Alysa Stanton is an American Reform rabbi, and the first African American female rabbi. Ordained on June 6, 2009 in August 2009 she began work as a rabbi at Congregation Bayt Shalom, a small majority-white synagogue in Greenville, North Carolina, making her the first African American rabbi to lead a majority-white congregation. Stanton converted to Judaism at age 24 and first studied and worked as a psychotherapist.
