About the Author

Evonne Marzouk has spent her career in pursuit of inspiring others, making a difference, and bringing Jewish wisdom into the world.

Recent podcast interviews with Evonne about writing The Prophetess and Jewish wisdom:

• A reach and meaningful discussion on America's Top Rebbetzins on the topic of Learning How to Forgive

• People of the Book with Meryl Ain

• Shema Podcast for the Perplexed with Dan Kullman 

• Healing Words: The Language of Healing and Growth with author Pamela Nichols

• Finding Favorites with Leah Jones

Recent written author interviews:

• Guest author interview for Author Lily Iona MacKenzie's blog.

• Author Interview with Evonne Marzouk on Gila Green Writes Blog

• Evonne Marzouk’s Novel Asks ‘Does God Still Talk to People?’ (LA Jewish Journal)

• Telling the Tale of a Modern Day Prophetess (Washington Jewish Week)

• A New Novel About a Modern-Day Jewish Prophetess, Set in Baltimore (author interview in Baltimore Jewish Times)

• Also see: Testimonials from Recent Events

Looking for a short bio for your upcoming event? Here’s something to work with.

Evonne Marzouk grew up in Philadelphia and received her B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of the Jewish novel The Prophetess and has spoken to schools, Bat Mitzvah programs, synagogues and book clubs about the book’s themes and Jewish lessons. Evonne was the founder and former Executive Director of a Jewish environmental organization called Canfei Nesharim, and is currently a board member of its successor organization GrowTorah. She worked with rabbis, scientists, educators, and community leaders to create and distribute Torah teachings on the environment, including a comprehensive set of core teachings on the environment, which was later gathered into a book, Uplifting People and Planet: Eighteen Essential Jewish Lessons on the Environment. Professionally, she has worked for over twenty years in the Office of International and Tribal Affairs at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In 2021, Evonne led a successful kickstarter campaign for a “Grow into Your Gifts” Bat Mitzvah Present, which features The Prophetess. Most recently, Evonne has crafted a new Heroine’s Journal: A Jewish Mystical Journey of Growing into Your Gifts to empower Jewish women to live their greatest dreams.

In case you’re interested, here’s more about Evonne:

Evonne Marzouk grew up in Philadelphia and began writing and publishing poems and stories as a young child. In high school, she was awarded first prize in fiction in a contest by the Israel Programs Center, winning a free trip to Israel. She was a youth leader in the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, and attended BBYO’s International Leadership Training Conference in Starlight, PA in 1993. Evonne attended the Johns Hopkins University and received a B.A. from the Writing Seminars program, with a minor in Religious Studies, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1998.

From 1998-99, Evonne served as the COEJL Legislative Fellow in the Legislative Assistant Program at the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, representing the Jewish community on environmental issues on Capitol Hill. Evonne began work for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1999. During her career at EPA, she has played key roles in work on the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint.

Evonne founded and is the former director of Canfei Nesharim, an organization that teaches Jewish wisdom about protecting the environment. In 2004, Canfei Nesharim was accepted to Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas. As director of Canfei Nesharim, Evonne worked with rabbis, scientists, educators to create — and and empowered community leaders through programmatic activities to distribute — a wide range of materials demonstrating the depth of Jewish tradition on this topic, including Torah teachings on the environment for each weekly Torah portion, each Jewish holiday, and a comprehensive set of core teachings on the environment, which was later gathered into a book, Uplifting People and Planet: Eighteen Essential Jewish Lessons on the Environment, available in e-book format on Amazon.

In 2008, Evonne was invited to join the ROI Community, an international network of Jewish activists, entrepreneurs and innovators. In 2009, she was selected as one of The New York Jewish Week’s “36 under 36.” In 2011, with ROI’s generous support, Evonne launched and led the team to develop Jewcology.com, a web-based portal to support resource sharing and collaboration across the Jewish-environmental community.

After more than a decade of leadership, Evonne concluded her role as director of Canfei Nesharim in 2014. Canfei Nesharim recently merged with a different Torah-based environmental organization and the two groups continue as GrowTorah. She continues to serve as an executive board member for GrowTorah and as a steering committee member for her local chapter of Interfaith Power and Light (DC.MD.NoVA).