Alpha Epsilon Phi, the oldest Jewish sorority in the United States, has elected Jennifer Feldman of Montgomery County as its new national president. Feldman, a longtime member and volunteer, officially assumed the position in June.
“Jen has been an incredible worker and volunteer for the organization since graduation.” Bonnie R. Wunsch, the executive director of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority, told Washington Jewish Week. “She started post-graduation working for us. For that first year out of college, she traveled — I was actually her supervisor at the time — across the country, and then immediately coming off the road began volunteering for us.”
Feldman has remained actively involved with the organization for more than two decades, ever since she graduated from the University of Florida. There, she was a part of the Alpha Tau Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Phi.
“It’s been a long road to get here and a wide variety of responsibilities since then,” Feldman told Washington Jewish Week. “I just feel really excited and honored to be able to lead our organization and take us into the next chapter of what we’re doing.”
Professionally, Feldman has been working as a staff attorney at the Montgomery County Circuit Court for nine years. After graduation, she worked as a traveling consultant for a year for Alpha Epsilon Phi and has been volunteering for the organization ever since.
“I owe this organization a great debt of gratitude. I am who I am today not only because of the four years of my college experience that shaped me but also all the experiences I’ve had in the last two decades,” said Feldman. “If there’s anything that I can personally do to ensure that other women can have the type of positive sorority experience that I experienced, then that feels like a calling to me. It feels like something that I am supposed to be doing.”
Feldman grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, going to Jewish day school and Jewish camps, celebrating Shabbat and going to shul. For her, being Jewish was “just a part of my everyday life.”
After graduating from high school, Feldman said she didn’t expect being part of a Jewish community to be any different, but she soon realized that she took for granted her Jewish experience when she was younger. It drew her to seek the Jewish community she had grown up in.
“I gravitated towards Alpha Epsilon Phi because it was a home full of Jewish women, and it felt like a safe space where I felt like these were my people,” Feldman said.
Feldman said that other experiences have also shaped her. Being a two-time breast cancer survivor, Feldman has been involved in the CDC’s Bring Your Brave Campaign for breast cancer awareness. She has organized Alpha Epsilon Phi sisters from the Alpha Gamma Chapter at George Washington University and the Epsilon Theta Chapter at American University to walk in the Susan G. Komen More Than Pink Walk.
Feldman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and again in 2013. She told Washington Jewish Week that, in addition to her family, she leaned on the friends she had made through the sorority for support.
“They are the women that I want to pick up the phone and call when I have good news or bad news,” Feldman said.
Feldman added that her cancer scares motivated her to “have a sense of urgency” while taking challenges “one step at a time.”
“For me, it’s so easy to want to throw myself into everything,” added Feldman. “I get so excited and charged up about these great plans and ideas that everybody comes up with, but I have to keep reminding myself, ‘All right, take this one thing at a time.’”
Today, Feldman lives in Kensington with her family.
“I just know the organization is in good hands,” said Wunsch. “Jen has a wonderful vision for the organization and is already hitting the ground running and moving us forward in a wonderful way.”
