WELLcome Home, Lexie and Alex!
We're excited to continue our monthly feature highlighting someone awesome who has recently moved back to Metro Detroit after adventures away!
This month, we're excited to introduce our first ever WELLcome Home double feature, Lexie Garfield-Turner and Alex Goldfarb!
TW: You both grew up in Metro Detroit, spent some time away, and now have recently returned. What brought you back?
L&A: We mostly came back to be closer to our family and friends. We always knew we would settle down in Michigan one day since both our families are here, but we came home a bit sooner so we could establish our professional careers here before we get married in January!
TW: Where did life take you before you returned to Michigan?
L&A: Out west to Colorado. Denver, to be exact.
TW: You're both lucky to have successful careers that you've been able to transfer back to Michigan. Tell us a bit about what you both do, and how those passions came about.
Lexie: I am a therapist (clinical social worker) that specializes in working with adolescents and young adults, primarily for eating disorders and body image issues. After college, I had a personal trainer and ended up dabbling in the world of pretty extreme diet and exercise per his instruction. I realized early on how detrimental giving into society’s expectation of what a female body is supposed to look like can be to our mental and physical well-being. Shortly after I did an internship with an intensive eating disorders program and quickly realized the similarities between diagnosable eating disorders and societally acceptable dieting and exercise. This fueled my passion for working through these challenges with others and on a broader scale. I work to bring awareness to the fact that only 5% of women are built like runway models, yet there’s an immense pressure all of us face to look this way. We live in a very fatphobic culture with the belief that our weight is directly correlated to our health. My hope is to break some of these stigmas!
Alex: I am a tax manager at a small real estate tax and consulting firm based in Denver. Passionate is a strong word here, but I chose accounting because it is fundamental to business, and it can be a good launch pad to any business venture I embark on in the future (hint: there will be other business ventures in my future).
TW: You both attended Michigan State University. What were your favorite parts about being Spartans?
L&A: Ricks…? Alex would have stayed at MSU his whole life if he could. Lexie would have stayed only for the cafeterias (lol).
TW: You both love to be outside, and even got engaged on a hike! Tell us about your favorite outdoor adventure(s) so far.
Both: The beautiful part about living in Denver was that the mountains were just a short drive away. We spent all of our free weekends skiing and snowboarding and are going to miss that a lot!
TW: We just mentioned your engagement, so we have to ask - what have been the best and worst parts about wedding planning thus far?
Lexie: Let’s be clear - Alex has done minimal work on this front ;). While making tons of decisions is probably the worst part, knowing that we’re putting together an event with all of our favorite people joining together makes it worth it.
TW: Let's say you have 24 hours with no work or other obligations... how do you spend it?
L&A: Lexie would frolick around the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market, sitting in a sunny spot in nature when it closed, eating a delicious plant-based meal, while Alex golfs the entire 24 hours.
TW: What's your favorite book and what about it moves you?
Alex: The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It gets you thinking about things from a different perspective.
Lexie: The Harry Potter series. I love it for its creativity and getting lost in the characters’ stories. There are also a lot of great messages and values throughout the books!
TW: If you could bring one thing from Denver to Detroit, what would it be?
L&A: Hands down, the mountains!
TW: If you could travel anywhere, real or fictional, where would you go and why?
Lexie: Patagonia. It looks like it’s breathtaking, and there’s something really magnificent about how remote it seems to be (I know, I know, there are more remote places in the world, but this one seems incredible).
Alex: It would be cool to teleport to Mars or something... but maybe somewhere closer like the Maldives.
TW: What's your favorite Jewish food any why?
L&A: We both say nothing better than a good corned beef sandwich (add pastrami for Alex). Is this considered Jewish food? We're not sure, but we vote yes, and we don’t eat meat that often so it’s a special one if it makes the cut!
TW: What's your hidden talent? (Or if you don't have one, what would you pick if you could?)
Lexie: I would love to have a photographic memory - it would make life a lot easier in many ways.
Alex: I’m still searching for a current hidden talent, but I’d love to be able to whistle with two fingers in my mouth like people do at sports games (insert Lexie laughing here at how silly of a wish this is).
TW: What do you look for in your Jewish community?
L&A: Feeling that sense of community - like-minded individuals, or not, but individuals that come together to support one another, through good and bad. We think the Detroit Jewish community is a special one - it's pretty big, but somehow it feels very small and connected. We know we can turn to people for resources we might need now that we're back home which is pretty amazing; we can go to events to meet new faces in this beautiful community of ours who can help us grow as human beings, and as professionals, and we are so grateful for that!
TW: Finish the sentence: When we go to The Well…
L&A: We hope to find fresh faces, laughs, events with yummy food, and good, intriguing conversation!