Meet OUR Jane: Azriela Jaffe

Posted on May 11, 2010 - Filed Under Go Jane Go, Jane Thoughts, Meet a Jane, Success Tips for Jane, Which Jane Are You?

Azriela Jaffe is the Publishing Director for Jane Out of the Box Media and a regular writer for Mishpacha magazine. She has authored 20 published books, including that book which the Wall Street Journal rated one of the best work/family books of 1993: “Honey, I Want to Start My Own Business, a Planning Guide for Couples.” Azriela joined Jane out of the Box Media when founder, Michele DeKinder-Smith, envisioned creating resources for women entrepreneurs and both women realized the power of teaming up together.

The idea for her first book, “Honey, I Want to Start My Own Business, a Planning Guide for Couples,” which was published by Harper Collins in 1993, came to her when she was a newlywed. She recalls, “My husband quit his job two weeks before our honeymoon, to start his own business in the spare bedroom of the house we would now share together. I was the new stepparent to his two sons, pregnant a few months after the wedding, working full-time in a busy career as a Human Resources Director, and trying to manage the pressures on a new marriage of a business working out of the home and not bringing in much money. It wasn’t easy. I went to the bookstore looking for answers, but back then the concept of ‘work/family’ was unknown and no one was writing about the pressures of entrepreneurship on a marriage and family. The writing bug bit me – I thought, ‘I should write this book!’ That was an Accidental Jane moment. I had never taken a writing course, didn’t know anything about publishing a book, but with a Go Jane Go attitude I took the project on with a vengeance. It was like therapy for me! I haven’t looked back, only forward, and I’ve continued to write about what interests me.”

Although Azriela started her business accidentally, there are many reasons for keeping her entrepreneurial ventures. “My three children were born within four years, and I really despised the restrictions of a corporate schedule,” reflects Azriela. “I wanted to be able to care for my children, and also do what I loved – write – without corporate politics dragging me down. I have enjoyed the benefits of raising my children with the kind of spoiling I feel good about – a warm dinner and a smiling mother waiting for them off the school bus. They are teenagers now and they still need that love and attention!”

Azriela asserts that the rewards for owning her business are too many to count, “but certainly one of the top five are the privately commissioned Holocaust memoirs that I’m currently writing. My client is typically a holocaust survivor, in his/her eighties or nineties, who has merited to see grandchildren and great grandchildren and wishes for future generations to know the full story of their life. I spend months interviewing them, gathering family documents and photos and then create a professionally published book for everyone to enjoy. It is incredibly rewarding to give this gift to the survivor and his or her family. In my family, the holocaust survivors have died and all of their stories are gone forever because they were never recorded. Writing books and speaking professionally, as well as working as a journalist for an International magazine, have brought me in contact with the most amazing, wonderful people – including Michele DeKinder-Smith!”

After taking the free Which Jane Are You? assessment at www.JaneOutoftheBox.com , Azriela discovered that she is a Go Jane Go. “In the heyday of the Internet, I was Jane Dough for about two years and making a lot of money writing for business Internet sites. It didn’t last though because I moved on to more rewarding writing that pays less in cash, but more in spiritual dividends. I started as Accidental Jane and I’m squarely in the Go Jane Go camp now and have been for many years. I fit the Go Jane Go profile to a T. At last count, I have seven jobs and I love it that way (working for Jane out of the Box Media ranks as one of my favorites of course!) I also teach English composition and public speaking to Orthodox Jewish college-age boys, am working on several book projects and am helping to shape and edit future books that will be published in the coming year by Jane Out of the Box media. I have been juggling so many balls for so long, it’s normal for me.”

Azriela’s advice for other Go Jane Go’s is inspired by her harried but satisfying Go experience. “Well-intentioned people might tell you that you are taking on too much, or that you should slow down,” cautions Azriela. “Only you know if that’s true. The real key is doing work you love, and working for and with people you respect and whose mission you believe in, so you want to support them in their work.”

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