Ariela Ronay-Jinich
Founder and Executive Director
Olamim - Latin Jewish Belonging for Families

Ariela Ronay-Jinich, MA.Ed. is an educator, researcher, and community builder working at the intersection of Jewish identity, culture, and belonging. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Olamim – Latin Jewish Belonging for Families, a nonprofit cultivating Jewish communities through culturally responsive, intergenerational learning that integrates Latin Jewish heritage, languages, and traditions.

Under her leadership, Olamim has grown from a six-family bilingual playgroup into an organization serving more than 1,500 participants annually and collaborating with dozens of Jewish communal institutions to offer a Covenant-awarded family curriculum. Through its national network, Olamim creates opportunities for families to build relationships, celebrate their multiple identities, and become active creators of Jewish life.

For more than two decades, Ariela has founded and led innovative Jewish educational initiatives, including work with Urban Adamah, Wilderness Torah, and Edah. Her educational approach centers nature connection, heritage language learning, culturally responsive curriculum, and the wisdom shared across generations. She has mentored educators and developed programs for children, families, and educational professionals.

Trained as a qualitative researcher, Ariela studies how Jewish families navigate intersecting identities and transmit culture, language, and belonging across generations. Her writing has appeared in the Journal of Jewish Education, The Peoplehood Papers, and other publications.

Ariela earned a B.A. in Education Studies from Brown University and an M.A.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Mills College, specializing in early childhood education. She received the 2015 Helen Diller Family Award for Excellence in Jewish Education, and an alumni of several fellowships, including the Selah Leadership Program, Kevah, Torah Trek, and JECELI (for Jewish ECE). 

Raised in Mexico City and now living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ariela ends each day with her daughter by reciting the Shema and encouraging her to be chiquita pero picosa: small but spirited. For Ariela, Jewish continuity begins with the stories, values, languages, and relationships families carry forward into the future.