“Simone Knego is a woman we can all aspire to be like, but she would much rather you be yourself!”

Though Simone Knego has had a varied career, she began her professional life as a Certified Public Accountant in 1995 working in Tyler, Texas.

Simone holds both a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Accounting from the University of Florida. After she moved to Sarasota, Florida in 2000, Simone went back to school to become a teacher. Raising six kids, she was already managing her own classroom— she decided why not get paid for work that aligned with her own daily life? She worked as an Elementary and Exceptional Student Education teacher for three years, where she strove to create a safe and productive learning environment for all students.

The job opened her eyes even further to the role schools can play in providing children with stability, especially those who may not experience the comfort of constancy at home. Later, intrigued by the science of stem cell therapy, she founded a medical device distributorship.

In addition to her professional pursuits, Simone is passionate about being involved with philanthropy, especially within the Jewish world.

Jewish Federations focus on making the world a better place for all people, and through her volunteer work, she witnessed the difference that Jewish Federations can make locally and across the globe. Wanting to play a role in this important work, she became a board member of the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation where she was the 2016 Doris Loevner Memorial Young Leadership Award winner and just finished a six-year term.

Simone also served as the 2018-2019 Co-Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America’s National Young Leadership Cabinet. Simone’s work with the Jewish Federation helped her realize that she had the ability to inspire others to dedicate time and resources to projects, both personal and charitable, that can make a difference in people’s lives. Simone has shared this message with numerous audiences and, in doing so, has discovered her passion for public speaking. Additionally, she is constantly searching for ways to pursue her love of physical challenges together with her passion for philanthropy. She’s completed the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk twice, she ran a marathon in California with Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and in 2015, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise funds and awareness for the Livestrong Foundation. She’s currently on the lookout for her next challenge.

Simone has led an ordinary life filled with extraordinary moments as a mother to both dogs and children, a serial entrepreneur, and now a keynote speaker and author. Splitting her time between her family, businesses, and personal growth, she’s realized the small choices she makes every day to do good actually have the power to inspire others.

Penning her first book, The Extraordinary Unordinary You, she wants to help others see themselves differently so they can impact the world the way they were created to. Simone believes deeply that changing the way you see yourself can help the world around you change. Through her book, she hopes to show people how they are unordinary in the best possible way. She knows that through these realizations, people can redefine what they believe themselves capable of.

Simone has thoroughly enjoyed the trips down memory lane that have helped her source stories and bits of wisdom for her work. Though her kids may find her stories about their lives embarrassing, Simone thinks it all comes with the territory of honestly exploring motherhood, life, and a constantly-evolving career. 

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