In the last few months, we’ve revealed the most prominent society figures in Melbourne, Sydney’s east, Perth’s ritzy west, Byron Bay and the Gold Coast.
We even lifted the lid on the bush kings and the Portsea and Sorrento set.
And as we hovered our fingers over the map of Australia this week, deciding where to land next (spoiler: it’s Adelaide), our society spies told us we may be missing a trick.
It turns out the ‘Who’s Who’ you’ve all been waiting for is the movers and shakers in Sydney’s Jewish community. We weren’t too surprised – one of our most-read Mail+ stories ever is the star-studded April wedding of Jerome Srot and Cecilia Summer at Bondi’s Central Synagogue, which many big names attended.
Far more than just a subset of the eastern suburbs crowd, these diverse players in media, law, real estate, sport and philanthropy are among the Emerald City’s highest achievers. Without further ado, here they are, in no particular order:
Michael Rothner
A leading figure in Sydney’s Jewish community, Aston Martin-driving investment banker Michael Rothner is the vice president of Bondi’s Central Synagogue
He was previously married to Lisa Rothner, with whom he shares three daughters
Aston Martin-driving investment banker Michael Rothner is the principal at private equity real estate firm AsheMorgan, which he joined in 1990.
A leading figure in Sydney’s Jewish community, he is vice president of Bondi’s Central Synagogue, and is said to have welcomed Sacha Baron Cohen and then-wife Isla Fisher into the fold when they moved to the Harbour City during COVID.
Rothner is known for rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cate Blanchett and Tyra Banks. Beyond his celebrity mates, he is (or has been) an associate of disgraced businessman Rodney Adler, ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull and the famous Lowy family.
Back in 2017, his partying lifestyle came under scrutiny after his split from wife Lisa Rothner, with whom he shares three daughters.
Following the breakdown of that marriage, he was romantically linked to eastern suburbs socialite Ziah Lane.
Warren Ginsberg
An alumnus of Emanuel School, Warren Ginsberg is both a real estate success story and a tabloid fixture
An alumnus of Emanuel School, which boasts a heritage-listed campus in Randwick, Warren Ginsberg is both a real estate success story and a tabloid fixture.
He is the director of Ray White Double Bay and known as the company’s No. 1 seller.
But he has also hit the headlines for his brushes with the law.
He has been charged with drug possession three times since 2007, landing in trouble for the first time at just 19, when he received a bond. In 2010, he got a fine without a conviction.
Ginsberg was charged again in Bondi Beach in 2021 after police found him with two bags containing 1.3g of cocaine.
He was convicted and fined $500 by Magistrate Carolyn Huntsman, but his bench-pressing lawyer Bryan Wrench later indicated he wished to appeal. The outcome of that appeal bid is unclear.
His dating life has made him something of a socialite in the eastern suburbs.
He was in a relationship with Jodi Gordon for about four months from late 2016 to early 2017.
After dating the likes of Jodi Gordon and Indi Thew, Ginsberg is now engaged to Réforme Beauty founder Casey James (left)
In 2022, he was linked to Indi Thew, a model and former BFF of Madeline Holtznagel. Reports at the time indicated he was ‘smitten’ with the blonde and had even convinced her to close her OnlyFans account.
Their romance didn’t last and Thew is now back on OnlyFans.
Nowadays, Ginsberg is loved up with Réforme Beauty founder Casey James. They announced their engagement in February.
Gavin Rubinstein
Gavin Rubinstein was also a top seller at Ray White – but he reached even greater heights by founding his own prestige real estate agency, The Rubinstein Group.
In 2021, he became a star of the Amazon Prime Video series Luxe Listings Sydney, alongside fellow property players D’Leanne Lewis and Simon Cohen.
His romantic life has kept him busy in between multimillion-dollar real estate deals.
Right now, the 34-year-old is romancing British Made in Chelsea star Ruby Adler in Europe, hot on the heels of her split from ex-boyfriend Reza Amiri.
He has previously been linked to Vaucluse-student-turned-reality-star Tayla Cohen, Perth influencer Holly Young (who rebounded with Rubinstein’s mate Richie Harkham after their break-up) and model Alexandra Dankwa.
