The Only Way Is Up

Efrat Lev was born in Israel and immigrated to Australia at the age of 5. Her parents were Chabad shlichim in Sydney and my father was the Rabbi of the Israeli community there. When she was 18.5 we moved back to Israel and settled in Efrat. She went to Midreshet Harova followed by Hebrew University where she got my degrees in International Relations and English Literature. She also married my husband, who she had met in Australia and they have 3 children.

Efrat had bad scoliosis and asthma growing up and wore a back brace throughout high school. She was very academic and sports was never her thing. She was always picked last for teams in school and always preferred to sit on the side and read a book during Physical Ed classes.

Efrat's pregnancies were extremely difficult because she suffers from a condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), unrelenting vomiting throughout pregnancy. Her last pregnancy six years ago was the most difficult. She was bed ridden, on IV medication and steroids and lost a lot of weight. While many women focus on losing their baby weight after giving birth, she only wanted to get stronger. What started as just walking gave way to strength training with 2kg dumbbells and it was literally love at first sight. She was fortunate to have a home gym as her husband is an ironman, as well as a doctor who has little time to get to a gym.
In that home gym she taught myself to powerlift with a small gym bar, a hell of a lot of YouTube tutorials and a real determination in my heart to never be weak again. When Crossfit opened in Efrat, a good friend told her she must try it out and even though she was still generally clumsy and hadn't trained in a group setting, she went. Crossfit truly skyrocketed my potential and within months she was lifting weight she never thought possible.
The owner and head coach casually suggested she go to Wingate to get certified as a health and fitness coach and after 11 years of being a stay at home mum, Efrat embarked on a year of study. Upon receiving my certification, she went on to get certified as a Crossfit Level 1 trainer and started working at Crossfit Gush. Along the way she also met her powerlifting coach who introduced me to the world of competitive lifting.
Although she trains men, women and children, her passion is to strength train women in all stages of life. There are so many myths and misconceptions regarding this field and it is her absolute passion to break the stereotypes and introduce women to the numerous benefits of strength training.
For all her Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/efrat.lev
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/efrat.lev/
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Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Artwork: Leon Weinreb

Devorah made aliyah in December 2011 with came with my husband and 3 out of her 4 daughters aged 10, 13 and 15. Her 17 year old stayed in South Africa to complete her final year of high school. She made aliyah a year later. It was an incredibly difficult aliyah as her family moved for her 'Zionistic dream'. Teenagers making aliyah was not simple from so many different aspects - social, cultural and of course the language. The first 6 months I was torn between my disbelief that she actually made aliyah and the privilege she felt to be living here, and the pain that her family was feeling. After 6 months of drying tears and trying to settle her family, it hit her one day that she had lost my Wellness practice, that nobody knew her professionally and she would have to start from scratch building up a Reflexology practice again.
Before Devorah made aliyah she ran a busy Reflexology practice from home. The year before she left she started studying Logotherapy which is the teachings of Dr Victor Frankl from his bestseller, 'Man's search for meaning.' She had started incorporating these teachings into my clinic because she felt that people were looking for meaning behind their illnesses and struggles and until then she was not able to help them. LY helps people ask "What now?" instead of "Why me?".
When Devorah knew they were coming to Israel, she told the lecturer, on old Africaner women who was Dr Frankls student, that she was unable to continue with the course because she was going to live in Israel. She said "Marvelous Devorah, I live in Modiin! I converted because of Dr Frankl and now live in Israel and teach a private group Logotherapy from my home. You are welcome to join!" So, soon after she made aliyah she joined the group and continued with the course. This was a lifesaver to Devorah as she made the aliyah transition. It was a huge turning point in her work as she started counseling people with life struggles and challenges. Of course the skills she learnt helped her with her own transition and helped her to help her family as well.
Devorah then went on to do a bereavement counseling course and studied mental imagery for healing and am currently studying Somatic Experience - emotional first aid for trauma.
For all her social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dkwellbeing
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5YDsijkbETm1T70Lc2B2Ag
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devorah-kur-b692a725/
For all our social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlywayisuppodcast/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/onlywayisuppodcast/

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Artwork: Leon Weinreb

Marta is the quintessential Aliyah story. Originally from Philadelphia, she fell in love with Israel at an early age, when she lived with her family for a year in the small desert town of Arad, at the age of 10. Really, even back then, she knew then she would one day be back in Israel for good.
After studying abroad here in both high school and college Israel became her second home and eventually, after graduating university in the States, Marta made aliyah 10 years ago.
Over the years Marta has had many jobs from a PR agency, to Masa Israel to
being one of the first employees at the music education startup, JoyTunes, where she was the community manager.
All these positions lead her to her current one, marketing manager at Google.
If you had told Marta, when she graduated from University, that one day she would be working at Google, she would have laughed in your face. She absolutely owes this to living in Israel, as her Israeli network opened doors one by one, taught her the skills, and led her to this incredible opportunity.
Marta is a true zionist, she believes Israel is an ongoing miracle she feels blessed to witness everyday. Even with the many things that still needs to improve in this country, she is excited to be part of the day to day evolution which is this country. Her work at Google, helping startups, she believes is an important part of the mission of Israel - to be a light upon the nation and bring innovation and growth to this country, and beyond.

When not working, she is traveling the world, for work. When not doing either of those, she is practicing her yoga, taking the long walk home, listening to a podcast or at home playing cards with her boyfriend.Marta is a big believer in positive thinking, manifestation and boutique Israeli wine.

For all her social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marta.mozes
For all our social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlywayisuppodcast/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/onlywayisuppodcast/

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Artwork: Leon Weinreb

As a teenager Nina was very wild and free spirited, she was working 3 jobs at age 15. Nina became pregnant with her son at age 21. When he was born everything changed. She moved to her parents home in Hollywood, Florida and was exposed to a modern Orthodox community and started learning at Aish HaTorah. She decided to go on Taglit Birthright through Aish. Her son stayed with my parents and I went on a journey to the other side of the world, Israel. After the trip she moved to Israel with her son.
Nina brought the Paint nite craze to Israel. She goes around the country bringing her creative, confidence-boosting, self-esteem enhancing workshops to you. This popular Paint and Sip business is sweeping the world and people are trying something they never thought they could do. They bring all the supplies including canvases ,easels, paint brushes and everything needed to turn your space into a personal Art Studio. Within an hour and a half we teach you how to recreate a beautiful piece of artwork all by yourself. You don't need any experience to be able to do this and they promise that everyone succeeds. Often these events are accompanied with food and drinks. We work with hundreds of businesses, organizations, restaurants, schools and people throughout Israel.
Nina has a masters in gifted education. She believes art and painting are extremely healing and therapeutic and confidence-building. They work with cancer patients , victims of terror, women shelters, children's homes and so much more.
For all her social media
website: www.paintpartyevents.com
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paintpartyeventsisrael/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsraelPaintPartyEvents/
For all our social media be sure to like our fb page: https://www.facebook.com/onlywayisuppodcast/

and follow us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/onlywayisuppodcast/

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Artwork: Leon Weinreb

Ilana is the owner of Kshamming and Ilana Stemmer PR. After 15 years of working in marketing & PR in the UK and Israel, she decided it was time to go solo and launched herself as a PR consultant while studying to be an Ayurvedic Practitioner - a long and complicated dream that was eventually being materialised. She now combines the two professions and enjoys (almost!) every minute of it.

Website: https://www.kshamming.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kshamming/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kshamming

For all our social media be sure to like our fb page: https://www.facebook.com/onlywayisuppodcast/
and follow us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/onlywayisuppodcast/
Music: https://www.purple-planet.comArtwork: Leon Weinreb