Rachel Sumekh
Reboot Board Member
Rachel Sumekh is a social entrepreneur and poverty expert. She’s the CEO of TEN, Together Ending Need, a coalition of funders creating more financially security for the 29% of Jews struggling financially. In addition to Reboot, Rachel is on the board of the Los Angeles Community College Foundation and served on the board of IKAR from 2018-2022.
From 2013-2022, Rachel was the CEO and Founder of Swipe Out Hunger which began with a few friends at UCLA and now scaled onto 900 universities, serving millions of nourishing meals. The organization is the leading nonprofit ending college student hunger. Rachel wrote the Hunger Free Campus Act which has been introduced in 22 states, sending over $100+ million to anti-hunger programs on campus. Rachel’s work has been recognized by The Obama White House and landed Rachel on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. In June of 2020, Rachel co-founded Not Free to Desist, a campaign to build an antiracist Jewish community.
She credits her Iranian Jewish parents for her intersectional perspective and warm leadership style. She is inspired by the way Rebooters come together to design an inspired and rooted Jewish future.
Articles
Blog
Rosh Hashanah as told by an Iranian Food Justice Advocate
Many Mizrahi and Sephardi Jewish families mark the Jewish New Year with a seder, literally meaning order. The tradition of a Rosh Hashanah seder dates back to Talmudic times. Unlike its lengthy Passover counterpart, it involves much less reading and features nine symbolic foods with one simple line of prayer accompanying each. Learn more about this beautiful – and delicious – tradition, the current ties to the human rights uprising in Iran, and food justice from Reboot Network member Rachel Sumekh on our blog here.