Inside the Life of Chagit Leviev-Sofiev, CEO and Philanthropist

By Chana Kornfeld – COLlive Magazine

It is a warm Wednesday morning when I sit down for a Zoom interview with Chagit Leviev-Sofiev. I am at home in Florida, with a baby asleep upstairs. Chagit appears onscreen from her New York office, where summer sunlight streams through wide windows beside her. She sits tall at a modern desk, dressed elegantly in a floral dress, smiling. Open and engaged, she speaks with confidence, occasionally searching for the English word that comes less naturally than her native Hebrew. She is both fierce and feminine, frank and friendly.

The space around her echoes this balance. Her office is sleek and spacious, but what catches my attention are two framed Rebbe dollars-reminders of a connection that runs deep. She tells me that they came to her at providential times, affirming a guiding presence in her life.

“I visit the Ohel often,” she says. “I love bringing people with me, especially those who are new to the experience. There is a special and holy energy there.” She seems to be a self-appointed ambassador for the Ohel. If you follow Chagit’s Instagram account, you will have seen her documentation of the dignitaries she has brought to the Ohel, including Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Education Minister Yoav Kisch, and Tourism Minister Haim Katz.

As we speak, it becomes clear that Chagit’s success isn’t just a result of ambition or acumen – it’s rooted in purpose. She is the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar global company, heads numerous charitable causes, and leads a full and rich family life as the wife of her husband, Greg, and a mother to five children. It’s a lot, and yet she moves through it all with intention.

“People assume that being observant restricts you but being observant gives me the freedom to prioritize my family,” she says. “I love to work! I love to make money, to orchestrate deals, to figure out problems and bring new ideas to fruition. My job is multifaceted, there’s lots of excitement and I have a hand in many different areas of business and philanthropy. I’m always meeting new people, being introduced to new ideas and causes, and I could work all day and night and never get bored. Shabbos, holidays and Judaism in general force me to take a break from the office and focus on family.”

Chagit’s work ethic was developed in her youth. From an early age, her parents, Lev and Olga Leviev, gave her real responsibilities and entrusted her with large sums of money. “I was the house manager at home. My mother would tell me, the AC guy is coming tomorrow at this time. The gardener will be here at 12. She’d give me money to pay for everything and I’d keep a record of all the money that went out and how much was left. At the end of the week, I’d show my mother my ‘books’ and she would give me a tip for managing the house finances so well. That was how I made money as a young girl.”

Chores were a steady part of the household routine in the Leviev home. Chagit remembers setting the table every erev Shabbat – for about 50 guests at every meal – and being tasked with baking all the cakes and cutting up all the salads. “It was a big job,” she laughs. “My mother never knew how many people were going to be coming to a meal. My father would bring home anyone and everyone who needed a meal. Our table was always full with new immigrants and needy people.”

When I ask Chagit if her home in Queens is as open as her parents’ home was, she laughs. “Times are different. Today every shul serves a kiddush, there are Chabad houses that have big meals. When I was growing up, there were no options. People really had nowhere to go. My home is open, I have lots of guests, but I can also have a quiet Shabbat if I had a long week. It’s a choice. There were no ‘hard weeks’ for my mom. Every week she hosted. Really, you should interview my mom. She is an iron lady!”

Chagit is proud of her Bucharian roots and particularly of her paternal grandparents who bravely and steadfastly served their community at great personal risk. Her grandfather, Avner Leviev, was the only Mohel in Communist Tashkent and her great-grandfather, Zevulun Leviev secretly taught Torah to young children. The Previous Rebbe sent shluchim to their community in Samarkand to support the Leviev’s efforts in spreading Yiddishkeit and encourage them in their activities in spreading Yiddishkeit. Chagit’s great-grandfather, Zevulun, was eventually reported on and arrested. For his crimes of Jewish observance, he was sent to Siberia, where most prisoners died. Fortunately, he was released after Stalin died and in 1971 the family was able to escape and make aliyah to Israel.

