Brooklyn-born Estelle Hedaya recovered from Surfside building collapse
Estelle Hedaya went by different names depending on her audience. Her family and friends called her Stella for short, but she was also known as Cha Cha for her iconic moves on the dance floor. Online, she was known as the author of a travel and food blog called Follow the Toes.
Hedaya, 54, was identified as one of the 98 victims in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside. She lived in apartment 604.
Her remains were identified July 20 amid the rubble that had been relocated from the site of the collapse to a secured lot near Miami International Airport.
Hedaya was the last victim to be identified. The wait was almost unbearable for her family.
“The waiting game is a little tough, it’s been a month now, it’s too much for my parents,” her brother Ikey Hedaya told Miami Herald news partner CBS4 News before the family was given confirmation that Estelle’s remains had been recovered.
Estelle Hedaya, the eldest of three siblings, came to South Florida from Brooklyn in 2015 to work as the director of operations for Continental Buying Group and Preferred Jewelers International, which led to travel around the globe. Her travels inspired the pictures and motivating messages she posted to her blog.
“If there was something fun to do, she was first in line. Just, that was her,” said her close friend Mindy Beth Silverman.
Silverman met her through mutual friends in 1996 and she said Hedaya was always up for making fun memories. When they both lived in New York, the two would throw yearly double birthdays because their celebrations were within days of each other.
She was a Capricorn, while Silverman was an Aquarius. Every year, the friends would get together, hit a sports bar and a nice restaurant to celebrate another year together.
After she moved down to Miami in 2015 for her dream job, Silverman said she had never seen her friend so happy and full of life.
In the past three years, she built this incredible life for herself, surrounded by love and good relationships, Silverman said. During COVID-19, she hosted “Hedaya Happy Hour” over Zoom and chatted with her friends from her terrace on the beach.
“No one would ever have a bad word to say about her,” Silverman said.
Hedaya’s friends responded in kind to her life-affirming messages and examples.
“From our 20s til today Estelle and I have seen it all,” one of these friends, Michele Yedid, posted on the Facebook group page, Estelle Hedaya Remembered.
“We have laughed (a ton!) cried (a bit) and always had a lot to say,” Yedid continued. “She was a great touchstone for me, a moral compass, someone who kept it real and never shied away from a challenge. We got healthy and strong around the same time and loved to talk about our journey together. She kept me grounded while lifting me up and making me feel like I could conquer the world, a rare combination indeed! She was such an empowered woman and loved to make others feel the same.”
Kerie Stone, a friend from their days in New York two decades ago, recalled Hedaya’s confidence when they both were recovering from similar medical procedures. Hedaya was soon back at work and the gym, leaving Stone thankful for her reunion with “someone you never wanted to lose again.”
Hedaya was also devoted to her faith in Judaism, Silverman said. And she admired those that could turn to faith in times of struggle.
“Positivity does not come easy. This is especially true during challenging times,” Hedaya wrote in an April 28, 2020, post about isolation at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I have seen several friends cope with immense pain by drawing from their faith and they have inspired me.”
And faith is what helped the Hedaya family endure the weeks of uncertainty as they waited for word on Estelle’s whereabouts, Ikey told CBS4.
“I know my sister is in the right place now. She went out on top, we’ll be fine, and her soul will go straight up.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2021 at 11:58 AM.