A Career Comes Full Circle for Tal Marom Barak '96
Tal Marom Barak graduated Milken in 1996, long before the new construction at both the middle and upper schools was complete. She lovingly calls it “the trailer days” and remembers fondly how there was only one college counselor, using the AJU (UJ back then) classrooms for math, just a handful of AP courses, and squatting in the Wise library for after school homework time.
Now she is back! Tal Barak started as the Director of Communications and Public Relations at Milken Community Schools on July 1. Taking a tour on her first day, she said, “the campus is amazing, but even more than the physical space are the endless opportunities the students have at Milken.” Whether it’s using a dental-grade 3-D printer in the Guerin Lab, to spending a semester in an Israeli school, to designing “Eco City LA” in the Architecture + Design Institute, to becoming a Beit Midrash fellow providing social action and leadership built on intensive Jewish learning, students can be as narrow or broad as they can imagine.
Tal credits a lot of her career path to Milken and her time spent here. Caring deeply about being Jewish, loving Israel, and having a community that feels like a family is what she soaked in at Milken. After graduating from UCSD with a degree in communications, Tal moved to Manhattan to work in advertising on Fortune 500 clients like Taco Bell and Verizon. She and her now husband, Mory, met in Israel where Tal studied abroad in her junior year. Their bond stayed strong and together they moved back to Southern California. Tal pursued her MBA at Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management while Mory launched his own real estate endeavor, Lion Real Estate Group.
After business school, Tal found herself wanting to return to her roots and jumped back into the education landscape, this time as a professional. Tal worked at UCLA in the development department in communications, then spent four years at VBS Day School working in marketing and admissions and now will return to her alma mater - go wildcats! - to support the vision of Dr. Sarah Shulkind, the new head of school.
Tal is proud of her roots and says, “Some of my best friends are those I met at Milken, and re-connecting to the home that gave me so much is exciting, humbling and...makes me feel ancient!” Tal is passionate about supporting the Jewish Day School experience both as a parent and as a professional because the inherent value of being connected to this strong Jewish community has stayed with her decades after graduation. “I am lucky to be Jewish and it hasn’t always felt that way for everyone in history, and for this I am eternally grateful. I intend to keep my identity and community strong, pass it down to my children and impart that importance to parents and students I come across every day.”
Tal looks forward to hearing from her fellow alumni, and is excited to reconnect with the Milken community in this new role . Tal and Mory have three kids - Liana, Guy, and Ella who attend VBS Day School - and live in Encino with their brand new puppy, an Aussiedoodle named Oreo.
Date Posted 
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Stephanie Friedman Pilder7/29/2019 @ 9:32 AMTal, mazes tov. Such exciting news! Enjoy this new adventure. Steph
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Lee Rubinstein7/29/2019 @ 7:34 AMI don't feel it was proper to include a link to the husband's website. The purpose of the newsletter is not to garner business for an employee's spouse.
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