Our Woman of Impact profile features a local woman making a notable impact in our community. For this issue, we spoke with Amanda Katzman, a dedicated community leader who continues a remarkable family legacy of Jewish communal service. Amanda’s grandmother, Bernice Waldman z”l, was instrumental in bringing the Lion of Judah giving society to Greater Hartford in the early 1970s, and her mother, Jaime Seltzer, served Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford (JFGH) for many years. Amanda now serves on the JFGH Board of Directors, as well as Jewish Federation of North America’s National Young Leadership Cabinet. She also serves on the Mandell JCC board and is a co-founder and chair of JNext, a next-generation philanthropy initiative for leaders ages 30 to 45. Amanda is a proud Lion of Judah, having been pinned by her mother in 2024 with her grandmother’s pin. After finishing her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan, Amanda earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Connecticut. She now works as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Hartford Hospital, with a focus on exercise trials for breast cancer patients and other quality-of-life studies. Amanda and her husband, Aaron, live in West Hartford with their two children, Molly and Nathan. 

Your family has a long history of community service; how does that history influence you and your priorities today?
I’m always asking what my parents and grandparents would do in a given situation. What would they do if they saw the current state of philanthropy, or the challenges we face in engaging the next generation? My mom and I have a shared interest in philanthropy, which is special to me since we sit on a few committees together. We spend many times in the course of a week discussing each other’s current passion project and brainstorming. When I wear my grandmother’s pin, I feel as though she is with me and I am connecting my future legacy to hers.

I absolutely love my family’s legacy, but I also need to pave my own way. I don’t want to only be known as my grandparents’ granddaughter, or my parents’ daughter—or for doing things just because that’s the way they did them. I want to show my kids that as the world evolves we need to get creative in figuring out new solutions. Our challenges are very different than when my parents and grandparents were my age, and we need to figure out what works now. 

What does paving your own way look like in practice?
In some of my volunteer roles, I’m one of the youngest people in the room, and I feel I should represent the next generation who may not yet have a seat at the table. For example, I'm really proud of co-founding JNext at the Mandell JCC. We started this next-gen philanthropy initiative in 2021 as a way to engage young leaders—creating both a philanthropic and social group for that generation—and it’s thriving. Now, other JCCs across the country are looking at our model.

There are a lot of young people who aren’t engaged in the community, and we need to find the best way to get them involved. I enjoy the detective work of trying to figure out the best way to get a new person involved in an organization: Is it through tangible volunteerism? Sitting on a committee? Are they interested in overseas issues or local programs for children? We need to recognize that what worked for people in the 70s, 80s, and 90s may not work now. This generation has so many time constraints, with so much competition for their time and interests, and we really need to consider that reality in how we try to engage people. I’m not sure I have the answers to these questions, but it starts by recognizing that we need to think uniquely for each person. Every path for a donor and lay leader will look different than that of their neighbor. 

How would you describe the role that Jewish identity plays in your life?
The value of being a good person and caring for people is so innately tied to the Jewish people—it’s woven into everything we do. I remember my parents and grandparents always saying, “If you can’t do something with a full heart, don’t do it.” I try to emulate core Jewish values in everything I do, especially causes that are bigger than myself. We need to instill these values in the next generation, so that all of us continue to leave the world better than we found it.

This past summer, my two kids and three of their friends had a lemonade stand, and they wanted to donate half the money to charity. I wanted to bring the money where it would be concrete for them, so we donated it to the food pantry at Jewish Family Services, where they’ve been before. We walked in with a check for $36, and the fact that these five and eight year olds wanted to donate half of their earned money instead of buying toys made me feel like we are doing something right. They are learning the core values: tzedakah, mitzvot, and how to support causes that are bigger than them.

Your friends often describe you as an exceedingly busy person. With a career and a family, how do you make time for your volunteer and philanthropic work?
The reality is that doers are doers—we’re driven by wanting to leave anything we’re a part of in a good, functional place. If that’s where you’re coming from, you’re going to make the time. I also remind myself that the work we do with community organizations is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve learned that not every project has a strict schedule and deadline. Okay, maybe you weren’t able to do much work on that initiative this month, but it’s going to be alright. If you keep chipping away, it will get done.