40 Under 40: Camellia Heart-Katz

For Camellia Heart-Katz, one of the vital aspects of being Jewish “is about finding joy in dark times.”

She noted her grandparents “didn’t have the time or the ability to volunteer their time or give back to their community, because they were mostly facing persecution [but because of this] they’ve given me the ability to be Jewish freely, so now that I don’t have to focus on survival and being Jewish in survival mode, I get to live out those values in a way that hopefully would make them proud.”

After learning the world of clinical social work in 2024, she began her role as Alexander Associate at American Jewish Committee Atlanta. In 2025, she was promoted to Alexander Assistant Director. In this role she worked with young professionals and high school students to combat antisemitism and become confident advocates for Israel and the Jewish people especially important to her as the daughter of Israeli immigrants. In August 2026, she joined Chabad Intown’s team as Program Director of Jeff’s Place, a program focused on addiction recovery.

She may be best known as co-founder of Bayit Ba’Beltline, the lay-led, Shabbat-observant, egalitarian group that has been drawing large crowds of young Jewish professionals across Atlanta for lively prayer, song, and communal meals.

She also is the chair for the Atlanta committee of the Red Tent Fund, a Jewish abortion rights group, and outside of her deeply-rooted Jewish organization work, also volunteers at PAWS Atlanta, spending time walking the dogs there.

Heart-Katz mentioned she lives her daily life by the Pirkei Avot quote, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”