In Israel, the family settled first in Kiryat Malachi and later Bnei Brak, eight children in a one-bedroom apartment, where they struggled to make ends meet. Chagit’s father, Lev Leviev found work as a teen in the diamond cutting business. By 18, he opened his own diamond cutting firm and at 19 married Chagit’s mother, Olga. Chagit describes her father as very ambitious and very hard-working and impresses upon me the truth that success does not come easy. “My father worked very hard, we really rarely saw him during the week. He was always traveling for business and my mother focused on raising nine children.”

When asked if her father’s big aspirations and success posed any challenges to her childhood, Chagit shares that the family moved a lot when she was young.

“When I was in second grade, my father took us on a trip to Belgium. He showed us around the city and asked us if we liked it. We said yes and he said, ‘Do you want to move here?’ And that was it. We moved to Belgium. It was really hard because the language, Flemish, is a difficult one, and being a new Israeli student on top of the language barrier with the added rumors circulating that my family was wealthy, made me an easy target. I was bullied.” Chagit remembers the Queen Bee in her Belgium class threatening all the other girls that if they went to Chagit’s birthday party, they would not be invited to hers. “Looking back, it’s hard to believe I was bullied. But, I was. There was a lot of jealousy.”

Chagit moved back to Israel in her early teens and says she witnessed the painful reality of discrimination, especially in high school. “In the school I attended, there was clear discrimination towards the Sephardi students. Teachers and students alike really didn’t treat the Sephardi girls nicely. It pains me to say it. They weren’t included. I didn’t experience the discrimination directly because my father was wealthy. That’s how it was. I was let into the ‘cool girls’ club because of my family. I’m sad to say it, but it’s true.”

When I ask Chagit if she thinks discrimination against the Sefardi community has eased, she says not enough.

“But that is why I love Chabad and the Rebbe’s teachings. Chabad is so accepting of everyone, exactly as they are. I went to a Litvish high school and I resented the fact that they only judged you on the way you looked and dressed and forced you to do things the way they want. Chabad is the opposite – there’s no judgment and there’s no force.”

Chagit illustrates the difference between choosing Judaism and forcing it down people’s throats with a personal experience.

“Our accountant from Israel came to New York to do reconciliations over our books. She’s been our in-house accountant for over 30 years. We were working for hours on Friday and I had to run home to prepare for Shabbat. I asked her, where are you for Shabbat? Do you have any plans tonight? She had no plans, so I invited her over. She came home with me, watched as I quickly cooked and my kids were setting up the table. She was amazed. She couldn’t believe my daughter was baking a cake, and my other daughter was helping set the table. During the meal she told us it was the first Shabbat Kiddush she ever heard in her life. She loved the meal and told me, ‘From now on, I want to do this every week at my house too.’ This is what drives me,” says Chagit.

I am struck by the continuity of Chagit’s family legacy of outreach, of sacrifice and an open home. As Chagit shares more about her passion for sharing Judaism in positive ways and her father’s instruction to her, to be a light even in the darkest of places, I imagine her grandfather, who was a light in Communist Russia, beaming at his granddaughter who is a light in the global business network and the often frivolous world of social media.

Chagit was initially reluctant to become the icon of the frum and fabulous girl-boss. She started out her career in New York privately.

“I started my career at Deloitte,” she shares, “one of the top accounting firms, but after two years, and while still on maternity leave with my first child, my father called. His CFO had quit, and he wanted me to replace her. It was 2009, still in the middle of a global financial crisis, and I was only 23. I didn’t feel ready, but I said yes. After two years as CFO, he asked me to move to New York to oversee his diamond business. I had just had my second baby and didn’t really want to go, but he asked again. Eventually, my husband and I decided to give it a try. We moved to Queens where my in-laws live and it was very different, coming from modern Israeli style homes to the old houses in New York. It took time to find a house and settle.