Gavin Rubinstein was also a top seller at Ray White – but he reached even greater heights by founding his own prestige real estate agency, The Rubinstein Group
in 2021, he became a star of the Amazon Prime Video series Luxe Listings Sydney, alongside fellow property players D’Leanne Lewis (left) and Simon Cohen (centre)
Jerome and Cecilia Srot
Jerome Srot is considered one of Sydney’s most successful real estate players, and a partner of Rubinstein’s at TRG.
His wife Cecilia Summer is a well-known socialite and former events coordinator for Central Synagogue, where the couple tied the knot this year.
More than 150 friends and family attended the celebration at their spiritual home, including Fadi Ibrahim and his wife Shayda; Costi Cohen buyers’ agency manager Shani Costi; TRG business manager Remi Lindsay; Woollahra plastic surgeon Dr Shahram Shahidi, Laser Clinics Australia co-founder Babak Moini, and Q-Tox salon owner Kian Moini.
More details of their special day can be found here.
Jerome Srot (left) is considered one of Sydney’s most successful real estate players. His wife Cecilia Summer (right) is a socialite and former events coordinator for Central Synagogue
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen is a buyers’ agent extraordinaire and, like Rubinstein, rose to fame as one of the cast members on Luxe Listings Sydney.
Simon Cohen is also a Luxe Listings Sydney star, though he has managed to keep his time in the spotlight to a minimum
He is the director of Cohen Handler, a residential buyers’ agency he founded in 2009, following a very successful stint at Ray White Double Bay.
Cohen now has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth and, as of last year, the company has helped clients buy more than $8billion worth of property.
He has mostly kept out of the headlines, but there have been rumblings of a professional rift with his former protégé Tammy Soglanich after they abruptly parted ways in the middle of last year.
Soglanich had worked for Cohen Handler for seven years, starting as an assistant. Upon her exit, she launched a rival business, catering to Sydney’s well-heeled east.
The split was anything but amicable, with one source suggesting Tammy ‘just wanted more’ for herself and it was a case of the student surpassing the master.
Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman
Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman are the sibling power duo behind luxury fashion brand Camilla and Marc.
They founded the company in 2003, with the first bricks-and-mortar store going up in 2009 in the inner Sydney suburb of Paddington.
The brother and sister were raised by their father David after their mother Pamela died when they were just 11 and 13, respectively.
Camilla, 44, studied fashion at the Whitehouse Institute of Design in Sydney before winning a scholarship and going on to train in Florence, Italy. Marc, 46, studied engineering and commerce at the University of New South Wales.
Marc manages the brand and business side of the label, while Camilla focuses on design. The Aussie fashion house is now tipped to expand to Europe and the U.S.
Dan Rosen
Dan Rosen, a ‘relentless defender of the music industry’, is the president of Warner Music Australasia
Dan Rosen has been described as a ‘relentless defender of the music industry’.
He is the president of Warner Music Australasia and the former CEO of Australian recording industry trade association ARIA and music licensing organisation PPCA.
The 49-year-old was once an aspiring muso, performing in the band Second Dan, which won the Triple J Unearthed competition in 2003, released two albums and toured nationally and in America.
But he wasn’t destined for life as a performer, and went on to work as a lawyer, specialising in media and technology at multinational law firm MinterEllison.
Rosen was later an adviser to the Federal Minister of Communications Richard Alston.
During his storied career living a ‘double life’ in the corporate and rock worlds, he lived for seven years in New York, during which period he met future U.S. president Donald Trump, and many of his musical heroes.
Jessica Sepel
Jess Sepel is the co-founder of science-backed premium vitamin brand JSHealth, a company she grew from blogs and books into a megabucks supplements business.
The path to success hasn’t been without its hurdles, however.
In 2022, a budget competitor, Life Botanics, claimed to offer the same products ‘without the Double Bay price tag’, and hired PR supremo Max Markson (more on him later) to get the message out.
Jess Sepel is the co-founder of science-backed premium vitamin brand JSHealth, a company she grew from blogs and books into a megabucks supplements business
Sepel didn’t take it lying down, insisting her products were the real deal, thoroughly researched and worth the price on the sticker.
