When Miriam Schwab made aliyah with her family from Canada, she wasn’t sure she was in the right place. So disenchanted with Israel, Schwab chose to finish high school in Toronto without the rest of the family. When her local friends graduated and flew to Israel to study in seminary, she thought she just couldn’t return to that “God-forsaken place.” Schwab gave in and followed her class to Jerusalem for religious studies. It took only a month before she became disinterested and decided to spend the rest of the year volunteering. That’s when things started to shift.
Schwab shared her story as part of Tribe Tel Aviv’s Sunset Series, a program for English-speaking olim in their 20s and 30s designed to inspire young internationals to see themselves as part of Israel’s future. The series brings accomplished entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders to share their personal journeys, offering attendees a glimpse into what is possible while building a life and career in Israel.
One attendee said the event accomplished exactly that. “I don’t work in tech, but Miriam’s story reminded me that some of the most inspiring lessons come from outside your own industry,” the attendee said. “It challenged me to think bigger about what’s possible in my own career.”
Despite her initial disdain for Israel, Schwab began to see every day as an adventure and now reflects on Toronto as “super boring.”
Months later, it was time to go to college, and Schwab struggled to take classes in Hebrew at Bar-Ilan University. She later studied English literature because it was the only degree offered in English.
After working at an intellectual property firm, where she was exposed to inventions, patents, and innovation. With four young children at home, Schwab understood she needed to create more flexibility and independence in her work life. She left the office life behind and began freelancing, first writing content and later teaching herself how to build websites.
What started as a way to support her family grew into a full-fledged agency supporting business owners who run their content through WordPress. Schwab quickly realized that she needed to empower her clients to make changes and updates to their copy without her intervention. This is where the technological wheels got turning. She became known in Israel and abroad as a WordPress expert, speaking at conferences and building a reputation through helpful content, community, and consistency. She credits one lesson as central to her growth: surround yourself with people who are better than you.
Eventually, Schwab moved from working with individuals to working with startups. After years of saying no to product ideas to focus on her business and her children, she launched Strattic, a company designed to make WordPress websites faster, scalable, and more secure. But raising money was not easy. As a visibly religious woman from Jerusalem with a North American accent and seven children in tow (at this point,) she did not fit the mold of an Israeli startup founder — typically a secular Tel Aviv man.
Still, she pushed forward. After hearing a lot of no’s and struggling to raise funding in Israel, Schwab flew to San Francisco. In what she described as a blur of meetings and car rides around the region, she and her new co-founder met nearly 200 investors and eventually closed a multi-million-dollar investment round. By the time she landed back in Israel, the funding was complete, and millions of dollars had been secured. But Schwab famously discusses walking home into her kitchen to find a sink full of dirty dishes made by her family. The moment summed up her life and her emerging journey: no matter how big the professional victory, her children still needed her, the household still needed her attention, and life carried on.
“The dishes and laundry don’t care if you just raised 6 million dollars,” Schwab said. She then snapped a photo of the mess to keep score of the moment, which she described as funny and ‘real-world.’
Four years ago, Strattic was acquired by Elementor, a WordPress plugin company. Schwab appreciated Elementor’s leadership team and became an employee to them, bringing her entire team of 20 with her. After about a year as an employee, Schwab was promoted to Head of WordPress Relations – a role created for her in response to growing demand. Today, she represents the company globally and continues to advocate for the WordPress community. What makes her story powerful is not just that she built companies, raised money, or became a leader in tech. It is that she did it while staying true to her interests, her family, and her vision.
Looking back on her journey, Schwab believes Israel made it possible in a way few other places could. “Only in Israel can you be a crazy woman who wants seven kids, but also wants to build businesses, found startups, and raise funding,” she said.
Her journey shows a different face of Israeli technology: one built through motherhood, faith, community, persistence, and a refusal to fit into someone else’s mold.
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