Melanie Sharaz was like any young, Israeli woman on the evening of Oct. 6, 2023.
The then-23-year-old successful business tech leader was in Tel Aviv celebrating a friends birthday with more than two dozen others.
“What we didn’t know at the time was that was going to be the last time we were ever all going to be in the same place,” Sharaz told a gathered crowd Sunday at the Surprise Community and Resource Center. “Not only was that the last time I would see some of my friends until this day, it’s also the last time that I think our hearts felt light.