Phyllis Epstein co-founded the California Music Project.

She is on the Board of the San Diego Symphony and the Board of Councilors of the Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education at USC, the USC School of fine Arts, and a board member at the UCSD School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.

She served on the board of the Museum of Photographic Arts, has been President of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, and was a member the California Arts Council. She is a graduate of UCLA.