She eventually scored a court win in July 2023 when the owner of Life Botanics was ordered to stop ‘disparaging’ his rival.
Nick Molnar
Nick Molnar, a Moriah College old boy, is the co-founder of Afterpay.
He founded the lending company with his Rose Bay neighbour Anthony Eisen in 2014, but actually got his start selling jewellery on eBay.
The business partners sold the business to Square, Inc. – now known as Block, Inc.- in January 2022 for US$29billion (AUD$39billion).
They both stayed on to work at the company, with Eisen later leaving the business while Molnar, 35, was recently promoted to head of sales at Block.
Last year, he landed himself a spot on the Australian Financial Review’s Young Rich List for 2024 with a net worth of $1.1billion.
Nick is married to wife Gabrielle, with whom he shares two children.
They own a $27million house in North Bondi, which they bought in 2020, as well as a 16-acre rural property in Bowral, in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Nick Molnar, a Moriah College old boy, is the co-founder of Afterpay. (He is pictured here with his wife Gabrielle at Australian Fashion Week in Sydney in June 2021)
Rebekah Giles
Formidable and well-connected, celebrity lawyer Rebekah Giles is the principal at Giles George, a boutique law firm specialising in reputational risk.
She’s known for representing high-profile figures in sensitive cases, including Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, former Attorney-General Christian Porter, one-time political staffer Brittany Higgins, and Lehrmann trial latecomer Taylor Auerbach.
Known for representing high-profile clients in sensitive cases, Rebekah Giles of boutique law firm Giles George is regarded as one of Australia’s most high-profile lawyers
Giles, formerly of MinterEllison and Kennedys, is a fixture in columns such as CBD, Rear Window and Media Diary, making her almost as famous as her clients.
Her personal life is just as extraordinary as her professional one.
A survivor of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, she endured catastrophic injuries when she was hit by the first of two massive tidal waves while holidaying on Phi Phi island with her then-boyfriend Damien Rivkin, later requiring more than 140 surgeries.
Emma Pillemer
Emma Pillemer, a 2020 graduate of $45,000-per-year Moriah College, turned her gap-year jewellery project into a lucrative business
‘It’ girl Emma Pillemer turned a gap-year project into a successful jewellery brand.
She graduated from $45,000-per-year Moriah College in 2020, but instead of taking a year off before university to travel, she knuckled down and designed a range of trendy, affordable accessories.
It proved to be a smart move. Her brand, Emma Pills, is now pretty much everywhere.
Her brand also got a boost when she starred in reality series Made in Bondi.
Raised in New York and Sydney’s eastern suburbs, she’s now more often seen in Los Angeles, where she is something of a socialite. Her famous friends over there include YouTube star David Dobrik.
When Down Under, she lives in a sprawling $30million estate in Vaucluse, which an amazed Dobrik showcased on Snapchat back in February.
Emma’s father is Russell Pillemer, who co-founded ASX-listed funds management group Pengana with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2003. He still serves as the CEO of the company.
When Down Under, she lives in a sprawling $30million estate in Vaucluse with harbour views
Genevieve Rosen-Biller
Genevieve Rosen-Biller quit her job as a journalist in 2018 to pursue her ‘side hustle’ full-time. It’s safe to say, it paid off.
The 35-year-old founded the linen company Bed Threads in 2017 with her husband Alan Biller. Within six months, it was a full-time job.
The couple founded the company in their Bondi apartment after two years of product development and research, and went on to expand the brand into Britain in 2019 and America in 2020.
She even scored an endorsement from Kourtney Kardashian in 2022.
Before pursuing her entrepreneurial ambitions, Genevieve spent a decade as a journalist, including working as a writer for Body + Soul.
Genevieve Rosen-Biller, 35, quit her job as a journo in 2018 to pursue her ‘side hustle’ full-time
Jess Fox
Olympic golden girl Jess Fox moved from France to Australia with her family at age four. Their loss was our gain.
She has won three Olympic gold medals throughout her decorated career as a world champion slalom canoeist, having debuted at London 2012 at the age of 18.
Fox, who grew up in the Sydney suburb of Penrith, comes from a family of Olympians as her parents, Richard Fox and Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, also competed as canoeists.