Work was incredibly difficult. I was not welcomed into the business and getting access to anything was almost impossible. But the more they pushed me out, the more determined I became. The leadership in the company quit as soon as I started asking questions they didn’t want to answer and I was left running the company alone. I didn’t even have a proper office to work out of. We went through five years of intense litigation, but in the end we won big – one of the biggest cases in the history of the diamond industry.

On top of that, my father also asked me to take over as CEO of our real estate firm, Africa Israel USA, which held over a billion dollars in U.S. assets. At the time, it was in chaos – poor negotiations, lawsuits, wasteful spending. At 25, I had to strategize how to turn things around. Baruch Hashem I was successful. One of the most notable deals was selling the retail portion of the Old Times Square Building to Jared Kushner for $300 million, despite pressure from the board to sell earlier for a lower number. My father always trusted my instincts. He told me, “You’re there, you know what’s going on.”

During those challenging first years in New York, Chagit says she was very private, immersed in work, with no time for anything else. The Chagit you see on social media now did not exist in 2017. She was grinding day in and day out, oblivious to the social world surrounding her. But opportunity knocked in the form of Chabad Shluchim Rabbi Naftali and Sori Rotenstreich of Chabad of Gramercy Park.

“Rabbi Rotenstreich was very persistent,” Chagit chuckles. “He would not give up, he wanted to meet with me and eventually I agreed. He told me, “You’re a rare woman – an Orthodox Jewish CEO. You could inspire so many others.” He asked if I would agree to be an honoree at the first gala for his organization, Batsheva. Eventually, I agreed, only to be told that as an honoree, I would need to speak at the event in front of 500 women. I was terrified. I’d never given a public speech in English.

“I worked hard on that speech, and the morning of the event, I walked into my office to print out my speech and found a dollar from the Rebbe that had fallen onto my chair overnight from a top shelf. It felt like a blessing. That night was a turning point – I met so many women who connected with my story and wanted to have coffee with me and talk to me. It inspired me to start sharing more, including on social media.

“People say social media is dark and toxic – but that’s exactly why I want to be there. Women have so much more to offer than just how they look. We have voices, talents, and real strength. Today, I use my platform to be a light, to show that character, values, actions and purpose matter more than appearance.”

I’m curious how Chagit’s family reacts to her Social Media presence. When I ask, Chagit smiles and says that at first they were unsupportive and wary, but they’ve come around as they hear how uplifting and inspiring Chagit is to so many followers.

“But,” Chagit cautions, “Instagram can be a fake and dangerous place. People try so hard on social media to show that they’re rich or to show that they have it all, when in truth, they don’t really have those things. It’s all about the show. My father always told me that an empty tzedakah box with one cent or two cents inside makes so much noise, but a tzedakah box that is completely full doesn’t make any noise. When you’re full on the inside, you don’t feel like you need to get validated from the outside. You know what you’re worth.”

Chagit clearly knows her worth. It is clear that she knows she is a competent, clever and successful CEO. It is also clear that she sees her wealth as a means to a greater purpose. She is deeply committed to continuing her father’s charitable legacy, overseeing Ohr Avner USA Jewish schools, helping children transition from Public Schools to Jewish Day Schools. She is the first female president of the Bukharian Jewish Congress, supports Mikvaot, shuls, and welfare programs and is passionate about empowering and supporting women through organizations like the Jewish Women Entrepreneurs (JWE) and Ezras Nashim.

“I love making money,” says Chagit. “I also love donating money. I promise you, what drives me to work, to work more and make more, is the fact that I have so many charities to support.”

We end our conversation talking about lab-grown diamonds. I want to know if the Levievs have ventured there. “Well, I would not marry a guy who proposed to me with a lab diamond,” Chagit quips. “They’re not real. I see a diamond as something that comes from the hand of Hashem. It’s a natural resource that is created over many years under pressure and it has value for a reason.”

Once again, Chagit sees through the sparkle and glitter to the core truth. A real diamond is the work of Hashem that doesn’t happen in a flash. It takes time, it develops under earth, crushed with no visible beauty at first – much like the story of her life. To shine and sparkle takes time, effort, humility and the hand of Hashem.