The Upfront Podcast

Today’s guest Katharina Höftmann was born in Rostock in East Germany. She studied Psychology and German-Jewish History at Humboldt University in Berlin while working as a journalist for various newspapers. Due to receiving a scholarship for Ben Gurion University in Israel, she first stayed in the land that would later become her home base of choice. Katharina converted to Judaism and later wrote about her experiences in the Holy Land in several books and is an accomplished writer and author living in Tel Aviv.

We are talking about her conversion process into Judaism, whether one can learn to believe in God, and how Katharina lost and found her identity whilst attempting to reconcile the Holocaust’s perpetrator-victim relationship for herself.

Find Katharina on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/gutenmorgentelaviv/
Katharina's latest book can be found here (English excerpt available) https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/alef/
More books by Katharina: https://www.amazon.de/Katharina

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My guest on this episode is Juliet Taylor, who grew up in a Jewish modern orthodox family in London, England. Juliet moved to Israel 9 years ago and worked as the educational director for a school. In the midst of her daily life, a mental health crisis slowly crept in and altered her life. Juliet was able to change her perspective on life and focus on what she values most, which eventually brought her to express her feelings through art in her spoken poetry. She has just finished her master’s degree in early childhood education.

We are speaking on working towards eliminating the stigma of mental health issues, going through countless lockdowns and war by yourself, and what ultimately matters most.

Find Juliet and her spoken poetry on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/julietmariataylor/

Find helpful resources for mental health support at https://www.helpguide.org/find-help.htm
Global Mental Health Resources https://checkpointorg.com/global/

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Maysa Resende is originally from Brazil, and she moved to Israel in 2016 to do her Ph.D. in Biotechnology Engineering at Ben Gurion University (BGU). She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University (TAU), and during the pandemic, she founded a brand of natural and sustainable cosmetic bars called "Bars from Mars".
We are talking about consumer behavior, greenwashing, the impact on sales through “clean” claims, and what natural and chemical ingredients in cosmetics mean. Maysa will also share what it took to establish a sustainable brand of her own.

Find Maysa on Instagram or on Facebook.
Find the "Bars from Mars" at https://barsfrommars.com, and on Facebook or Instagram.

Send us your comments, remarks, questions and opinions in writing or as an audio recording through one of these channels:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theupfrontpodcast/
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Tomer Yair Zemel was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. He is a social activist for causes that he is most passionate about. Tomer works in the high-tech industry and has been living close to Tel Aviv in Israel for the past several years.
We are speaking about his coming out, what he would recommend for other people to focus on when coming out themselves, what pride month and the pride parade are really all about and what still needs to change to give everyone equal legal rights. Please join in on the conversation in the comments on our Instagram or Facebook page.

Tomer’s Social Media accounts
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/Tyzworks/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tomer.y.zemel

For support, please reach out to your local helpline or at:
https://www.lgbt-helpline.ch/en/
https://lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu/support/hotlines
https://lgbt.foundation/helpline
LGBT Olim (for Israel) https://lgbtolim.org/lgbt-organizations/

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Nina is giving an update on what is happening with The Upfront Podcast, how it will go on, and what the true, important essence of this podcast is.

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Lauren Adilev is originally from the United States and relocated to Israel in the '80s. She is a single mom of two, living in Efrat in the Gush Etzion Region, and runs two businesses, a boutique content agency and a home/life organization service where she helps people declutter and downsize their life.

We are speaking about raising kids as a single parent in a religious environment, how she ensures her family’s safety living in a settlement, and what her take on minimalism and downsizing is. 

Find Clutter’s Last Stand on Facebook.
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Sharona Shnayder, originally from Lagos in Nigeria moved to Portland, Oregon (USA) at the age of eight. At the age of 21, she decided to move to Israel. She co-founded “Tuesdays for Trash”, a global grassroots movement, mobilizing communities to help clean the environment and raising awareness, and providing education about climate urgency.
Sharona is a climate activist and also the chairwoman of “Our Streets PDX”.

We are speaking about what we should want to achieve for our planet, how we can all contribute to saving our only home, and what the correlation between privilege and the climate crisis is.

Find Sharona on Instagram @sharonashnayder.
"Tuesdays for Trash" can be found on Instagram @tuesdaysfortrash and on the web https://tuesdaysfortrash.com.

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My guest today is Rebecca Sigala. Originally from Minneapolis in Minnesota (USA), Rebecca made Aliyah in 2009 (Jewish immigration to Israel) and now lives in Israel with her husband and three children.
Rebecca is a self-employed boudoir photographer, self-love activist, and a body image and self-love coach for women.

We are talking about what her own journey has led her to, what societal expectations women are facing nowadays, how we handle these, and how we can all learn to love ourselves through a process of self-acceptance and self-love.

Find Rebecca on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/rebeccasigalaboudoir/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Rebeccasigalaboudoir.
Rebecca's website can be found at https://rebeccasigala.com.

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Join the conversation on our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/theupfrontpodcast/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theupfrontpodcast.

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Rahel Cucchia was brought up in a very small town in Central Switzerland. In 2018 she started working out to build her fitness and competed in her first bodybuilding competition within a year. After several successful national competitions, she then went to Romania to compete in an international pro qualification that she won overall and in her class. Rahel became an IFBB Pro and has been a professional bodybuilder ever since.

We will talk about her career and exceptional accomplishments, what it takes to be a bodybuilder, body image issues, and what it is really like being a woman in this male-dominated field.

You can find Rahel on her Instagram page.
Listen and subscribe to The Upfront Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and our website.

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In today’s episode, my guest is a very well-known journalist, that reports on extremism and war from within. Due to his very dangerous occupation and his covert travels to certain places, we are protecting his identity by using the pseudonym "Kay" instead of his real name.

We will be talking about insights from a war correspondent’s perspective who has witnessed and experienced war in Syria and other places firsthand on the ground, as well as the current threat level of terrorism and extremism.

Subscribe and listen to The Upfront Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and our website. Please leave a review so that we can find out how to make this show even better in the future.

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Join the conversation and leave us your comments, remarks, and opinions on our Instagram, Youtube, Facebook or via E-Mail to [email protected]. Please share, subscribe and leave a review to help The Upfront Podcast reach more people.