Sofia Heller

2017-2018 Rising Voices Fellow Sofia Heller

Sofia Heller is a junior at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. She is an editor on her school paper, The Chronicle. Sofia is passionate about writing, feminism, and social justice. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends and participating in the Jewish community around her. She also loves music, traveling, and reading.

Blog Posts

Market at Minho by Sonia Delaunay, 1915

The Art of Gender Representation

Sofia Heller

The words to SZA’s “Drew Barrymore” ring in my ears as I write this; the song serves as an anthem for the teen angst and insecurities I’ve been feeling since I got home from school today. Feeling lonely, feeling like I’m not living up to the standard of female beauty: SZA articulates the thoughts that have been running through my mind.

Topics: Painting, Music
Sex and the City Poster

Feminism in Sex and the City: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Sofia Heller

New York City. Quippy dialogue. Journalism. Fashion and shoes galore.

What’s not to love about Sex and the City?

Topics: Feminism, Television
Man Wearing Native American Headdress

Inappropriate Appropriation

Sofia Heller

My classmates started posting pictures from last year’s Coachella, their excitement for the music festival illuminating my phone screen. However, amidst all the elation, I couldn’t help but notice the troubling cultural appropriation that also filled the pictures. In the backgrounds of nearly every photo I saw, there were young women wearing bindis and feathered headdresses, and young men wearing war paint. Unfortunately, this insensitivity to and misappropriation of cultures is not specific to Coachella, nor is it a new problem in fashion.

Harvey Weinstein

Seizing Control of the Narrative

Sofia Heller

The avalanche of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape allegations over the past few months, catalyzed by the sexual harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, make it clear that sexual violence is a problem deeply embedded in our society; it even finds credence in Judaism’s foundational text, the Torah.

Topics: Bible, Jewish Law
Emma Lazarus

Lazarus’ Lessons

Sofia Heller

Emma Lazarus was a 19th century Jewish American writer whose poem “The New Colossus,” engraved on Lady Liberty’s platform, embraces immigrants as they enter the United States. Though she was from an upper class family, Lazarus defied societal restrictions and norms and dared others to do the same.

Topics: Immigration, Poetry
Rising Voices Fellow Sofia Heller with her Mom

Molded by My Mom

Sofia Heller

Peanut-butter-filled pretzels and an old TV playing “The Sound of Music” on VHS. Walls covered in whiteboard, beckoning my eager eight-year-old self to fill them with drawings of flowers and dogs. Long older-sister-type chats with my mom’s work friend. I’ve grown up finding the fun and making formative memories at my mom’s offices.

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Sofia Heller." (Viewed on September 28, 2023) <https://jwa.org/blog/author/sofia-heller>.