Her sister Noemie Fox is also a world and Olympic champion slalom canoeist, and her aunt Rachel Crosbee is a former world championship silver medallist.
Relatively little is known about her personal life, although she is believed to have split from her long-term French partner Mathieu Biazizzo before the Paris Games.
Fox is currently in a training block ahead of the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Penrith from September 29 to October 4, and is also working towards the LA Olympics in 2028.
Olympic golden girl Jess Fox moved from France to Australia at four. Their loss was our gain
Jess is pictured with her mother Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi and younger sister Noemie Fox, who are both also champion canoeists
Frank Lowy
Ninety-four-year-old shopping centre czar Frank Lowy remains a giant of the city’s Jewish community, even though he now lives overseas.
He co-founded global Westfield in 1960, building a global retail empire from humble beginnings at a small complex in Sydney’s outskirts.
The sale of Westfield’s British and American operations to Unibail-Rodamco for $35billion in 2018 is one of the largest corporate deals in Australia’s history.
Lowy, who was knighted in 2017, has handed the reins to sons Steven, Peter and David. David, the eldest, lives in New York; his second son, Peter, is living in Los Angeles; only his youngest, Steven, still lives in Sydney.
Richie Harkham
Serial entrepreneur Richie Harkham, another Moriah College alum, grew up in a tight-knit family in Vaucluse as the son of a self-made rag-trade success story.
His first job at a Jewish bakery at age 12 sparked a lifelong love affair with business, which culminated in him founding Harkham Wines – Australia’s first kosher winery – in the Hunter Valley.
Harkham’s other previous ventures include running a bookstore, a Bondi backpackers hostel and a Surry Hills coin laundromat. He claims to only sleep four hours a night.
His passion project is the charity Hark Angel, which he founded after receiving a world-first live knee transplant following a near-fatal motorbike crash. The donor was a 14-year-old boy who’d died in a traffic accident. To honour that child, Hark Angel aims to build 100 schools in developing nations – it has so far built nine.
Harkham isn’t really a tabloid type, but he did once make the Daily Mail when he was linked to Gavin Rubinstein’s ex Holly Young after their split last year.
Serial entrepreneur Richie Harkham, another Moriah College alum, is the founder of Australia’s first kosher winery, Harkham Wines in the Hunter Valley
Tayla Cohen
A future star of high society, Tayla Cohen was introduced as a cast member in Made in Chelsea: Sydney, a five-episode spin-off of the popular UK series, in 2023.
Despite starring on reality TV, the 25-year-old doesn’t like to court attention.
She only shares glimpses of her jet-setting lifestyle on social media, and when she announced her engagement recently, didn’t even tag her beau.
What we do know is she splits her time between London and Sydney, where she lives in the ritzy suburb of Vaucluse, and she was studying psychology at UNSW when the Made In Chelsea casting agents came calling.
There is relatively little public information about her family, who moved to Australia from South Africa when she was one, but we understand her parents work as jewellers.
Made In Chelsea stars may recognise Tayla Cohen, 25, from the Sydney spin-off of the UK series which aired in 2023
Max Markson
There are few people who scream ‘Sydney’ like publicist Max Markson.
The boy from Bournemouth arrived in Australia shortly before the 1977 election and saw an opportunity to flog T-shirts to undecided voters with Whitlam on the front and Fraser on the back.
It wasn’t the best start, but Markson soon found his niche as a celebrity spruiker when he founded the PR firm Markson Sparks.
The undisputed king of Sydney PR, Max Markson has organised Australian speaking tours for Bill Clinton (pictured together), Nelson Mandela and Arnold Schwarzenegger
He has represented everyone from model Lara Bingle (right) to notorious party boy Corey Worthington and the Chk-Chk-Boom Chick
He has represented everyone from Lara Bingle, Corey Worthington and the Chk-Chk-Boom Chick and organised Australian speaking tours for Bill Clinton (four times), Nelson Mandela and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Markson will also forever hold a place in Sydney lore as the man who was representing Candice Falzon at the time of her ‘toilet tryst’ with Sonny Bill Williams.
To this day, emails from Markson Sparks hit our inbox with the subtlety of a sledgehammer – the subject line always in ALL CAPS.
