The community recently hosted Ashley Waxman Bakshi, who shared her personal journey and insights as a social media influencer and pro-Israel advocate.
Ashley, who grew up in Canada, spoke candidly about her transformation from being embarrassed by her immigrant Israeli family to becoming a passionate advocate for Israel, after experiencing antisemitism on her college campus and going on a transformative Birthright trip to Israel.
After making aliyah and joining the army, she began creating YouTube makeup tutorials in Hebrew. Her videos gained mainstream popularity in Israel and she used her platform to call out celebrities for spreading misinformation about Israel.
As Agam Berger’s first cousin, Ashley has since taken on the cause of traveling around the world to advocate publicly for the release of all October 7 hostages. She created a moving video compilation showing her cousin all the advocacy work that has been done worldwide to try to free the hostages, documenting the global effort that continues for those still in captivity.
Ashley offered practical advice on how we can make a difference through social media engagement. She emphasized the importance of sharing, liking, and commenting on pro-Israel content to cause the algorithms to boost its visibility. She advised against engaging with antisemitic posts to avoid boosting their visibility, recommending instead to block and report them.
Looking toward the future, she outlined three key priorities:
• Save the youth by strengthening Jewish education, encouraging Birthright participation, and creating future leaders
• Strengthen relations with Christian, Iranian, and Muslim communities
• Invest in Israeli tech companies to stimulate the Israeli economy and help the many IDF reservists who now have to find new jobs to support their families
Participants heard a firsthand account of what it means to experience antisemitism and how we all have the power to make the world a better place.
