Before AFI, Firstenberg worked as a program officer at the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation in New York City. She also served as director of Princeton University's publications office. Firstenberg served as president and CEO of the American Film Institute from 1980 to 2007. Upon her retirement from AFI, Firstenberg received an AFI Life Achievement Award for service to the institute and was named president emerita and a lifetime trustee. During her years at AFI she saw the institute gaining the campus of
Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles and to the
AFI Conservatory being accredited by both the
National Association of Schools of Art and Design and the Accrediting Committee of Senior Colleges and Universities of the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges; to AFI's embrace of digital technology, and to the opening of the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. She also saw the AFI move away from the film preservation business, ==Books==