Alexandra Meyer did not have a traditional Jewish upbringing, so she took a winding path to the role of managing director of GatherDC, a nonprofit organization that connects young adults to their Jewish roots. She has worked there for three and a half years.
Meyer studied international relations at American University. During the pandemic, she pursued mikvah guide training through Mayyim Hayyim, a resource for Jewish learning and spirituality. She enjoys studying feminist perspectives on Judaism. Ordained by her new father-in-law, Meyer got married in New Orleans in March and lives in D.C. with her husband.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in New Orleans in an interfaith family. My mom is Ashkenazi Jewish. I was always really close with my mom’s family in New York, but I didn’t really grow up in the Jewish community. My family didn’t belong to a synagogue, I didn’t go to sleepaway camp, I didn’t have a bat mitzvah. It wasn’t until I was in high school and I experienced Hurricane Katrina, that I moved to Atlanta for a year, and I lived with some family there, and I really felt a profound connection to my Judaism during those years.
When I went to college in New York City, I continued to explore my Judaism in an impactful and powerful way. I had a lot more access to Jewish individuals and Jewish organizations and Jewish resources and books and spaces I’d never heard of before. My whole Jewish identity today is built on my own search and gain and desire for knowledge and Jewish community and Jewish ritual, and I’ve been able to build a Jewish life through my own exploration over time.
How did you get to where you are today?
I have a really nonlinear job background. I worked in fashion for many years and sort of had a crisis of values moment and moved to D.C. in 2016 to get a graduate degree in international relations. [I graduated from American University with] a degree in international peace and conflict resolution. When I moved to D.C., I was really focused on getting my graduate degree, and I quickly fell into Jewish life in D.C. without even knowing it. It was really magical and beautiful and I felt really accepted.
I met really special people, and through them, I learned about GatherDC. I love working at Gather because I have been a community member that Gather has impacted. I was really involved in GatherDC. During the pandemic, when I was looking to make a big career shift and seeking to be in a nonprofit space, Gather was growing. There was an opening for an engagement director role. I applied and was engagement director for about six months before becoming managing director. I love being a Jewish professional.
What are your responsibilities as managing director of GatherDC?
My responsibilities are to ensure that our team has everything we need for Jewish 20s and 30s in our region, to find their people, to connect to our local Jewish ecosystem and to build meaningful Jewish identity. My responsibilities are some days about budgets and some days about strategies and some days about curriculum, and anything and everything in between. Ultimately, I believe my goal is to make sure that we do everything we can to support the Jewish community.
What are your goals for the organization?
My personal goal is connected to the philosophy of relationship-based engagement. I believe that every person that we impact through Gather, we will continue to create a more relational Jewish world and that is a culture shift. I personally believe we can do that.
What do you like about D.C.’s Jewish community?
I love D.C. Full disclosure, I thought I would go back to New York. I love that D.C. is definitely a city, but it feels a little bit more relaxed than other major cities: there’s more greenery, it’s really walkable, but not intense. I love that D.C. is a little bit northern, a little bit Southern. It has a little bit of everything. I found the Jewish community here to be really welcoming and diverse in the sense of what you can find, who is here, how you can participate. There’s just a lot of Jewish opportunity in this region, and I think that’s special.
How do you spend your free time?
I love doing yoga. I’ve been doing yoga for over a decade now and it’s a really important part of my personal life. I’m a really big walker; I love nothing more than taking a long walk through D.C. on a gorgeous day. You can always find me at a farmers market in Dupont on a Sunday, and I love to read. Another perfect day for me would be reading outside.
