The importance of ERGs to employees’ sense of wellbeing, community, and agency within an organization is undeniable. With origins in the 1960s, when Black workers at Xerox organized to discuss race-based tension in the workplace, ERGs are found in 90% of today’s Fortune 500 companies and often exist to provide personal and professional support to self-identified members as well as allies, ultimately contributing to a diverse, inclusive workplace. Miro currently hosts 12 ERGs and counting — but in 2019, an ERG for the Jewish community wasn’t one of them.
“When I first started at Miro, I learned all about employee resource groups,” says Sabrina Danilovich, a hub community manager and ERG leader at Miro. “What they are and what each different community here at Miro stands for. As Yom Kippur approached, a Jewish holiday where we fast and atone for our sins, I was navigating how to take time off on this day. I’d realized that our internal PTO request system only allowed us to take ‘Vacation’ and that didn’t sit well with me.”
Sabrina Danilovich, Miro hub community manager and founder of Jew-ish
So Sabrina did what needed to be done and founded Jew-ish at Miro, an ERG for self-identified Jewish Mironeers and their allies. Within 5 days’ time of its announcement, she’d secured an annual budget and 15 members. Now, that number has grown to 85 Mironeers globally, and it continues to climb under the deft co-leadership of Sabrina herself and Jennie Davidowitz, with Gary Mintz, Head of Commercial Legal, acting as executive sponsor.
I founded this ERG to create a community where we could talk and find solutions together as one Tribe — something a lot of Mironeers were looking for.
A safe haven for everyone
The mission of Jew-ish from the getgo has been to host educational and community-oriented conversations that foster awareness of Jewish culture. Serving as a resource and support network for Mironeers, the members of Jew-ish strive to enhance “Jew-ish connections” in the workplace, and give back to local communities.
“The most important factor here is that this is an extremely safe place for all community members and allies,” Sabrina emphasizes.
Being a Jew in Texas can be a lonely experience, and I've been the first Jew that people have met on more than one occasion. Having this community within Miro means I have people to relate to, both locally and globally. Plus, it's always nice to grow your tribe.
With that mission in mind, it’s been a busy year for the ERG. In January, Jew-ish led the Miro community in a virtual candle-lighting ceremony for international Holocaust Remembrance Day. By logging onto Illuminate the Past, a site founded by the child of a Holocaust survivor, Mironeers could learn and collectively grieve.
Members of Jew-ish pose for a photo at the Austin, Texas hub
The members of Jew-ish are dedicated to supporting local Jewish-owned businesses. Throughout the year, the ERG organized several events across hubs that involved partnering with various local organizations. In Austin, Jew-ish joined up with JewBoy Sub Shop, a sandwich shop “inspired by Border and Reform Jewish culture.” Meanwhile, in LA, the historic Canter’s Deli provided Mironeers with legendary subs and deli provisions. And when Jew-ish needed a new logo, a local Jewish female entrepreneur was hired to design one for them.
For many ERGs, community is the first and foremost tenet — both within the organization and beyond — and Jew-ish is no exception.
While I don't identify as a religious person, the Jewish traditions are significant to me in that I feel a sense of home when I come together with my family to practice them. That is something I have always struggled to explain to goyim but something that is understood by the community, which is why this ERG community is important to me.
With FY23 wrapping up and FY24 on the horizon, Jew-ish is readying themselves to step into another year of advocacy, celebration, and community. Hanukkah this month means a community lunch celebration and a virtual latke-making event for the US hubs. To accompany celebrations of this holiday, each US hub will have a “culture corner” complete with dreidels, a menorah, and Hanukkah gelt. Meanwhile, over in the European hubs, Mironeers will learn the ins and outs of making Israeli sufganiyot donuts.
Cookies from a virtual cookie-decorating celebration to celebrate Hanukkah 2021
In Amsterdam, Miro’s CEO, Andrey Khusid, will lead Mironeers in a virtual candle lighting celebration on January 27, 2023, Holocaust Remembrance Day, to commemorate the liberation date of Auschwitz as well as grieve all those lost in the Holocaust, both Jewish and non-Jewish alike.
“We celebrate the high holidays together, but we also discuss tough subjects like anti-semitism,” says Sabrina. “Our goal going into 2023 is to bring awareness to our community and the practices, religion, and overall culture, and the different ways that we celebrate those things globally.”
