Growing up in San Diego, Asella Medina-Smith felt a pull toward Judaism. Not yet Jewish, Medina-Smith began reading and researching the religion.
Medina-Smith, 30, went to Sonoma State University for her undergraduate degree and majored in women’s and gender studies with a minor in music. She then went to the Guilford School of Acting for a Master of Fine Arts in musical theater. In 2021, Medina-Smith completed her second master’s in publishing at the University of the Arts in London.
After completing her formal education, Medina-Smith converted to Judaism. She now finds religion to be a large part of her life. Currently, Medina-Smith works for Beth Am as the programming and communications coordinator. She lives in Upper Fells Point and belongs to Bolton Street Synagogue.
What does your job entail?
The communications aspect deals with any information that needs to get out to the congregation. I’m responsible for getting it out there. We have our weekly emails that I will put together with all upcoming events and services, special programs [and] learning opportunities. I take care of our social media, and any digital or print marketing material, I will design.
For the programming side, I support our congregational engagement director on programs that she’s planning. I help with logistics, making sure food is catered, making sure we have registration forms and keeping track of those registrations so we know who to contact. I also support [Associate] Rabbi Tyler [Dratch] on our young adult group, and I help plan our Shabbat dinners and services [once a month].
How did you go from getting an MFA to doing this work?
Before the pandemic hit, my plan was to move back to San Diego and start working in theater there. San Diego has a fabulous theater scene, and I was really excited to do that. My parents moved a few months before the pandemic out here to Baltimore to be near their grandchildren.
And I still had that plan to go back to San Diego. Lockdown was a time to think and reevaluate my life plans and my life goals. I started to consider other avenues within the creative industry.
When I was considering another degree program, I looked into publishing and was really intrigued by how that industry works and wanting to understand how books go from somebody’s imagination to on the shelf and in your hands. So I applied for that program and thankfully got in. I moved to Baltimore in April of 2021, as I was working on my dissertation for that program, and I worked for Stitch Fix. I worked for some really wonderful local businesses here. [After that,] I [decided that I] want[ed] to do work that is not just going to line people’s pockets off of my labor. I love the Jewish community. I applied to a handful of places. I saw this position come up, and I was really excited when they asked me for an interview. It’s been such a fun, wild ride. I continuously am learning how talented I am outside of the ways I thought.
You had a bat mitzvah at Bolton Street Synagogue recently?
I was with a cohort of seven other adults who were doing it, and we studied together for the last few years. It started as an adult Hebrew class, and then once we wrapped that up, the rabbi asked if we wanted to continue studying and do a bat mitzvah. So, we worked on that together and it was hard, but super exciting, and we all did great. It was such a wonderful day and service. I had mine now because when I was 13, I wasn’t Jewish yet. I converted. I started that process in late 2020.
How would you describe your relationship with Judaism?
My relationship with Judaism is probably the best relationship I’ve ever had. I was searching for some kind of spiritual home and community. I had been interested in Judaism since high school, but I was 18 and only cared about a few things and finding religion wasn’t quite there yet. When the pandemic was in full force, I was in England without any friends and very far from my family, and I needed something. I knew I could have a community in most places I went. I decided while on a train platform on the way to work in December of 2020. I found everything about tradition and community and being with each other in community, even in its messiness, is so integral. [Judaism] is part of every part of my life. It means everything to me. I’m going to Camp Nai in a couple weeks, the Jewish adult summer camp. I went last summer as well and had a blast. It was so silly and a chance to be a kid again. I made so many wonderful friends there. I’m really excited to go back.
