Hashem decided to create you, and that the world would be incomplete without you — with all your skills, abilities, and strengths, as well as with all your flaws, weaknesses, and shortcomings

Who: Ari Rosenstein, director of communications and market research at Windsor Healthcare, which provides short-term and long-term health care, rehabilitation services, and assisted living communities throughout California and Arizona.

What: Ari’s responsibilities include content management for 40 skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation center websites, social media activity, online review tracking and reputation management, press releases and corporate communications. Prior to making aliyah, he was the VP of sales and marketing for an HR company, CPE HR, Inc., and was retained as director of marketing after moving to Israel. About five years ago, he moved over to Windsor, when a more significant opportunity arose.

Where: Born and raised in Elizabeth, NJ, Ari went through, as he calls it, “the regular Modern Orthodox high school and gap year track.” At Yeshiva University, he majored in speech and communications, with a focus on public speaking. He then married Aliza (née Samson) in 1994, and relocated to her hometown of Los Angeles. Eight years and three kids later, they moved to Eretz Yisrael. They bought “on paper” in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where they still live today, and were blessed with another son and daughter.

Why: A year-and-a-half ago, Ari and I went on a snowboarding trip together, and I was so impressed with his commitment to learning, minyan, and family that I felt I had to get to know him better. And as I did, I became even more inspired by his constant positivity, passion for Eretz Yisrael, and his full, non-negotiable morning seder. When he started creating exercise videos for frum men stuck at home during COVID, I knew we had to feature him, but when I asked for an official interview, he was genuinely shocked. But his innate humility is just another part of his inspirational profile.

1 of 9 What opportunities or personalities played a role in your career?

I went to Yeshiva University and majored in speech and communications. My dream was to go into broadcast journalism or producing news documentaries. When I got married and moved to Los Angeles, I was excited about the media opportunities. I got my first job working with a television production company, only to learn the seasonal nature of the industry meant working for a season, and getting laid off until the next season. Realizing I didn’t have much of a future in the industry, my father-in-law, a successful entrepreneur and businessman, offered me a sales job in human resources. I’ve always been comfortable speaking in public and to people I don’t know, so while I had never thought of a career in sales and marketing, when my father-in-law offered me the opportunity, it wasn’t my plan, but it felt like a natural fit.

I began consulting with small businesses, “selling” human resources outsourcing solutions. I did well and continued to learn sales and management techniques, moving into a management position, and eventually became the VP of sales and marketing. I had never looked at myself as an entrepreneur, but the position offered opportunities to push and expand on new ideas and help grow the organization. As a member of the executive team, I participated in corporate decision making, I hired and trained over two dozen sales professionals (there wasn’t really a sales and marketing department when I came on board), rebranded the logo and pitch, and introduced new services and product lines to our portfolio. I started when the business had only ten employees and by the time I left, it had over 100. I loved the excitement and adrenaline of seeing how my participation made a real impact on the company. I was a respected member of the executive team and loved every minute of my job.

When our family made the decision to make aliyah eight years later, I had to make a major paradigm shift as I left the role as an executive to “just an employee.” There was obviously no way for me to continue in my executive VP role living 9,000 miles away. I continued to manage the online marketing and social media efforts of the company for another 12 years while living in Israel. In 2015 a new opportunity presented itself, so I transitioned to Windsor Healthcare as the director of communications and market research, which offered more opportunities for creativity, independence, and growth.