Alexis Lewis Ethnicity: What Is Cory Booker’s Wife’s Background?

Alexis Lewis, the wife of U.S. Senator Cory Booker, is of Jewish heritage — a background that took center stage at the couple’s 2025 wedding, an interfaith ceremony blessed by both a rabbi and a pastor. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Lewis comes from a Jewish American family; her parents, Curtis Jerome Lewis and Leslie Garber Lewis, were both present as witnesses when the couple signed their marriage papers. While the specific details of her family’s ancestral origins have not been publicly documented, her Jewish faith and heritage are the defining, confirmed elements of her ethnic background.
Lewis married Booker in November 2025 in two ceremonies: a small civil wedding at the federal courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, on November 24, and an intimate interfaith celebration in Washington, D.C., on November 29, held under a traditional huppah. As a high-achieving real estate investment professional with degrees from NYU and Cornell, she brought her own distinguished career to a marriage that instantly made her one of the most watched political spouses in America.
Alexis Lewis Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Alexis Lewis (Alexis Lewis Booker) |
| Born | 1987, Washington, D.C., USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Jewish heritage (specific ancestral details not publicly disclosed) |
| Spouse | Sen. Cory Booker (married November 2025) |
| Known For | Real estate investment director; investor at Brasa Capital Management |
Biography: Who Is Alexis Lewis?
Alexis Lewis is an American real estate investment professional who became nationally known after marrying U.S. Senator Cory Booker in 2025. Born in Washington, D.C., she built an impressive career at the intersection of public service and private investment before her marriage thrust her into the political spotlight.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from New York University and later an MBA from Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, where she specialized in real estate development and hospitality. Early in her career, she served as a business development manager in the office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, working on economic development initiatives in the entertainment and tourism sectors. She later became director of investments at Brasa Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm.
Her relationship with Booker began with a blind date arranged by a mutual friend in 2024, while she was visiting family in Washington, D.C. The couple got engaged on September 2, 2025, during a trip to Hawaii, and married that November. According to Cory Booker’s biography, the marriage is Booker’s first, ending years of public speculation about the bachelor’s personal life and arriving amid talk of his political future.
Alexis Lewis’s Ethnicity and Jewish Heritage
The clearest documented fact about Alexis Lewis’s ethnic background is her Jewish heritage. The couple’s November 29, 2025, wedding ceremony was explicitly interfaith: Booker, who is Christian, and Lewis, who is Jewish, were married under a huppah — the traditional Jewish wedding canopy — with blessings offered by both a rabbi (honoring her Jewish background) and a pastor (honoring his Christian faith). The New York Times and other outlets covering the wedding identified Lewis as Jewish, making her faith heritage a matter of public record.
Beyond that, specific details about her family’s ethnic origins — whether Ashkenazi, Sephardic, or otherwise, and which countries her ancestors came from — have not been publicly disclosed. Lewis and her family have kept those particulars private, which is consistent with her overall approach to public life: accomplished and visible in her career, but discreet about personal matters. Her parents’ names, Curtis Jerome Lewis and Leslie Garber Lewis, are documented through wedding coverage, but genealogical specifics beyond that remain private.
What can be said with confidence is that Lewis is a Jewish American woman raised in Washington, D.C., whose heritage played a visible, honored role in her wedding — a ceremony that deliberately wove together two faith traditions. In an era of increasing interfaith marriage in America, their huppah-and-pastor celebration became a small cultural moment in its own right.

