My Story

Not everyone who knows me personally and professionally knows my life story.
I decided to write it down when I came to realize its profound influence and effect on my choices and on the woman I have come to be.

I was born to two young, curious and adventurous people who felt the need to make a change in their lives when I was six months old. They packed up their life and the three of us moved to the jungles of Liberia, on the west cost of Africa.

We spent seven years in Liberia, a year and a half of that living with an indigenous tribe in the jungle without running water or electricity. I believe these years had a profound influence on my personality and created an ability to connect both to nature and to people – including those who are different from me in appearance, language and culture.

After we returned to Israel, I was busy becoming as Israeli as possible. I was focused on school, activities in youth groups and volunteer work. I joined the Israeli Defense Force and became an officer. After 2 years in the army I made a shift and started exploring the world of high-tech start-up companies. Those years were an amazing experience in learning the importance, complexity and diversity of communication and personal interaction.

One night in 1998, I woke up and felt something wasn’t right. I got up, went to the bathroom, lost consciousness and collapsed. That night my life changed. I was 26 years old.

I spent the next few months struggling, first trying to find an explanation for my symptoms and then with the various doctors that attempted to treat me and claimed it was psychosomatic.

I was finally diagnosed with PPH (Primary Pulmonary Hypertension). The doctors explained there was little that could be done – I was expected to have a short life expectancy, there was little chance that I would be able to work and support myself and there was chanceno possibility that I could carry a pregnancy to term.

With the years that followed and against the odds, I transformed myself from an "interesting study case" to a "medical miracle" and finally back to a human being. I returned to being the strong, independent and opinionated woman I was before and I was turning my personal experience to practical expertise.

I now help people cope with chronic illness and redesign their life and I assist those who care for them to improve their communication. It's called Collaborative Therapeutic Communication.

I believe that people's ability to talk, listen and understand one another has a therapeutic effect in the deepest sense of the word. Once this ability is developed and deepened the interaction transforms from an act of exchange into to an act of co-creation, one that we can grow and develop from and feel fulfillment and satisfaction from its fruits.

At the age of 29 I gave birth to my beloved daughter, Ella. She was born to a mother that decided to be a strong, healthy and happy parent so that she can give her a calm, secure and empowering childhood. To my great joy, Ella is growing up to be a happy, well adjusted, curious, bright and fun little girl.

The experience of motherhood is very gratifying for me. I accept the difficulties and see them as a part of the constant coping, growing and healing process which is also a part of life. My connection with my daughter is a daily reminder that at the end of the day the most important thing we have is each other.

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