Today’s episode is about something we all hope we never face—but so many women unfortunately do: breast cancer- Cancer is a word that can feel heavy, but my goal today is to arm you with the knowledge and information you need to have. Because the truth is the number one risk factor for breast cancer is simply being a woman. And whether you want to talk about it or not, this disease impacts 1 in 8 women. And as you will learn today, Jewish women are more likely to carry mutations that cause Breast cancer. So I invite you to listen to this episode all the way through. I promise—it won’t feel heavy or discouraging. Instead, it will leave you with the knowledge you want to have.

We are living in a time where knowledge is power. The more we understand about our bodies, our risks, and the resources available to us, the more empowered we become to take action, advocate for ourselves, and support the people around us.

Today’s episode is about leaning into that power—because with knowledge comes confidence, with community comes strength, and with both, comes hope.

A breast cancer diagnosis can feel like the ground has shifted beneath your feet — and navigating the medical world, the emotional weight, and the sheer volume of information can feel impossible to do alone. That is exactly why Sharsheret exists, and why this conversation with its CEO, Elana Silber, is one every woman needs to hear.

The information shared on this episode is for educational purposes only. Please consult a licensed medical professional for advice specific to your health.

In this episode, Elana shares:

• Why every woman — regardless of family history, age, or background — is at risk for breast cancer, and why awareness must start at 25
• The truth about self-exams: how to do them, why they matter, and why consistency is more important than technique
• What the BRCA gene mutation actually means, who carries it, and why Jewish women of all backgrounds — including Sephardic and Mizrahi — should pay attention
• Why ovarian cancer is called a silent cancer, what symptoms are often overlooked, and the latest medical advances in prevention
• The story of Sharsheret's founder, Rochelle Shoretz, who clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was diagnosed with breast cancer as a young mother, and built a movement from her own experience of isolation
• The full range of free Sharsheret services — peer support, genetic counseling, surgery preparation kits, fertility resources, financial assistance, and more
• Why Rita's own diagnosis at 34 — discovered while nursing a newborn — and her journey as a peer supporter for Sharsheret, reflect exactly the mission Sharsheret was built to fulfill
• Why you don't need to know what you need before you call — Sharsheret will meet you wherever you are

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✨Tag me on Instagram and share what resonated with you! Use hashtag #JourneyWithRitaPodcast

References:

• Visit www.sharsheret.org for more information and resources
• Connect with Sharsheret on Instagram and Facebook

• Connect with Rita @journeywithritaorg and @ritanaffasdesign
• Visit www.journeywithrita.org for more episodes and resources

How does a person endure the unimaginable — and still choose joy? That is the question at the heart of this profoundly moving episode, and Ella Mandel's answer will stay with you long after you finish listening.

Ella Mandel is a Holocaust survivor, educator, and living witness to one of the darkest chapters in human history. Born in Poland in 1926, Ella was thirteen years old when the Germans arrived. Over the years that followed, she lost her entire family — her youngest sister, her father, her mother, and ultimately her older sister — to the Holocaust. She survived the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, a German labor camp, and Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated in April 1945 at just eighteen years old, weighing barely sixty pounds. In 2025, nearly eighty years later, Ella was honored with the Award of Courage by Holocaust Museum LA alongside supermodel Cindy Crawford, with whom she collaborated on the Borrowed Spotlight campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism and keep these stories alive for future generations.

This episode is a rare and sacred gift. With Ella's permission, Rita has woven excerpts from her 1994 USC Shoah Foundation interview together with wisdom Ella shared in a personal conversation earlier this year — honoring both the depth of her story and the gift of her time.

In this episode, Ella shares:

• Growing up in Poland and the first devastating losses her family endured in the ghetto
• Being separated from her mother on the selection line at Auschwitz — and the pact she and her sister made to survive
• The brutal reality of forced labor in a German camp through a freezing winter, and how she protected her ailing sister
• Contracting typhus at Bergen-Belsen and surviving because a friend who was a nurse secretly brought her medicine
• The heartbreak of losing her older sister to tuberculosis just weeks after liberation — and the guilt she carried for years
• How she met her husband Stefan in Bergen-Belsen, rebuilt her life in Minneapolis, and created a chosen family with other young survivor couples
• Her lifelong belief — instilled by her mother — that people are basically good and that tomorrow will be better
• Why she has spent decades speaking to students, and the letters she treasures from young people whose lives her story has changed
• Her message to all of us: life is worth living, even on the hardest days

This episode is dedicated to the memory of the eleven million lives lost during the Holocaust, six million of them Jewish, and to the survivors who carry the responsibility of bearing witness so that history is never forgotten.

✨Follow me on Instagram @JourneyWitRitaOrg

✨Tag me on Instagram and share what resonated with you! Use hashtag #JourneyWithRitaPodcast

The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical, psychological, financial, or legal advice

References:

• Learn more about Holocaust Museum LA at www.holocaustmuseumla.org
• Learn more about the USC Shoah Foundation at www.sfi.usc.edu
• Visit www.journeywithrita.org for more episodes and resources

Some doors to freedom are forced open — through sheer will, quiet defiance, and an unshakeable belief that a better life is possible. For Somaya Etemad, that belief was planted by a father who showed her the world, and it carried her through some of the most harrowing chapters a person can endure.

Somaya is an Iranian-American artist and architect whose life story unfolds like a film — one in which she is the hero. Born and raised in Mashhad, Iran, she endured the systematic oppression of the Islamic regime, an abusive forced marriage, and arrest in the aftermath of the Green Movement. At just 25 years old, she fled Iran with her dog, her architecture degree, and an unwavering belief that she deserved a free life. She arrived in Los Angeles in 2011, enrolled at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, and has never looked back. Today, Somaya is a practicing architect and fine artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at the Contemporary Museum of Japan.

In this episode, Somaya shares:

• Growing up under the Islamic regime — dress codes, Ramadan compliance, and navigating a double life at home versus in public
• The profound loss of her father at age 14, and how his spirit of freedom and forward thinking became the foundation of her resilience
• Being forced into marriage at 22 and enduring physical abuse — and the quiet acts of courage that helped her survive
• Her arrest following the 2009 Green Movement elections, sparked by a political cartoon, and the trauma of imprisonment
• How visualization and dreaming of a free life — even with no roadmap to get there — became her most powerful survival tool
• Fleeing Iran for Los Angeles with her dog Nemat, navigating language barriers, financial hardship, and the unexpected challenge of learning to handle freedom
• Turning personal trauma into art, and her mission to be a voice for Iranian women still fighting for zan, zandegi, azadi — woman, life, freedom
• How her solo exhibition "SOLO" became a cathartic act of closure, allowing her to honor her scars while stepping fully into who she is today

✨Follow me on Instagram @JourneyWitRitaOrg

✨Tag me on Instagram and share what resonated with you! Use hashtag #JourneyWithRitaPodcast

The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical, psychological, financial, or legal advice

References:

• Connect with Somaya Etemad on Instagram

• Connect with Rita @journeywithritaorg and @ritanaffasdesign
• Visit www.journeywithrita.org for more episodes and resources