Maneuvering well

Dana Hirschberg is the manager of Members, a thriving consumer club. She is also a lawyer who decided that she wanted to break into marketing

By OFIRA LEVIT
Dana Hirschberg (photo credit: MORAG BITAN)
Dana Hirschberg
(photo credit: MORAG BITAN)
 Sometimes in life we head in one direction but ultimately find ourselves on another course. Dana Hirschberg studied law and started working as a lawyer at the office of Yossi Cohen. However, after three years in the profession, she decided to make a change and started a lawyer’s consumer club.
Today she is the manager and a partner of Members, the consumer organization of the Israel Bar Association and of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel, which includes lawyers, judges, interns and accountants.
The partners at Members are Hirschberg (33%) and the Meir Group, the Kavim Group and Arnon Paz (67%). Hirschberg is the manager of the partnership and runs the activity of the group.
Hirschberg, 36, is married and lives in Tel Aviv. She is the mother of three children: 6½, 3½ and 2½. In an interview with Style, she talks about her personal and professional life.
Why did you decide to leave your job as a lawyer?
For almost 10 years, I worked as an international marketing manager at New Century Group and lived in Spain, England, Taiwan and Singapore. There I started telemarketing offices. Then I decided to try my hand at being a lawyer. I came back to Israel and worked in Yossi Cohen’s office. I loved working with him, I loved the office and the people, but l missed the marketing world and working more with people. I wanted to give the marketing field another chance. I discovered that being a lawyer didn’t suit me. I was busy reading and writing legal material, and I didn’t see or work much with people. However, I managed to keep in touch with lawyers, as they are most of my clients today.
What is the concept of Members?
The club is organized with credit cards. With them, our clients receive benefits from a variety of consumer products such as gas, fashion, tourism, finance, mortgages, real estate and cars. We have 62,000 cards with many purchases.
The average expense per card per month is NIS 4,000, while at Hever club, for example, it is only NIS 2,500. Our annual membership fee is NIS 1,200, but it can be subsidized with points one can collect during the year by shopping with the card.
We also have other consumer clubs. One of them is the Mercantile Discount Bank Club, with 150,000 credit cards. 
How do you manage to combine running a big business and taking care of three small children?
Our office in Tel Aviv is near my home. I work every day from eight in the morning until four or five, go to pick up my kids, have fun with them, and at half past seven, I often go back to the office and work on items that could wait until the evening. I try to maneuver between the kids and running the business. Since I work very hard, every spare moment I have is dedicated to my husband and the kids. My parents live on a parallel street to mine, and they help out. My father is a doctor. That is very practical, as the children are always in good hands.
What are your ambitions for the future?
I want to stay in the consumer club field, to do good for people, to increase our activity. I enjoy my work and earn my living from my hobby. Working in marketing makes me feel good, and I am always in contact with interesting people.