Zoey made Aliyah at age six to Chashmonaim. In her teen years, her family moved to Meitar, just outside of Be’er Sheva after relatives moved to Meitar and they realized they could sell their Du Mishpachti (semi-detached) house and buy a more spacious home for their family. Her experiences in the south show that it’s a lot more accepting and laid back. The community of Olim down here pushes them to discover new adventures, getting to know different types of people. Even with all of the politics, there is somehow less tension.
Before enlisting in the army, Zoey studied in part of an IDF initiative to involve not technically inclined girls to train them in technical fields before beginning their IDF service. In the army, she served as a plane engine technician super (Hercules) where her English was very helpful. Many of the plane manuals and parts needed English skills in order to understand how to deal with them.
The technical training from the course, as well as her English skills, really helped catapult her into her army experience.
Following the army, different roads invited me to explore them, but among them, the boot camp caught my interest and helped me develop my idea so I would be able to apply to the boot camp. I was always helping people with their mechanical drafting projects, and because of her education and experiences, she was able to navigate the process that for some is a daunting one. The goal of her initiative, iRealize, is to help people take their idea for a product from inception stage to a place where they have a mechanically drafted idea on a computer, ready to be 3d printed. Most people don’t have those skills so I want to be able to share them with people who need them in order to create their ideas.
The boot camp helped me really focus in on my idea, had many ideas in the past and never invested enough to make them come to a reality. The boot camp made me invest in my idea and put it through the process I want to help my customers with, taking their idea from inception, and making it a functioning business or service.
There is such an innovative mindset down here in the south- there is the university, but so much room for growth everywhere around it. You can find opportunity everywhere to make an impact. Its such a young city with a big blank canvas and you feel like everyone wants you to succeed down here, you are supported and encouraged to make big things happen. Israel is making such a push to bring people down here, so I feel so lucky to be able to take advantage of all the opportunities down here.
