remember as a kid coming back from school and failing different tests, and she would never be angry or mad or saying, how come you failed this test, or how come this and this happened? Because she said, I know you tried your hardest, I saw you study, and it’s okay. And that’s what matters, as long as you tried your hardest. And that’s And that’s really, really something that was ingrained in me from a really, really young age. And that is my motto about it’s all right that you failed as long as you tried your best. And that’s also my really strong motto. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. And I still live by that today. I’ve tried so many things in life and so many different ideas and suggestions and initiatives, and it’s okay if they fail. But if you don’t try, you’ll never know. So that’s really my biggest motto. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. And what’s the worst that can happen? You’ll fail. That’s okay. It’s part of success.
Tiffan David: My last question is around any advice you might have for your younger self. Obviously you’re mid-career, so you’re not looking back too far, but is there anything that you know now that you wish you had known maybe coming out of school?
Rachel: That’s a great question. So I was very fortunate to have a very, as I mentioned before, a strong upbringing and very strong positive models in my life. So with your permission, I would like to adjust the question. And what advice would I give my daughter, if that’s okay with you?
Tiffan David: Absolutely. I’d love that.
Rachel: And as you know, I’m a new mom, so it suddenly changed my perspective in life. And suddenly it gives me a new perspective of what advice would I give my daughter? And that’s a great question. What advice would I give my daughter? And this is how I started living my life because I want my daughter to be around watching me be a strong, powerful woman. If I want to raise her to be a strong, powerful woman, I need to practice what I preach. So the advice I sort of, every time I question myself, is this what I want to do? I have given opportunities. As an example, when you approached me, if she asked me, my daughter asked me, mom, should I take this opportunity? I would tell her, of course, obviously this is a great opportunity. But for me, sometimes I re-question myself. Do I want to do this? Am I good enough? Should I do this? How should I do this? I’m going to be nervous. I don’t know if I want to do this. So I say, of course, I see myself asking her, asking me, and I say, absolutely. So I tell myself, you have to do this. I have to practice what I preach. And in order to bring up a strong and be a good model and give a positive example to my daughter, I need to live. By what I preach. So that’s what I’m doing.
Tiffan David: Oh, well, we’re so honored that you have. But I think you make a really excellent point. First of all, I may rephrase that question for some other guests because I think it is more relevant. But also that, I think, really gets to a difficult issue because sometimes you can see with utmost clarity what might be the right advice for your daughter or for anyone you love. It may be difficult to sometimes apply that same advice to yourself. And usually that’s around some of the more difficult decisions. I think that lens is actually a very, very useful one. Well, thank you, Rachel. It’s been a real pleasure speaking with you today and speaking about your journey. And thank you, as I said before, for what you’re doing in your community. I think it really is tremendous. And I’m not sure if you always get the thanks, but I’m sure the benefit is being felt. So thank you for coming here and sharing your insights with us.
Rachel: Thank you very much.
Tiffan David: I’m Aoifinn Devitt. Thank you for listening to our 50 Faces Focus Series. If you liked what you heard and would like to tune in to hear more inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, and all views are personal and should not be attributed to the organizations and affiliations of the host or any guest.
