Katie Berger, formerly of Prairie Village, has been named to the seventh annual “Double Chai in the Chi: 36 Under 36” list of young Jewish movers and shakers in Chicago.
The letters of the Hebrew word “chai,” which means life, also represent the number 18 — thus “Double Chai.”
Presented by the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago’s Young Leadership Division and Oy!Chicago, Berger, along with the 35 other honorees, was honored at YLD’s “WYLD” party on Thursday, Aug. 16.
The young professionals featured are noted for making a difference through their work, giving back in their free time and earning distinction in the Jewish community and beyond.
Berger is a K-12 Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy graduate. Growing up, she attended Congregation B’nai Jehudah and Congregation Beth Shalom.
Her involvement in the Jewish community in Chicago is extensive. She served on the board of the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish United Fund for five years. Normally a four-year commitment, she served an extra year as campaign chair in 2017, helping to raise over $1 million for the Jewish United Fund.
“Through that, I got involved in a variety of different things,” she said. “I sat on community-wide committees, which has been an awesome experience, and learned a lot there for the Jewish United Fund and the whole community.”
The 31-year-old has now joined the Jewish Women’s Foundation where she reads and reviews grant proposals.
“It’s a giving circle; all the women contribute money and you allocate the monies,” she said. “You work in committees to vote on which grants to fulfill and at what level.”
She recently joined the Wexner Heritage Program, a two-year Jewish study experience with an additional focus on leadership. According to the Wexner website, the expectation is that each member will realize their full potential to exercise transformative leadership and maximize long-term impact in the Jewish community.
“I think the program will be a great learning and leadership opportunity for me and help me figure out what to do next,” Berger said. “I’m interested in evolving my leadership skills and I thought it would help both with my community involvement and at work.”
Berger is a freelance writer and producer. She does short form video production for on-air and off-air marketing. She works a lot with the Oprah Winfrey network and can also add to her resume work she recently did for United Airlines and McDonalds.
She was a senior producer for the Oprah Winfrey Show and Harpo Productions for a number of years, but when that moved out of Chicago, she said she began doing full-time freelance work for OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network). Since January, she has been freelancing project by project and taking on new clients.
“I’m just following in the footsteps of my family members I would say,” she said. “Giving back to the community is a priority.”
Berger is the daughter of Merilyn and Loren Berenbom.