For Ashley Klapper Pressman, Work Guided by Jewish Values

Ashley Klapper Pressman has been a familiar face on the local Jewish communal scene for two decades. Prior to joining Pearlstone/Adamah last year as the Reisterstown-based organization’s Chesapeake Region program director, she served as assistant director and then executive director of Jewish Volunteer Connection for 18 years. A Beth Am congregant, Pressman, 47, and her husband, Alan, have two children and live in Reservoir Hill.

Jmore talked with Pressman about how Jewish values have influenced her career, the advice she would you give young women entering the workforce today, and more.

What inspires you in your line of work?

I’m inspired by the opportunity to make a difference in the world, and I’ve been lucky enough to have been in the right place at the right time a number of times over my career when we had the chance to create something that really mattered in the moment — most recently, that was the chance to spearhead a retreat at Pearlstone for Israeli families living in Baltimore who have all been traumatized by the war between Israel and Hamas.

I’m also inspired by the chance to work with incredible teammates and to figure out how best to support each person to become the best professional they can be. My colleagues have truly been family to me and that keeps me going through the tough times.

Who was or is your professional role model?

It’s hard to pick just one. I’ve learned from each of my supervisors about the value of good supervision, the need to balance work and life, and the importance of being ambitious and visionary. I’m especially grateful to Leslie Pomerantz for having the confidence in me to get me launched on my first significant leadership role.

But I realized a couple of years ago that the person who had the most impact on my leadership style is actually someone I never met in person. During the pandemic, I picked up the book ‘The Carolina Way’ by Coach Dean Smith and as I read it, I realized how much his leadership had impacted the entire culture I grew up in. His focus on gratitude and acknowledgement, fair play, learning the basics and the mantra ‘Play hard. Play smart. Play together’ (which I thought everyone knew until I moved out of Chapel Hill!) are all integrated into my understanding of what it is to be a leader.

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?

I’ve gotten so many gems of advice over the years, but the one that always sticks out to me is a lesson my father taught me as a child, through example as much as through his words. His advice was, ‘It’s got to get done. Someone’s got to do it. It might as well be me.’

I think those words have guided me a lot over the years, as I’ve stepped into a lot of opportunities with a ‘get ‘er done’ attitude that allowed us to figure things out as we went, and still know where we were going and what success would look like.

Do you feel that sexism and salary inequities can be overcome during your lifetime?

We’ve come a long way in terms of pay transparency, which helps to reduce inequities by creating a more level playing field. At the same time, I worry that for those women who have children, they are still more often the partner that ends up carrying the mental and emotional load of childrearing and family responsibilities.

When that happens, women may not have the bandwidth to pursue professional development, promotions and other career enhancing opportunities, which results in more inequity and less representation in leadership levels.

How do Jewish values influence and inform your career and life in general?

I feel compelled by the idea of community and collective responsibility, embodied in the teaching that ‘All Israel is responsible one for another,’ and I extend that out beyond the Jewish world to the world at large, and beyond the world today to generations to come.

I think that Judaism has profound relevance in the world today, and one of the joys of my work is helping people get to an ‘aha!’ moment where they make a new realization that enhances their understanding of the world, and using Jewish stories, text and wisdom to facilitate those moments is incredibly rewarding.

What advice would you give young women entering the workforce today?

Learn by observing the culture of the people around you. Always assume that each person has something to teach you, formally or informally. Take chances to learn each part of your workplace, even if it feels like some tasks are a burden or not the best use of your time and talent.

Remember that no one is too important to move chairs or take out the trash, but don’t let yourself become that person by default if you notice that there are men at the same level who are never asked to do that type of work. Be patient as you take on each new opportunity, flexible as your life changes, confident as you seek new opportunities and kind to yourself because at some point, you’ll likely be balancing more than one person can hold.