Enriching Women’s Souls, Shattering Stereotypes – A Jewish Woman and a Muslim Woman Share Their Thoughts and Experiences

Fern Finkel, Board of Trustee member of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, will speak on the topic, Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom: Enriching Women’s Souls, Shattering Stereotypes.  The mission of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom (SOSS) is to build trust, respect, and relationships between American Muslim and Jewish women.  Through these relationships, the women commit to work together to limit acts of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish sentiment, stand up to hate against one another and engage in social action work.  The Sisterhood has just announced it is a finalist for the UN Alliance of Civilizations and BMW Group Intercultural Innovation Award.  The ten finalists, each from a different country, were selected from over 1200 applications representing 128 countries.

Fern Finkel’s early careers were as a special education teacher and then as a computer consultant for Control Data.  She then moved on to a 25-year position as founding CEO and Executive Director of the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA).  This international, geriatric, mental health, non-profit organization became her passion, as she worked with the leaders and professionals in the field from around the world.  When Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom came to Chicago, Fern, along with two other women, embraced the mission and the vision.  She formed the first chapter and served as leader as it became established.  She then became the facilitator for metro Chicago, coordinating the development of eight chapters and various regional events.  As co-chair of the National Chapter Support Planning Committee, she helped develop a regional coordinator structure to enhance the development and support of the Sisterhood’s grassroots chapters