We wouldn’t have it any other way, Max.
Sharri Markson and Caroline Marcus
Veteran journalists Sharri Markson and Caroline Marcus are both presenters on Sky News Australia and fierce defenders of their community.
Sharri, the daughter of the aforementioned Max Markson, started her career as a copy girl at the Sunday Telegraph at just 16, then went on to hold senior editorial roles at The Australian and Cleo magazine before joining Sky.
The two-time Walkley winner, who attended Moriah College and Ascham, married entrepreneur and Emanuel School alum Chaz Heitner in 2017.
Sharri Markson (left) started her career as a copy girl at the Sunday Tele and is now one of Australia’s most decorated journalists. She is pictured here with her husband Chaz Heitner
Caroline Marcus, born in Singapore, has been a reporter for more than two decades
Caroline, born in Singapore, has been a reporter for more than two decades. Before Sky News, she worked for various News Corp papers and Nine.
She shares a son and daughter with her husband Jake Swarts, whom she married in November 2015, five years after meeting at a Kings Cross bar.
Mia Freedman
Being the daughter of a Jewish funds manager father and non-Jewish mother, media powerhouse Mia Freedman was not, technically speaking, Jewish by default.
Media powerhouse Mia Freedman became the editor of Cosmopolitan at age 24, and went on to found women’s network Mamamia
But her upbringing was ‘very much culturally Jewish’ and later in life, she and her three children with husband Jason Lavigne converted to the religion.
After attending Vaucluse High School and Ascham, she got her start in journalism at Dolly magazine when she was hired by editor Lisa Wilkinson.
Freedman, 53, rose through the ranks to become a fashion editor before landing the editor job at Cosmopolitan at age 24.
While her media career hasn’t been without controversy, the podcast mogul has a devoted following of Aussie women who hang on her every word.
She and her husband are also famous in the eastern suburbs for their involvement in a prestige property dispute when the owner of a six-bedroom pad in Bellevue Hill let them live there as they negotiated to buy the home at a later date.
But settlement negotiations fell apart and the deal was withdrawn, meaning Freedman’s family were evicted, but they were allowed sufficient time to vacate.
Josh Goot
Josh Goot is another notable Moriah College alum, graduating in 1997 before studying communications at the University of Technology Sydney.
There, he developed a passion for fashion design, later launching his first label, Platform, in 2000 with his friend Josh Goulburn.
Fashion designer Josh Goot, 45, is another notable who attended Moriah College. (He is pictured with his ex-partner and business associate Christine Centenera)
They went their separate ways in 2002, but Goot kept the company running until it went defunct in 2004.
The following year, Goot, 45, began his eponymous label, which quickly found international success, becoming a favourite of Kim Kardashian and Lara Bingle.
However, the 2008 financial crash saw him return to Australia to focus on his home market, where he opened bricks-and-mortar stores in Sydney and Melbourne.
The label went into voluntary administration in February 2015 amid financial struggles, but returned to Goot’s control the following month.
Goot also founded the label Wardrobe.NYC while living in the U.S. with his business and romantic partner Christine Centenera.
The pair split in 2018 after seven years of dating, but continue to work together. Centenera, now editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia, is partnered up with actor Joel Edgerton, with whom she shares twins born in May 2021.
Roxy Jacenko
Roxy Jacenko is the sort of eastern suburbs society figure who needs no introduction.
Dubbed the ‘PR queen’, Jacenko burst onto the gossip pages as a Noughties ‘It’ girl during the early days of her high-end public relations agency Sweaty Betty.
Roxy Jacenko is the sort of eastern suburbs society figure who needs no introduction
The daughter of Jewish migrant parents who built a successful wholesale clothing empire, she attended the all-girls private school Kambala and, after cutting her teeth at fashion company Diesel, founded her own firm at age 24.
At its height, Sweaty Betty boasted more than 70 local and international clients focusing on high-end beauty, fashion and hospitality.
Jacenko, who has said her Jewishness is most keenly expressed in her work ethic, went on to marry Catholic investment-banker-turned-crypto-king Oliver Curtis.
Together, they share Instagram-famous children Pixie, 13, and son Hunter, 11.
