Sigal Kanotopsky has covered an unusual and impressive distance in both her personal and professional journeys. Born in a small village in Ethiopia’s rural north, she made aliya at the age of five, having walked three months to meet the flight that took her to Israel. Today, she has a B.A. in International Relations from the Hebrew University, and an M.A. in Dispute Resolution and Management from Tel Aviv University. Fully aware of her complex identity as a Jew, an Israeli and a member of the Ethiopian community, she made an early decision to devote herself to ensuring young Ethiopian Israelis overcame the hurdles of racism and negative stereotypes they faced daily in Israeli society. 

Gathering experience through several positions in the Jewish Agency and a number of social-change organizations, in 2009 Kanotopsky arrived at Olim Beyahad, where she has spent the last decade inspiring Ethiopian Israeli university students to fulfill their potential. 

With her singular brand of activism, she has turned Olim Beyahad into an efficient and effective launch pad for thousands of brilliant Ethiopian-Israeli men and women who now occupy leading positions in the corporate, nonprofit and public sectors throughout Israel. To accomplish this, Kanotopsky painstakingly assembled a network of 2,500 handpicked volunteers whom she molded into an army of guiding mentors. On the way, Kanotopsky opened doors to her students in over a thousand companies, and increased Olim Beyahad’s budget by 50 percent through a host of additional funding partners. Unwilling to rest on her laurels, Kanotopsky recently launched a national, multi-channeled media initiative designed to change the way Ethiopian Israelis are portrayed in the press, in film and television, and on social media, and so actively and finally reduce racism and discrimination towards the Ethiopian community and minorities in general.