Model Elizabeth Pipko, Exodus movement founder, details life in new book

Though yet to be released, Finding My Place is already topping Amazon’s women and Judaism list, and it’s the fifth-ranked new release in Jewish biographies.

By Joseph Wolkin, World Israel News

Elizabeth Pipko, who has made a name for herself as an outspoken Trump supporter in a field – modeling – which is anything but, and for which she has taken much abuse, has written a book about her life: Finding My Place: Making My Parents’ American Dream Come True.

Ironically, Pipko says it’s a book for anyone “who hasn’t found their place in anything.” And she admits she has yet to find her own place.

Though yet to be released, Finding My Place is already topping Amazon’s women and Judaism list, and it’s the fifth-ranked new release in Jewish biographies.

In the book, Pipko describes the journey of her Jewish ancestors to America (the family patriarch coincidentally arrived in the U.S. 40 years ago to the day the book will be released – Aug. 25).

Pipko pays homage to her father.

“My entire family came to the United States with the hopes of having Jewish grandchildren they hadn’t even met yet,” Pipko said. “They wanted a Jewish legacy back in the Soviet Union, and they gave up everything for it. The whole book is about fighting for this dream that my parents and grandparents dreamed about in the Soviet Union.”

Pipko is seen as a rising star in the world of politics, launching the Jexodus Movement last year to introduce Jews to the conservative movement.

There’s more to Pipko than her work as a political activist. At just 25 years old, she’s worked in several different fields, sometimes following multiple paths at once.

In Finding My Place, Pipko reveals that her life is not ordinary and that’s exactly how she likes it.

“When I was little, it felt weird being an outcast,” Pipko said. “But as you get older, you get more and more proud of it.”

It was only a few years ago that Pipko went public with her work on President Donald Trump’s election campaign. The backlash led to her losing modeling jobs.

But it also opened up opportunities. During the campaign, she met her husband, Darren Centinello. The couple resides in New York City as he continues to work on the president’s reelection bid.

But no matter Pipko’s path, she’s always felt that it is difficult for her to fit in.

(Courtesy)

“I had the idea that I wanted a book one day and I hadn’t even signed with anybody yet,” she said. “I guess it hit me in the moment that I haven’t really fit in anywhere and I have yet to find my place. If you sum up my 25 years on earth, it’s probably my attempt to find my place.”

Figure skating is what she spent the majority of her time doing throughout her early years. The journey, though, was painful in both a physical and emotional sense. With injuries preventing her from pursuing a professional figure skating career, it is still on her mind.

“It still takes over my thoughts and my heart,” she said.

Pipko also signed major modeling contracts.

With more than 150,000 followers and counting on Instagram, it’s surreal for her to know that so many people appreciate what she does.

“As I started writing it, the world was in a different place and when I started editing it, I went in a different direction,” she said. “With COVID-19 and everything that’s happened, you realize what’s actually important in life. What started out as a political book ended up as something very different, and I’m very proud of that.”

It wasn’t easy for her to pen a tell-all book, though she says she could do no less.

“I have way too much respect for Americans and for anyone who is going to buy my book,” Pipko said. “It’s way more important and beneficial to share my story, share how I got to the views that I have and explain my views, which might help someone at the opposite end of the political aisle.”

“It’s a very patriotic book,” she said. “I’m a first-generation American. With everything going on, I want to tell that side of my story and how that shaped my views and what that brought me as an American and as a Jew.”

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