Having spent much of her career working in the disaster space, Tali Cohen feels that leading the local Anti-Defamation League is where she’s meant to be.
Cohen began as the regional director of ADL Washington, D.C., in July, where she “lead[s] the fight against antisemitism and all forms of hate” in D.C., Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
“My role as the regional director is really advocating for a Jewish community here in our area and making sure that the safety, security and well-being of the Jewish people is elevated and is a priority for all,” Cohen said.
She’s not new to the organization. Cohen interned with the ADL as a college student in New Haven, Connecticut, 25 years ago.
“I love the ADL; I’ve always loved the ADL,” she said. “It’s been around since 1913. I tell people I believe many generations of my family have benefited from the Anti-Defamation League, dating back to my great-great-grandparents who came over and my great-grandparents.”
Cohen’s great-great-grandparents emigrated to the United States from Latvia and Lithuania. Cohen distinctly remembers sitting around the dinner table every Shabbat with her great-grandmother in her family’s Hartford, Connecticut, home.
“It was really important that my great-grandmother was always there,” Cohen said. “We heard stories of the family, and I grew up having a very strong connection to the generations before.”
Her father, originally from Argentina, and her mother, from Athens, Georgia, both experienced antisemitism in their early lives, something Cohen said she’s fortunate to have avoided. Cohen was raised in the “very historic, longstanding Jewish community” in Hartford.
“There were a lot of synagogues; we had our Jewish supermarket,” she recalled. “For me, I grew up thinking that we were a much bigger part of the U.S. population than we actually are.”
Cohen said she’s always wanted to pursue nonprofit work, especially through a Jewish lens, due to her upbringing. Sept. 11, 2001, changed the course of her career.
“I was a senior in college when 9/11 happened, so that sort of flipped everything for me, as it did for a lot of Americans,” Cohen said. “I pivoted and focused much more on combating terrorism and working for the federal government.”
She joined the Department of Homeland Security in April 2003, just a month after it began operating, and held leadership roles there for more than two decades. A self-described “very patriotic” person — evident by the American flag hanging on the wall behind her when she spoke with Washington Jewish Week — Cohen said combating terrorism was the best way she could think of to support her country.
“I have spent my entire career with the Department of Homeland Security, mostly in the disaster space,” Cohen said. “So, I see coming to ADL almost [as] coming home. For me, this is sort of a return to where I always expected to be.”
Now, she balances working with the ADL’s national team and the D.C.-area community. Cohen’s responsibilities range from working with colleges for the annual Campus Antisemitism Report Card and engaging in K-12 work to working with partnering synagogues and law enforcement on incident response.
She also does state and local advocacy, working with state legislators and local governments to ensure that the ADL’s educational programs and resources are shared throughout the region.
Many of the skills she honed working for the DHS help Cohen in her current role.
“I think when you work for Homeland Security, especially … in the disaster space, relationship building is everything,” she said, adding that the ADL partners with organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
“When you’re working on a disaster from the federal side, you are supporting [the] state and locals; you are not in charge,” Cohen said. “And the same thing here at ADL — we support our communities; we are not in charge. We elevate and support them and ensure that their needs are met.”
She is better equipped to address “emotional and distressing situations” given her background in emergency management.
“You’re trained in it; it sort of becomes part of your DNA,” Cohen said. “I [want to] come into this environment and ensure that when bad things happen, people feel heard, but they also see a calm approach and a caring approach.”
Constructive dialogue is top of mind for Cohen, who will accomplish that through small group training sessions for legislators on antisemitism and the ADL’s efforts.
“The relationship piece and building that is going to be something that I absolutely focus on this year,” she said.
She aims to use a holistic community approach to the ADL’s advocacy, something Cohen enjoys.
“I have the best job in the world,” Cohen said. “I get to spend my time supporting my family, and getting to interact with the community, and making sure that everyone feels safe, and secure, and seen. That’s really important to me.”
For nearly 23 years, Cohen has lived in the D.C. area. Her two kids attend Jewish preschool, and her family belongs to a local synagogue, so she said leading ADL Washington, D.C., “feels like working with family.”
“I feel like getting to do this work is supporting my community and supporting my family,” Cohen said. “To get to live in this vibrant Jewish community and get to support it is a gift.”
