Danielle Kasoff, 32, is the queen of Jewish Baltimore.
Having grown up in Howard County, Kasoff has been part of the Baltimore community her whole life. After a brief stint outside of Baltimore for college at the University of Michigan, Kasoff came back to her hometown to receive a master’s degree in clinical nurse leadership at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
She then went to Drexel University College of Medicine for a Human Lactation Consultant certification.
Kasoff is now a nurse manager at the Midtown Health Center, a primary care practice affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical System.
There, she oversees a team of nurses, ambulatory practice coordinators and medical assistants. Kasoff also works closely with the medical director to improve the quality of patient care.
In addition to her medical career, Kasoff is involved in organizations across Jewish Baltimore. She just joined the board of Friends of the IDF Young Leadership and has been a longtime connector through The Associated’s Jewish Connection Network.
Kasoff lives in Federal Hill.
Have you always been involved in Jewish community?
Yes, I started getting involved in college. I was super involved in Hillel there. I was in charge of the Jewish Penicillin Hotline, and I went to dinner every Friday there. They were located right next door to where I lived in my sorority house, so it was really convenient.
After college, I moved back to Baltimore and continued to be involved. My mom worked for The Associated at the time, and she introduced me to other people in the Jewish community.
I’ve actually found myself to be the person that a lot of people ask for, navigating the Baltimore community, especially in the young professional realm. So, I decided to make a website that has everything on it called bmoreyjps.com.
When did you start that?
It’s probably been about a year. It’s basically an impartial, information-only website of every Jewish organization that I know about that caters to young Jewish professionals in the Baltimore area. So, if people just moved here and they’re lost, I tell them to go to my website, look up all the organizations and see what all the opportunities are.
Why do you feel like that’s important work for you to do?
I love connecting people with other people. I get a lot of joy from that. I host a lot of events on my own. It makes me so happy when I ask people how they meet and they say ‘at your event.’ One of my friends is getting married, and she met her bridesmaid at my Shabbat dinner.
When I was growing up in middle school and high school, I wasn’t the most popular person. I had a hard time on one of my sports teams. I was pretty excluded, and I didn’t love that feeling.
I always said to myself, ‘I want to be the person that includes everyone because I know how it feels to be excluded.’ So, I think that’s part of why I really try to build community and try to include as many people as I can.
What is special to you about Jewish organizations in the Baltimore Jewish community, specifically?
People like to say Baltimore is Smalltimore. You end up really feeling like this community becomes part of your family, and you constantly run into people. Even though the Baltimore community is so large by number, it feels much smaller. I feel like a lot of people that are involved in the Baltimore community are down to earth and here to stay.
What’s a piece of advice you have for people who want to get involved?
If you’re someone reading this and you feel intimidated or that you can’t find a place in the Baltimore Jewish community, there’s definitely a place for you. It doesn’t matter how observant you are or not observant, you’re just as much of a Jew as any other Jew in the community. It’s never too late to get involved, make some great friends and be surrounded by great community.
Shira Kramer is a freelance writer.
