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On a group call with Karkowsky
listening in, Meyer said, “Shuli’s going
to get us in all 50 states.” And the new
leader did not try to downplay that
expectation. Just as she’s ready to be
a CEO, she’s ready to do what a CEO
does: find new territory.

Karkowsky wants to use Moving
Traditions’ mental health-enhancing
programs to “give parents confidence to
parent correctly,” she said; to convince
schools to “take elements of our program
and reeducate young people,” she added;
and to simultaneously “stay in Philly but
have a national impact,” she concluded.

The former corporate lawyer has a
three-year plan to double engagement.

20 She wants to start by increasing
enrollment in Moving Traditions’ core
programs and then pitch its approach
to Jewish schools.

“Feminism, gender identity, self-
acceptance — all the pieces that help
young people help themselves — if
they were implemented more broadly,
I’d feel good about the future of Jewish
education,” Karkowsky said.

According to the CEO, the nonprofit
conducts studies and surveys that show
that its programs enhance mental
health and a sense of security in teens.

It’s just a matter of proving this to more
and more people.

Meyer said she sees parents as
MARCH 3, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
partners, and Karkowsky agrees. But
the new CEO also said that parents
“don’t always have the language to talk
to their kids.”
The famous “sex talk” is a good
example of this problem, Karkowsky
said. “You want children to understand
that it’s not something they should be
cavalier about, but you don’t want to
stigmatize it,” she said. “That’s a hard
balance to walk.”
Moving Traditions tries to help
parents achieve this balance, she added.

The more it succeeds, she explained, the
more it will make kids feel comfortable
expressing their true identities.

Karkowsky herself is a mother of
three children, ages 7, 7 and 2. She
already sees her son lowering his voice
around bigger kids, and her daughter
becoming conscious of how her non-
feminine interests, like Legos and
martial arts, make her different.

“I’m seeing these forces bloom in
my own life,” the mother said. “I’m
seeing how early in their lives social
influences start to affect them.”
As a mom, Karkowsky knows she
will love her kids “no matter what,” she
added. Her goal with Moving Traditions
is to “create a world where every young
person feels that security from the
people around them,” she concluded. JE