Keren Loyer

Keren Loyer was born in Tel Aviv Israel in 1975 to Israeli born parents Chana and Yigal Shuvaly. Her first 4 and a half years were spent in Hod Hasharon surrounded by lots of family. In 1980, Keren’s parents decided to emigrate to Melbourne Australia, as her father had lived there since the age of 16.

Keren was enrolled at Sholem Aleichem College as her parents wanted to provide her with a Jewish Education and so the family could connect with others in the community. In Grade 5, Keren moved to Caulfield North Primary School and her high school years were spent at McKinnon Secondary College.

Keren’s parents were the head chefs at the Jewish youth group Betar for years, however when Keren turned 12 she realised that her Zionistic beliefs were more aligned with Habonim Dror. Keren was a Madricha from the age of 16 and lead many weekly meeting for different year levels, and after finishing Year 12 Keren went to Israel for a year on Shnat. During this year Keren “found her voice” and became the outgoing person she is. On return from her year away, Keren volunteered at Habonim Dror as a leader for 3 years, as well as studying an Arts and Media course.

In 1997 an incredible work opportunity presented itself in Sydney, and Keren moved to NSW to become an Account Manager at Beat Magazine. Three weeks after moving to Sydney Keren met Steve, who would become her greatest love! They lived in Sydney for 7 years and were married in January 2003 and a few months later they relocated back home to Melbourne to be closer to their families. Keren worked as an Account Manager in the Radio Industry for Fox FM (Austereo) for several years until their first son Nathan was born.

A year later Keren decided to change careers completely and became a Civil Marriage Celebrant, specialising in combining the Cultural elements of various ethnicitys within a single Ceremony.

During this time, Keren attended many WIZO functions with her mum Chana, who was friends with the amazing Anita Bejerano who established WIZO Amit, an Israeli WIZO group and then became President of WIZO Victoria. In early 2009, Anita encouraged Keren to form a young WIZO group – so a meeting of like-minded women was established on the corner of Hawthorn and Balaclava Roads in Caulfield called ’Kinch’ and by the end of the meeting a new group was born called Matan, with Keren becoming President of this group.

A few months later, Keren and Steve welcomed their second son Jed.

WIZO Matan organised lots of fun functions every couple of months and welcomed with open arms anyone wanting to join their Executive or functions.

Keren was asked to join the WIZO Victoria Executive in 2009 as the WIZO Victoria AVIV Representative and that year along with Penny Goodman they organised a large celebration for the Child of the Year competition. In 2012 and 2013, Keren and Lani Golbandi organised two “Ladies Night Out” events, to build awareness of WIZO to the younger generation and to raise much needed funds for the WIZO projects in Israel.

In November 2012, Keren was lucky enough to attend the AVIV seminar in Israel where she saw firsthand how all her years of fundraising made an impact on the people at the WIZO projects were used. The amazing Ann Zablud z’l funded Keren’s airfare. On her return, Keren became even more passionate about WIZO and continued spreading the word and finding new members.

In 2013, Keren and Steve’s third son Ari was born. A year later Keren joined the Parents Committee at Nathan’s school – Caulfield Junior College, which is the same primary school she attended from Grade 5-Year 8.

Then in 2016, the incredible Paulette Cherny OAM became President of WIZO Australia and invited Keren to join the WIZO Australia Executive as the WIZO Australia AVIV representative.

Currently, Keren is the President of the Hebrew Immersion Program at Caulfield Junior College, as well as a member of the school’s Parents Committee. She volunteers as a Caring Mum for the National Council of Jewish Women, and remains as a member of the executive for WIZO Australia.

Of course she is still a very passionate President of WIZO Matan. As the saying goes – if you need something done, ask a busy person.