Family: Parents, Upbringing, and Washington Roots
Lewis was born and raised in Washington, D.C., the youngest of three children. Her father, Curtis Jerome Lewis, is a labor attorney who founded his own firm, and her mother, Leslie Garber Lewis, has also been professionally active. Growing up in the nation’s capital exposed her early to public policy, business, and urban development — themes that would recur throughout her career.
Both parents played central roles in her wedding: they served as witnesses at the Newark courthouse ceremony on November 24, 2025, standing alongside Booker’s family as the couple signed their legal papers. Their presence underscored a close-knit family dynamic, and Lewis has described her upbringing as supportive and grounded despite the high-achieving environment.
The D.C. upbringing is a point of connection with her husband: Booker was also born in Washington, D.C. (though raised in New Jersey), giving the couple a shared hometown. Their decision to hold the second wedding ceremony in D.C. — “in two places that shaped us,” as they wrote on Instagram — honored both his Newark and her Washington roots. For more on accomplished women with their own careers alongside prominent partners, read about Kirsten Barlow and Anne Steves.
Career: Real Estate, Public Service, and Investment
Lewis’s professional resume is formidable on its own terms. After NYU, she entered the world of economic development and public policy, joining Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office as a business development manager focused on entertainment and tourism — industries central to the city’s economy. The role blended policy savvy with business development, a combination that prepared her for the private sector.
At Brasa Capital Management in Los Angeles, she rose to director of investments, working in the competitive world of real estate finance and investment. Colleagues describe a sharp, driven professional whose academic credentials — a Cornell MBA with a real estate focus — are matched by practical deal experience. Her career trajectory shows a consistent throughline: using business and investment tools to shape how cities and communities develop.
That background gives her a natural affinity with Booker’s policy world — housing, urban development, and economic opportunity are issues they both care about professionally. As a senator’s spouse, she is expected to maintain her career while navigating the ceremonial and advocacy roles that come with political marriage, a balance she seems well-equipped to strike.

The Wedding: An Interfaith Celebration
The Booker-Lewis wedding was deliberately intimate and deeply personal. The first ceremony, on November 24, 2025, was a civil wedding at the U.S. District Court in Newark, officiated by Judge Julien Xavier Neals, with only their parents present as witnesses. Five days later, on November 29, the couple held a second ceremony in Washington, D.C. — an interfaith celebration under a huppah, with a rabbi and a pastor offering blessings, followed by a family reception.
Details released by the couple emphasized meaning over spectacle: Italian pastries, a vegan chocolate chip cookie dough cake, and two cities that shaped their lives. Booker wrote on Instagram that he was “overflowing with gratitude,” and spoke movingly about how Lewis would have delighted his late father. The interfaith elements — the huppah, the dual clergy — were not decorative but substantive, reflecting genuine respect for both partners’ traditions.
The wedding drew national attention not just for its romance but for its symbolism: a Black Christian senator and a Jewish investment executive, married under a huppah in the nation’s capital, embodying a multicultural American story. For Lewis, the ceremony was also a public affirmation of her Jewish heritage — a heritage she had previously kept largely private.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Alexis Lewis’s Ethnicity
What is Alexis Lewis’s ethnicity?
Alexis Lewis is of Jewish heritage. The specific details of her family’s ancestral origins have not been publicly disclosed, but her Jewish background was prominently honored at her interfaith wedding to Senator Cory Booker.
Is Alexis Lewis Jewish?
Yes. Her wedding to Cory Booker on November 29, 2025, was an interfaith ceremony held under a traditional huppah with blessings from both a rabbi (for her Jewish heritage) and a pastor (for Booker’s Christian faith).
Who are Alexis Lewis’s parents?
Her father is Curtis Jerome Lewis, a labor attorney, and her mother is Leslie Garber Lewis. Both served as witnesses at the couple’s courthouse wedding in Newark.
When did Alexis Lewis marry Cory Booker?
They married in two ceremonies in November 2025: a civil wedding at the Newark federal courthouse on November 24, and an interfaith family ceremony in Washington, D.C., on November 29.
How did Alexis Lewis and Cory Booker meet?
The couple met on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend in 2024, while Lewis was visiting family in Washington, D.C. They got engaged on September 2, 2025, during a trip to Hawaii, and married two months later in ceremonies held in Newark, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. — the two cities that shaped their lives.
What does Alexis Lewis do for a living?
She is a real estate investment professional — director of investments at Brasa Capital Management in Los Angeles — with a bachelor’s from NYU and an MBA from Cornell. She previously worked in economic development in LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office.
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