When Susan Radov Epstein began to pursue her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in August 2023, she was planning to continue down the path that she was already on.

After her undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, Radov Epstein worked as a consultant and associate at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Oct. 7 changed everything for her.

Today, she works as director of Jewish resilience at the Anti-Defamation League.

“[That decision] was very much shaped by the post-Oct. 7 environment,” Radov Epstein said. “My goal going into business school was to work at a large humanitarian nonprofit like the Red Cross, and then Oct. 7 hit.”

Radov Epstein said what she saw from many nonprofits, including one she worked with, made her realize that she needed to change course.

“That organization, along with a lot of the secular nonprofit humanitarian spaces, were not welcoming to Jews. UN Women would not come out with statements about the conflict-related sexual violence. We had worked so closely on documents about that, but when it came to Israeli women, it didn’t matter. And so that was a very clear kind of turning point for me that that space was not open,” Radov Epstein said.

Radov Epstein worked to fight campus antisemitism during her time in Evanston, as the Kellogg school is located on campus with the undergraduates. She saw encampments up close, and found her work advocating for Jewish NU students deeply fulfilling.

“I realized, this is actually very similar to the kind of work that I wanted to go into in the humanitarian nonprofit space. I was taking a lot of nonprofit management courses at Kellogg, in addition to all my business stuff, and so I really started to think, ‘Why don’t I do this for our people in our time of need when you know a lot of other folks aren’t really supporting us?’” Radov Epstein said.

Radov Epstein, who belongs to Beth El and recently moved to Pikesville, was born and raised in Baltimore. She is happy to be back home after her time in Chicago, Philadelphia and D.C., working on behalf of the Jewish community in the city she calls home.

“[Being back] is the best,” she said. “Baltimore is a smaller city than Philly, Chicago and D.C. Working for a national organization, it’s really nice to be in a city with such a local focus and a really tight knit Jewish community.”

Radov Epstein is involved with The Associated and its Young Leadership Council, and said that much of her social life is rooted in Jewish Baltimore. In fact, it was through her personal network that she found the job at the ADL.

“A colleague from Baltimore who went to Jewish day school and college with my sister, he was my boss at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in college. We had kept in contact over the years, and he told me about this position and said they were looking for someone preferably with an MBA who had done consulting and Jewish communal leadership,” Radov Epstein said.

For Radov Epstein, most of her role at the ADL is centered around helping Jewish organizations fight antisemitism through the ADL’s Hazak Jewish Venture Accelerator program. Essentially, the job of Hazak is to help established organizations find solid footing to reach their full potential. It isn’t easy work, but it’s meaningful.

“I think it’s really hard in this line of work to feel uplifted all of the time when you’re surrounded by such tough news, which is constant. But one of the many reasons that I love my job is that I get to see these grassroots leaders who are really making an impact in their workplace sectors,” Radov Epstein said. “They’re taking up the mantle of leadership and being courageous and I get to see week in and week out how they feel more equipped and empowered and activated.”

While the ADL is a national organization and Radov Epstein’s position is a national role, she believes the most important change comes on the local level.

“A lot of the change that we need to make that can feel the most impactful and fulfilling is when it’s in a local scope,” she said.
Even when the work is difficult, Radov Epstein is happy to be where she is — literally and figuratively.

“We’re near our family, and I could not be more thrilled to be back in Baltimore,” she said.

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com