Ayala Fader received her Ph.D. from New York University and is currently Professor of Anthropology at Fordham University.  She is the author of the award-winning book Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn (Princeton 2009). Recent fellowships include the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities to support her latest book, Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age (2020). Fader is the co-founder and co-convener of the New York Working Group on Jewish Orthodoxies at Fordham’s Jewish Studies Program. 

Eli Rosen: Born and raised in the Hasidic community of Boro Park, Brooklyn, Eli is a recovering corporate litigator who now serves as the managing director of New Yiddish Repertory Theater as well as a Yiddish cultural consultant for film and television. His many stage, tv and film credits include the Netflix hit series Unorthodox. Eli is also a founding board member of Freidom.

Malky Wigder: Born, raised and married in the Hasidic community of Satmar in NY, Malky fought for her and her children’s freedom to live a self-determined life.  Malky is now active in helping others on a similar path, providing peer support, practical guidance and advocacy for those in the process of extricating themselves from their ultra-Orthodox communities, those still grappling with these monumental choices, and those who choose to strive towards more contentment and personal congruence within the framework of their religious communities.