What connection does the 1999 Christina Aguilera concert at the Franklin High School gym have with B’nai Brith Youth Organization-Wisconsin Region?
The connection is Rachael Frydman, who became the new regional director of BBYO on June 2.
Frydman, who spent about nine years working in direct promotion and marketing for radio, created the High School Spirit Contest for KISS-FM radio, and the Aguilera concert was the prize.
And that promotional and marketing experience was a key factor in BBYO’s decision to choose Frydman for the position of regional director according to BBYO-Wisconsin Region’s new adult commission president Rachael Marks of River Hills.
In addition to having “a lot of energy … she brings something to the table that all organizations need” — an understanding of how to do marketing, fundraising and grant writing, Marks told The Chronicle.
Frydman said that she has been working part-time for BBYO since December 2004 as the coordinator of the Walk for Israel. That, Marks noted, offered “a good opportunity for everyone to see [her work], especially the kids.”
And, the kids did, in fact, participate in this hiring decision. Though BBYO has its own human resources professionals, explained outgoing regional director Jen Friedman, they make decisions in consultation with youth, advisors and the adult commission.
Frydman said she would like to see “all the Jewish youth of Milwaukee” involved in BBYO and “getting what they need out of it. That doesn’t always have to be the same for everyone,” she said.
“It may be leadership, sports, Judaism, community service — some may need to be very involved and others only in a few activities, I want to see Jewish teens getting what they need.”
Frydman, 28, is a Milwaukee native who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Always involved in the Jewish community,” she was president of Hillel Foundation at UW-Madison, where she majored in broadcast journalism and sociology and minored in Jewish studies.
She has experience working with young people both as a resident advisor in a UW dorm and as a BBYO advisor in Milwaukee.
Frydman spent about two years in Atlanta and when she moved there about four years ago, the first thing she did was “find the Jewish community. I joined a temple within the first three weeks” and started a young Jewish adult group which numbered about 30 by the time she left the city.
Back home, too, she is active in Young Jewish Adults of Milwaukee (YJAM) and is a co-chair of next year’s “Latke-Vodka”, YJAM’s Chanukah event.
“This is my first full-time paid position in Jewish community work,” Frydman said. “I am very lucky to have four past regional directors here in town” to consult when needed.
The immediate past regional director, Jen Friedman, is retiring after almost 11 years with the organization.
“I am hanging up my hat, professionally,” said Friedman, in a recent interview. “I have loved my work,” so the decision to leave BBYO was a difficult one.
But Friedman will continue to be involved in BBYO as a member of its adult commission. In addition, she will assume the presidency of the National Council of Jewish Women in July and is expecting her third child in September.
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