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B&P Industry ICON Misha Ezratti, President of GL Homes, Shares His Pathway to Success with Jewish Federation President-CEO Matt Levin Business & Professional (B&P) Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm County hosts a notable president-to-president dialogue on September 27, 2023 Business leaders, entrepreneurs, and community stakeholders are invited to listen to a dynamic conversation between two presidents, as they share their perspectives on the intersection of success, business development and philanthropy. Misha Ezratti, president of GL Homes, will be the featured guest as the 2023 Industry ICON of the Business & Professional (B&P) Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm County. Matt Levin, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation, will join Ezratti in an engaging dialogue. Guests will enjoy a conversation about current business trends; how to incorporate philanthropy into a successful, business model; and the influence of culture on the workplace from leaders in for-profit and nonprofit industries. The B&P Industry ICON event will be held 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at Zinman Hall on the Federation’s campus, 9901 Donna Klein Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33428. The evening will include a buffet dinner before the ICON
presentation. GL Homes is one of the largest Florida homebuilders currently building single-family homes in Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Collier, Hillsborough, Pasco and Lee counties. More than 100,000 people live in GL Homes communities. A Boston University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in finance, Ezratti has worked in every department at GL Homes since he began his career with the company in 2002. GL Homes believes in a philosophy of ‘you get what you give’. At the heart of the company’s philanthropic focus is breaking the cycle of homelessness, hunger relief, education and children. GL Homes continues to be a great supporter of Jewish causes in Florida, Israel and beyond. Read more about GL Homes’ investment in the communities it serves here: https://glhomes.com and https:// glhomesphilanthropy.com Previous Industry ICON speakers have included Caryl M. Stern, Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation; Leon Cooperman, Chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors, a New Yorkbased investment advisory firm; Don Broide, co-founder of Purolite, one of the world’s largest innovators in biotech
applications and manufacturing; Mike Leven, a hospitality visionary and former Chairman and Chief Executive of Georgia Aquarium; Jeff Rubin Founder & CEO IT’SUGAR; Jeff Bleustein, and former CEO of Harley-Davidson and Lewis Katz (Z”I), former owner of NJ Nets/Devils. “ICON always presents a wonderful opportunity to hear from an industry leader and take away something salient and valuable in business,” said Shari Cohen, co-chair of the Industry ICON series. Cohen and Series Co-Chair Geil Bilu invite those who may be interested in networking with B&P to attend and find out what the Division has to offer. “B&P, as a Division, offers advantages to our donors that cannot be found in other organizations. We marry personal philanthropy with professional networking in a way that is culturally meaningful and builds community both locally and globally,” Bilu said. Cost to attend is $65; RSVP at https://jewishboca.org/bpicon Co-chaired by Ken Lebersfeld and Michelle Hollister, Esq., the Business & Professional (B&P) Division of the Jewish Federation of South Palm County has established itself as the premier way for
local Jewish professionals to grow their business, broaden their networks and do good in the world by helping others. As host to accomplished speakers, dynamic programming, exclusive mentorship opportunities and special events for men and women, our B&P Division has set a new standard in business networking and philanthropy.
FAU study: perils of not being attractive or athletic in middle school
Despite the many changes in school culture since the 1960s, a new study reveals that some things never change: life is harder for middle school students who are not attractive and for those who are not athletic. As children head back to school, the firstof-its-kind longitudinal study by Florida Atlantic University helps to explain why adolescents who lack traits valued by peers are at risk for adjustment difficulties. Results, published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence , show that low attractive youth and low athletic youth became increasingly un-
August 17 - 24, 2023
popular over the course of a school year, leading to subsequent increases in their loneliness and alcohol misuse. Put simply, the peer group punishes those who do not have highly valued traits such as being good-looking or being good at sports. The study put to rest stereotypes about sex differences in traits important for success with peers. For decades, it was assumed that not being athletic was particularly problematic for boys and that not being attractive was particularly problematic for girls. The findings reveal a transformation in adolescent social culture such that the social penal-
ties attached to being low in attractiveness or low in athleticism are no longer gender specific. Boys and girls did not differ in the extent to which unpopularity and adjustment problems flowed from low attractiveness and low athleticism. As their unpopularity grows, so do their problems. “Children who lack the traits valued by their peers suffer from a host of adjustment difficulties, many of which stem from their deteriorating stature in the group,” said Brett Laursen, Ph.D., senior author and a professor of psychology in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “Children who are not attractive and children who are not athletic become increasingly unpopular. Growing marginalization, in turn, precipitates loneliness and alcohol misuse. Growing unpopularity is the key to understanding why the unattractive and the unathletic develop behavior problems. Of those who began drinking to intoxication during the course of the school year, almost two-thirds were above average in unpopularity.” The dangers attached to stigmatized traits were comparable for boys and girls. “Children who are not attractive and children who are not athletic become increasingly unpopular over time, suggesting that they must endure the indignities of powerlessness to remain attached to the peer group, a position that eventually takes a toll on individual well-being,” said Mary Page James, first author and a Ph.D. student in FAU’s Department of Psychology. “Being unattractive harms the popularity of boys as much as it does that of girls, and being unathletic is an important contributor to low popularity among girls, just as it is among boys. Despite widespread public messages about body acceptance, the adolescent social world is often still quite unforgiving.” The study included 580 middle school students who ranged in age from 10 to 13. Participants were asked to identify classmates who best
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fit the following descriptors: athletic (“good at sports”), attractive (“really good-looking”), and unpopular (“unpopular”). They also described how often they felt lonely and how often they drank alcohol to the point of intoxication during the past month. Replication is a strength of the study. The same pattern of associations emerged in a heterogeneous sample of youth from a large metropolitan area in Florida and from a homogeneous sample of youth from a small community in Lithuania. Laursen, James and study co-authors offer several strategies to help children who lack these peer-valued traits: For teachers, consider altering classroom norms. It may be difficult to devalue physical appearance or athletic prowess given their prevalence in popular culture, but it may be possible to boost tolerance for those who are different or to emphasize the merits of other traits. A positive classroom climate also can buffer against loneliness for at-risk youth. Finally, parents should provide opportunities for children to establish and maintain close friendships with well-adjusted agemates, because friends can mitigate against loneliness. Study co-authors are Sharon Faur, a Ph.D. student in FAU’s Department of Psychology; and Goda Kaniušonytė, Ph.D., a researcher; and Rita Žukauskienė, Ph.D., a professor of psychology, both with Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania. This project was supported by grants from the United States National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD096457) and the European Social Fund (project No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-17-0009) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania.