October 31, 2025 • 34 mins
In this inspiring episode, Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder welcomes Liz Gordon-Canlas, Managing Director of Zora’s House, a vibrant hub for women and gender-expansive people of color in Columbus, Ohio, to discuss how disruption can mean building radically different spaces rooted in care, connection, and collective courage. Drawing on her transformative journey through higher education, nonprofit leadership, and personal advocacy as a transracial adoptee and community builder, Liz shares her vision for equity, belonging, and economic empowerment. Through programs like the Leadership Fellows and Wealth Builders, she is redefining what thriving looks like and challenging limiting narratives about women of color, proving that when we invest in dreaming, policy, and solidarity, we don’t just survive, we create a blueprint for the future.
- Season focus on disruption and reimagining change
- DLE program takeaways and Black professional cohort impact
- Origin story from residence life to governance fluency
- Mentorship from Black leaders shaping career pivots
- Pandemic-era shift and readiness for new work
- Building Zora’s House and the $6.3M campaign
- Programs including Leadership Fellows and Wealth Builders
- Regenerative economics and keeping talent in Columbus
- Boundary-setting as a launchpad, not social service
- Internal blueprint for centering Black women at work
- Visions for policy, community, and the next decade
🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.
🔗 Follow the Center for DEI Innovation and Leadership on LinkedIn.
🌎Visit Oberlin College's website.
Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome to the North Star, a space for candid
conversations on leadership,equity, and social justice.
This season we're exploringdisruption, how bold thinkers
are reimagining what changelooks like.
Today, I'm joined by Liz GordonKenlis, managing director at
Zora's House in Columbus, Ohio,a vibrant community hub where
(00:22):
women and gender-expansivepeople of color gather to dream,
connect, and create.
Before joining Zora's House, Lizspent more than a decade in
higher education and now leadsan organization that's
redefining what belonging andleadership can look like in
practice.
Welcome, Liz.
Thank you so much, Debrianne.
(00:42):
It's so great to be here.
Yes.
Well, before we get started andtalking about Zora's House and
your leadership practice, I'dlike for us to kind of jump into
where you and I first gotconnected.
And that was earlier this yearin 2025.
We both were part of the, I'mnot sure what the cohort number
was, but we were both a part ofCase Western Reserve's
(01:05):
Weatherhead's ExecutiveDevelopment Leadership
Experience Program.
It was the EDLE program, whichwas such an amazing experience.
And I was actually saying thisearlier today.
Part of the reason why I wantedto have you on the podcast is
that when I had an opportunityto meet you through our um EDLE
experience, we did not have anopportunity to connect as often
(01:27):
as I would have liked.
SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
But I agree.
SPEAKER_00 (01:30):
Yeah, when I had an opportunity to meet you and
learn more about the work thatyou do, I immediately like had
this admiration for you and thework that you do.
Particularly, I know we bothwork in uh had experiences in
higher ed.
So I'm just really excited tohave you here.
And can you tell me what it waslike, what your experience was
in the EDLE program?
(01:50):
For me, it was verytransformative.
So just to kind of walk ourlisteners through that
experience, it was a six-monthcohort program.
It was pretty intensive.
At least it felt prettyintensive for me because you
were coming from Columbus.
So you know, we met once a monthon what Thursdays, Fridays,
Saturdays, right?
(02:12):
Once a month, we came together,we had lots of homework, which I
did not do much of the homework.
I just didn't have time.
I was a lot of homework.
My my me showing up is the gift,right?
I'm at least gonna come toclass.
I didn't do the homework.
And for someone who's aprofessor, that was a horrible,
horrible student.
But we came together, we learnedabout all the different aspects
(02:34):
of executive leadership, and wedid a lot.
We heard from amazing, you know,speakers and uh folks in the
field.
And it was just really a greattime.
And given sort of the heavinessthat the beginning of the year
kind of kind of ushered in, Ithink it was a great experience
to be in community.
And these are also happened tobe folks of color.
(02:56):
All of us were blackprofessionals who were going
through this experience.
What did the experience feellike for you?
SPEAKER_01 (03:02):
First, like you said, it was transformative, it
was empowering, it was timely.
And it'd been a long time sinceI'd been in a classroom setting
like that.
And it always felt exciting likethe first day of school.
I loved getting up north toCleveland and to Case's campus
and prep for our classes, and itreally invigorated the way I
thought as a leader.
It changed the way I thought asan entrepreneur for sure.
(03:25):
And it made me realize thatthere's just this bigger network
out there of people that arerooting for each other, that are
doing really different andimportant work.
And I absolutely loved it.
I mean, I have so many wonderfulthings I could say about our
cohort and our instructors andthe quality of the instruction
and just like how it's just beento date my most favorite
(03:46):
professional developmentlearning experience I've ever
had.
And it was really special.
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
Yeah.
Did you do your homework, Liz?
SPEAKER_01 (03:52):
Oh, you know, Jeffrey, and if we are on
record, of course, girl, I didmy homework.
Every month.
I definitely on my bookshelfbehind me, I have all lots of
our um good notes that we'vetaken and our books and
everything.
So it's all here with me.
SPEAKER_00 (04:08):
Yeah.
I mean, the speakers weredynamic.
So all of the lecturers that weexperienced who came from all
across the country to kind ofshare what they knew and learned
about leadership really helpedto inform how I am as a leader.
And so it really did help me.
And it kind of like you said, itwas very timely.
And given everything that we'veexperienced so far in 2025, it
(04:31):
really did kind of shape for mein real time what it meant to be
a leader.
Not to mention, like you said,the community of just other
like-minded individuals andleaders that we had the
opportunity to share.
So it was definitely great.
Part of what I learned about youbeing a part of that cohort
experience is that you alsostarted your career.
(04:52):
I don't know if you started yourcareer in higher ed, but you
definitely spent a lot of timein higher ed.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat.
So I always love to ask peopleabout their origin stories.
So can you share us with us alittle bit about kind of your
origin story?
Kind of tell us a little bitmore about what brought you to
this point.
SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
Yeah.
So I will always tell peoplethat I am a daughter of the city
of Columbus.
I was born and raised inColumbus and I absolutely love
this city.
And when I was thinking aboutgoing to school, I didn't really
know where I wanted to head orwhat I what I wanted to do.
But I ended up at Wright StateUniversity in Dayton, Ohio.
I was studying musical theaterand thought I was going to go to
(05:29):
Broadway, Jeffrey, and I stillmight.
You never know.
It's not too late.
But at that point in myeducation, that's what I wanted
to do.
But I ended up as a studentgetting really involved in
student leadership.
I was an RA, and that was justsuch a wonderful experience for
me.
I absolutely loved the idea oftransforming community and of
building communities with otherpeople.
(05:51):
And so after I finished myundergraduate degree, I went to
graduate school at OhioUniversity in Athens, Ohio.
And I was a grad student thereand I ran some residence halls.
And this was at that point in mycareer, early career, I thought
I'm going to be in residencelife and housing on college
campuses for the rest of mycareer.
It was all I really wanted todo.
(06:11):
To me, it was fun work.
It was dynamic work.
It was important.
I was meeting so many differenttypes of students.
And then at a certain point, somany different types of staff.
So I went on and I worked for acouple of years at Miami
University.
And that was the first time, butnot the last time, that I was
really privileged to be undersuch tremendous leadership of
another black woman.
So Dr.
(06:32):
Vicabel Robinson was my directorof housing at the time at Miami.
And she really transformed theway that I saw women showing up
at work.
She had very young children atthe time.
I admired her leadership somuch.
And Miami is a really wonderfulcampus, but also a difficult
place to work and live whenyou're a staff member of color.
And in my roles in housing, Iwas living on campus.
(06:53):
So living in staff housing allthe time.
I lived where I work, and thatcould definitely present some
challenges.
And so there was an opportunitythat opened up at Ohio State in
Columbus in my hometown.
And Dr.
Vicka was the one who called meand said, this position has
opened at Ohio State.
You're going to apply for thisjob.
You're going to get that job.
And we're going to say goodbyeto you here at Miami, but you're
(07:15):
going to go be home with yourfamily.
And so this woman in leadershipreally encouraging me to like
think about family first andthink about what I wanted to do
professionally first was thatwas such a gift to me.
And I am still in great contactwith Vicca and really owe that
to her.
And so happy to say thatpublicly about just what a
positive impact she had on me.
And so I spent most of my highered years at Ohio State, first as
(07:38):
a live-on staff member inhousing, running one of the
large towers that are on theNorth Campus.
And then I moved into a moreleadership role within the
housing team within studentlife.
And I loved it.
I just loved how different everyday was.
I loved how I was able to wearmany hats and think about
problem solving in ways thatwere meaningful for students.
(07:58):
I also loved showing up forstudents who looked a lot more
like me and maybe were much moreon the margins of campus
communities and did that throughadvising some student groups.
And so that was reallyincredible.
But probably my mosttransformative higher ed
experience was when I chairedthe staff committee at Ohio
State.
So Ohio State's one of thelargest employers in central
(08:19):
Ohio.
And so the staff committee wascreated to advocate for staff
who were working at theuniversity.
And in that role, I reported tothe office of the president.
And at that time, Ohio State hadits first Black president, Dr.
Michael Drake.
And so I was in this leadershiprole.
I was in my really early 30s.
I had one child, and then I waspregnant with my second baby.
(08:39):
And so I'm this like muchyounger staff member working
alongside this really incredibleleader who was also leading
during a really difficult timeat the university for a lot of
different reasons.
And I just admired seeing hisleadership transform the campus
community.
I learned a ton about policy,about governance, about local
(08:59):
and state laws and how theyimpact public universities.
And there was that time where Iwas like, okay, I used to say
that I didn't want to doanything nerdy with governance
and higher ed, that that was theboring stuff.
But then I was going to boardmeetings and I was seeing how
the decisions were made and howthe budgets were made.
And it was really exciting tome.
And I also saw another woman inleadership at that time, and
that was Katie Hall, who was thepresident's chief of staff.
(09:21):
And that's where I really waslike, okay, I think that's what
I want to do.
I think I want to be a chief ofstaff.
I want to be this orchestratorand coordinator of the chaos and
of the purpose and of thestrategy.
And so I left Ohio State and Ibecame an assistant dean of
students at the Columbus Collegeof Art and Design, which was a
really small art and designcollege in the heart of downtown
(09:43):
Columbus.
And that was a big change forme.
Leaving Ohio State, one of thethings that we used to do there
was make a big place feel reallysmall.
And so even though OSU was huge,it felt like this really small,
tight-knit community to me.
And so leaving that was hard,but I needed to get a new
professional experience.
I needed the opportunity to makesome of my own big decisions.
(10:05):
My term position with the officeof the president had completed.
And so I was done with that workwith him.
And so I was excited to be atCCAD and to be in a really
different campus culture.
It was a private school, whichis very different in a lot of
ways in a public university.
And then COVID hit in 2020.
So I was about six months intomy tenure at CCAD when the
(10:25):
pandemic started.
Then I worked through thatperiod of time for the next
three years.
And that's kind of where myhigher ed journey came to a
close.
I was ready for something reallydifferent after a few years at
CCAD.
And that's when Zora's housecame calling.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
Before we get to Zora's house, I just in you sort
of kind of narrating your story,your career story.
(10:59):
Is that an internal kind ofcompass for you?
Or, you know, you mentioned Dr.
Vica.
Are there other people who arekind of assisting you in making
these decisions?
Or is it just kind of thisinternal feeling that you feel
it's time for me to make ashift?
SPEAKER_01 (11:16):
I've always really felt like professionally, every
pivot and change that I've madehas been really intentional and
authentic, but it has oftencaught me by surprise.
So I remember my move from OhioState to C C A D was also under
some really tremendous guidanceand encouragement from someone
who was special to my career.
(11:36):
And that was Chris Mundell.
He's still at C C AD.
I actually first met Chrisforever ago.
I used to, I babysat for hisfamily when his children were
really little.
And it's always amazing to seekids grow and get better because
his kids are in high school andcollege now.
But Chris was one of the firstblack male professionals I knew
in higher ed.
And I watched his career kind offrom a distance.
We were involved in some Ohioprofessional organizations for
(11:59):
higher ed professionals, but wenever worked on the same campus.
And then I ran into him at aconference.
I was so excited to be at thisconference.
I was representing Ohio State.
And he said to me, I need a newdirector of housing and a new
assistant dean of students.
And I've always wanted you to beon my team and this is going to
be the right time for you.
And I thought, I have neverthought about working at CCAD.
(12:20):
I've always loved CCAD as, likeI said, a kid from Columbus, but
C C AD is an incredible part ofour creative community.
It produces these wildlytalented artists and creative
professionals.
And so from a distance, I knewabout the art college, but I
wasn't familiar with it for manyyears.
And so that was a time wheresomeone else who I really
respected, who I admired for theway that they showed up in a way
(12:43):
that there certainly were not alot of other black men leading
units in student life across ourstate and across the country.
And so I admired Chris for thatwork.
And so I was, I was ready tolike take the leap with him and
go to CCAD.
But I would often, yeah, sit andask myself, like, what type of
skills am I still missing?
What haven't I had the chance todo?
And, you know, in particularwith CCAD, I knew I had not had
(13:05):
a lot of business operationsexperience yet.
I had had a lot of HRexperience, a lot of leadership
and event planning, a ton ofcrisis response at Ohio State.
You learn a lot about crisisresponse when you work in
housing at a big school.
But I didn't have some of thecontract and business decisions
and the financial decisions thatI knew.
I needed to possess that in myportfolio to move forward.
(13:27):
And that was scary to me.
The money stuff always made menervous professionally.
But I wanted to have thatchallenge and I certainly was
able to get it during that time.
SPEAKER_00 (13:35):
So now you are the managing director at Zora's
house.
And I'm really, really excitedto get into this because this is
what seems to me a dreamposition, right?
And I don't want to put words inyour mouth, but as a sociologist
and someone who focuses in onthe experiences of folks of
color, and in particular womenof color, to think about the
(13:58):
mission of Zora's house and thework of Zora's house.
So to kind of back up a littlebit, Zora Near Hurston, for
folks who may not know, was awriter, an anthropologist, a
filmmaker, all of the things,right?
Written prolifically, lived from1891 to 1960.
One of her most kind of commonlyknown works is was Their Eyes
(14:23):
Were Watching God.
We could spend another hourtalking about Zoranel Hurston
and the impact that her work hasand continues to have in a lot
of different spaces.
So you currently work at Zora'sHouse, which of course is named
after Zoran O'Hursten, right?
And of course, honors her work.
(14:44):
And Zora's House serves womenand gender expansive people of
color in deeply intentionalways.
I'll let you talk more about thework of Zora's House, but I did
want to just kind of share anexcerpt from your 2024 in a
report, which to me was deeplyimpactful when I was reading
more about the work.
(15:05):
And it and it states at Zora'sHouse, we believe that to dream
freely is to resist and tocreate what does not yet exist
is an act of liberation.
In a time when the very notionof equity is being challenged,
cultivating a radicalimagination is not simply
visionary.
It is necessary.
So first, tell us about how yougot to Zora's house and tell us
(15:29):
about the work that you all do.
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
You know, so throughout all of my years in
higher education, I would oftensometimes, you know, I'd hear
from headhunters, I'd hear frommentors or colleagues on other
campuses who would have, youknow, roles that were DEI
facing, you know, multiculturaloffices that were looking for an
assistant director or differenttypes of work on a campus.
(15:54):
And would often reach out to meand say, Liz, I think you should
look at this role.
I think you should considerthis.
And this really draws on a veryseparate part of my professional
life that involves the publicspeaking I do around foster care
and adoption.
So I'm a former foster youth.
I'm a transracial adoptee.
I talk a lot about theexperiences that people of color
have when we're adopted andraised in white families.
And so people tend to thinklike, oh, Liz wants to do this
(16:16):
work in communities on collegecampuses that would be focused
on identity, on culture, onequity and inclusion.
And throughout my career, itjust wasn't something that I was
ready or wanting to do.
I really wanted to focus oncommunity engagement, on
housing, and on that experiencefor students.
But I first met our founder andCEO, Lsy Johnson.
(16:37):
We were at a birthday party forlike a friend of our children.
Our children are around the sameage.
And I was always just rootingfor anything that made Columbus
bigger and better.
I was always imagining what arethe best things that are
happening in our city for womenof color.
And I had seen that Zora's housewas this space that had been
(16:58):
built in the Wyland Parkneighborhood, which is one of
the neighborhoods that'sadjacent to Ohio State.
And I thought, that's amazing.
How cool.
I love that this is happening.
I have a minor in women'sgenetic studies, and so I knew
the work of Zora really well.
And I love the fact that hervoice and her legacy continues
to get to be a part of ourcommunity.
I thought that was amazing.
(17:18):
And I thought, all right, I justwant to check this space out.
But I didn't have a deepfamiliarity with Zora's House
prior to knowing about the role.
And so I was really feeling likeI was ready to move on to a new
position.
And so I was on LinkedIn and Isaw this posting for the first
managing director at Zora'sHouse.
And I kind of squealed and waslike so elated because I thought
(17:40):
to myself, this is my nextposition.
This is where I'm going to gonext.
I'm going to be able to continueto build community.
I'm going to use all of myoperational skill sets, my
leadership skill sets.
And I'm going to go and jointhis really new and growing
team.
And it's going to be differentfor me to leave higher education
and to, you know, move out ofthis space, but it'll be
(18:01):
awesome.
So I applied for the positionand shortly after met with LC.
And I think that was probablyend of August or early
September.
And then I joined the team inDecember three years ago.
So in 2022.
But there was that internalmonitor again, right?
Yeah.
And I definitely felt thisintense, like both excitement
(18:25):
and sense of calm when I saw therole and thinking to myself,
this this has to just be thenext opportunity for me.
So it's fun to think back tothat memory because it's very
vivid for me for sure.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (18:38):
Zora's House, a 10,000 square foot space, is
that right?
That's right.
So it's a huge space.
Right.
And tell me more about exactlywhat Zora's House aims to do.
So it's a community space, it'sa gathering space.
What types of programs doesZora's House offer?
And what kinds of what kinds ofthings have you all done over
(19:00):
the past, is it three years,three and a half years?
SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
Yeah, since I've joined, well, I'll say the first
thing that we did is that we webuilt the 10,000 square foot
building and we did thefundraising behind it, the$6.3
million that it took to buildthis new space.
And that was a part of myinterest also in joining the
team was I knew that Zorus Housewas going to build a new
physical space.
And as much as I loved thecurriculum and education of
(19:25):
having students be together incommunity, I also loved the
facilities and operations workof it.
And I had just finished some bigconstruction projects in my
portfolio in higher ed.
And I thought, oh, I would bereally skilled at helping with
the building of this new space.
So the old Zora's house isactually in a 2,500 square foot
home that's very residentialfeeling.
(19:46):
It's still in Wyland Park, rightin the neighborhood where we are
today.
But we had really quicklyoutgrown that space.
And so we bought an empty lotfrom the city of Columbus.
We bought that lot for a dollarand seven cents in honor of
Zora's January 7th birthday.
Oh my god.
So I know that wasn't that fun.
Because the lot was sittingvacant.
And like I think the city sawthe vision that we had
(20:08):
organizationally.
And what I'll say is I wastalking earlier today with
someone else, and they wereasking kind of similar questions
about the history of Zora'shouse.
And I said, so much of whatwe've done is because other
black women and other women ofcolor believed in the work that
we were doing, whether that waslocal donors, our banker who has
helped us so tremendously withour fundraising and our
(20:29):
finances.
Actually, first I recognized herwhen I first met her because I
lived in the dorms at WrightState with her daughter.
And so I felt this likeimmediately, like this motherly
maternal energy from her.
I knew she was going to help ustake good care of the work that
we were doing.
And there are a lot of MissCrystals involved in Zorus
(20:52):
House, a lot of reallyincredible leaders of color who
understand the imperative natureof our work and are willing to
stand beside us with their time,talent, and treasure.
So whether it's their skill setof knowing how to get it done.
So we did the fundraising forthe building.
We worked with Moody Nolan, whois the largest black-owned
architecture firm in thecountry, and they designed our
(21:13):
building.
Again, another incredible familyin Columbus that was able to see
the vision and stand behind it.
And then we built our newbuilding.
And so since we've activated ourspace and opened the new space
over a year ago, we have a lotof different programs and events
and activations that are reallyjust rooted in uplifting the
dreams and the goals that womenof color have in Columbus and
(21:35):
beyond Central Ohio as well,because we have a retreat space
on our third floor.
And I like to imagine that a lotof the work that we're doing is
around the fact that differentpopulations in different
communities offer a regenerativeeconomy.
So when people spend a dollar ata black-owned business or at a
business that's owned by a womanor a woman of color, that dollar
(21:57):
tends to last longer in thecommunity for a lot of different
reasons.
And so we are able to identifydifferent points of connection,
other different socialenterprises, forms of networking
that are really meaningful forsomebody who might have just
moved here to Columbus or who'swanting to consider staying
here.
One of the things that I know iscritical about being a city with
(22:18):
a big university is how do youensure that the great minds that
come to the university end upstaying and living in your
community afterwards?
And so being a space wherepeople feel a sense of
connection to other women ofcolor, then it encourages them
to stay and live longer inColumbus and call our city home.
And that matters for a lot ofreasons as well.
So a couple of our reallycritical programs, first would
(22:40):
be our leadership fellows.
So leadership fellows is asix-month-long cohort.
This is a group of usually 13 to15 women of color in our
community, and they are criticalin activating our space.
And so they're in our firstfloor space from 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m., where we do all ofour programs.
(23:00):
We have our women of colorwriting circle.
We have these great networkingevents, we call those power
hours.
We also do rent our space.
And so we imagine this sense ofconnection to other nonprofits
that are doing really criticalcommunity work who might come
into our space that we've builtand they might use it for their
meetings and gatherings.
And so our leadership fellowsare able to support those
(23:21):
operations, but then also walkthrough a leadership curriculum
that covers the six months oftheir experience.
And then when they completethat, they do receive a stipend
that they are able to use thento invest in themselves later
on.
So Leadership Fellows has reallyevolved over the time that I've
been at Zora's House.
And that's one of our big impactprograms, in addition to our
women of color wealth builders.
(23:42):
So wealth builders is anothercohort, multi-month-long program
that starts off with the work ofKara Stevens.
She online uses the name FrugalFeminista.
And Kara talks a lot about howwe heal ourselves as women of
color, how heal ourrelationships with money.
And so it's great to have thiskind of basic financial literacy
(24:03):
curriculum.
But if you don't heal yourrelationship with money,
especially the ways that we haveto show up as caregivers and
caregiving multi-generationally,right?
Caregiving to elders, caregivingto children and to nieces and
nephews, and thinking about howwe do that in a way that's
healing for ourselves andfinancially responsible.
So Kara's work is so critical.
So she starts us off with thatwork, and then we walk the women
(24:25):
who are in the cohort throughthis different curriculum that
is what Wealth Voters is rootedin.
So that's another one of ourprograms that we tend to be
pretty known for and that runsfor many months at a time.
I love that.
Has this year tested Zora'shouse in any way?
Absolutely.
Our funding, we don't receive aton of government funding at
(24:48):
this time.
But one of the things that wereally stand by is the
solidarity and liberation workthat we aim to do.
And we don't aim to do it alone.
And so when I think about all ofthe other nonprofits that are in
Columbus, big and small, and theimportant work that they do,
everybody, the one thing I'velearned about being at a new
nonprofit that's still a littlebit on the smaller side is those
(25:09):
small programs, those smallinteractions, those small, a
smaller donor gift that yousomeone may say, Oh, it's only
$5, it's only$20, thosecontributions make such a big
difference.
And so when I see anothernonprofit that's struggling or
sharing really difficult news,it's hard to keep morale up.
It's hard to feel like themission is able to continue to
(25:29):
move forward.
But the the one thing I think wealways tell ourselves is that to
do this type of work, to berooted in such like audacious
beliefs of what we want to seecome to fruition for our
community means that we willface certainly some really
challenging moments.
There were challenging momentsduring the construction process.
There were challenging momentsduring our ribbon cutting and we
were working to grow our staff.
(25:51):
And there's challenging momentsnow.
And I just continued seeing usfiguring out these really
creative and important ways thatwe'll navigate.
SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
So this entire season has been about
disruption.
Is there anything about yourleadership experience thus far
at Zora's house?
And I'm sure that you couldprobably think of a million
examples, but can you think ofany particular story or
experience that has really beencentered on disruption since
you've been at Zora's house?
SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
I think just all of the work that we constantly do
and that we don't exist as asocial service.
And so sometimes people, I'll beat an event, I'll be out in the
city or wherever I am.
And someone will say, I haveclothes, I want to donate to
Zora's house, or I have healthand beauty supplies.
I want to drop them off.
And I'll say, Oh, we are not asocial service.
(26:43):
We don't provide basic survivalneeds and goods.
That is a critical service.
And we have partners in the citythat are doing that really well.
And that certainly's meant todo.
We believe that women of colordeserve the opportunity to
thrive, not just survive.
Housing, food security,educational access, those are
survival needs.
But don't we deserve to gobeyond just surviving?
(27:06):
Don't we get to imagine what itwould be to start your own
business or to go back to schoolfor a future degree or to think
about pivoting your career at acertain point in your life and
getting new leadership skillsand that it's not too late?
You can do it.
There's not a right time or awrong time to make your own
dreams come true.
And so I think disrupting theidea that black women always
(27:28):
have to be surviving, that we'resupposed to always accept the
bare minimum.
I mean, I I see the flash inpeople's eyes when I disrupt
that idea for them through theirown implicit bias and make them
think twice about what they'reasking.
I say if you want to donate toZora's house, we will take a
check or credit.
You can send the money and we'lluse that towards our programs.
So, right.
SPEAKER_00 (27:48):
It's um, you know, and talk about the tax
implications of that, right?
It's, you know, correct.
I love that.
So like disrupting those likebiased narratives about black
women and other women of color,right?
This idea that why can't wethink about black women and
women of color building wealth,right?
Building leadership capacity asopposed to like, oh, here's some
(28:14):
clothes.
And there's nothing wrong withthat to your point.
But thinking about that througha different type of lens is
really, really disruptive.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
So we always close with threesort of rapid fire reflection
questions, if that's good withyou.
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
So the first question, and they're always the
same something that has made yousmile big this week.
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Something that made me smile big this week.
So over the weekend, I have anidentical twin.
SPEAKER_00 (28:44):
I was gonna say that because I saw something
somewhere about you being inTwinsburg.
Like twin test or something likethat.
SPEAKER_01 (28:53):
Shout out to Twinsburg, Ohio for hosting the
largest gathering of twins inthe country every summer.
And so my identical twin ran theChicago Marathon this past
weekend.
Oh my gosh.
She would not say super long,but she always is running with
her chapter or the Columbuschapter of Black Girls Run.
And so Chicago showed up andshowed out during a very
(29:16):
difficult time for thatincredible city, the
representation that they showedat the race and the support of
the volunteers.
It was just incredible.
I think one of the things I loveabout being at Zora's house is
the reminder that black peopleand black women are not a
monolith.
We have different hobbies andinterests, different dreams and
goals.
And, you know, I think for thefor the running community, which
(29:36):
I'm not a part of, I was veryhappy to spectate.
I was not running.
We're a record.
SPEAKER_00 (29:41):
I was imagining this.
I remember it.
I'm just much more E D L Eprogram.
You were talking about being inthe wild or something.
That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
Yeah, I'm much more into hiking and fitness, uh than
not running.
Hiking isn't that the same asrunning?
SPEAKER_00 (29:56):
No.
SPEAKER_01 (29:57):
Jeffrey Ann, girl.
My mind, it is.
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
Ankle is the same.
SPEAKER_01 (30:02):
That's not the same.
If there's a certain point whileyou're hiking, if you're having
to run, whoo, good luck to you.
I hope there's not a bear outthere.
Oh, right.
Okay.
So you're just outside walking.
Just outside.
Right.
Just outside in this.
So, but seeing my sistercomplete.
I mean, that yeah, definitely,it just wasn't just another
occasion for us to share.
And for and her, she was reallyreflective on how amazing the
(30:22):
collective group was of theBlack Runners of Chicago.
They had this whole amazing likeaid station that they had
throughout the race course.
And so yeah, I think what I loveabout Zora's House is the power
of celebrating our victories.
You know, that we share thattogether.
We share that as biologicalsisters.
We share that as sisters inservice and community.
And I was smiling big.
(30:43):
I was happy to be there with herand to see my twinny have that
victory.
And it was awesome.
So what's your sister's yourtwin sister's name?
Her name is Catherine.
She goes by Katie.
So Elizabeth Liz, CatherineKatie.
I love that.
Okay.
Second thing, what keeps you upat night?
What keeps me up at night is mybiggest goal with the work I'm
trying to do at Zora's House.
(31:03):
And that is what it means tocreate the ideal blueprint for
supporting everybody at workbased on what it means to be a
black woman at work.
And so I think about my currentmy full-time staff at Zora's
House and imagining like if Imake the blueprint here for the
best experience that we can haveprofessionally, how can it be a
blueprint that can be usedbroadly for everybody?
(31:25):
If we center our experiences inthe work, how can I make this
experience great for everybodyelse?
And that's hard.
The cost of benefits arechallenging.
Trying to figure out hybridwork, trying to figure out the
ways that I support my staff.
And I always say that thefull-time staff at Zorse House,
everybody is a caregiver.
That doesn't mean that they havea dependent age child, but it
(31:45):
does mean that everybody'scaregiving.
Caregiving to elders, to littleones, taking care of self,
protecting and taking care ofeducational goals.
All of those are things thatmatter to my staff.
And so I want that to besomething that comes to
fruition.
And leading during this time isreally challenging.
And so definitely gives me a fewgray curls here and there,
(32:07):
trying to make sure that thatbecomes possible.
But it's again one of ouraudacious goals that we have as
an organization.
And I've seen us do many big andamazing things.
And I think we can do this aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
The fact that you're thinking about that and you're
thinking really intently aboutit means that you're going to do
it.
So that's really important.
And final question.
When you imagine 10 years fromnow, how do you hope your work
in spaces like Zora's house willhave disrupted the status quo?
SPEAKER_01 (32:36):
So I have a little girl, Paloma.
She's seven.
So in 10 years, when she's, youknow, budding high school
senior, I imagine, and gettingready to think about what's next
for her.
First, I I want there to be aZora's house for her and lots of
other girls and women like her.
And I want her to not be heldback by the idea that there are
(32:57):
choices that are limiting her inher future.
I want her to feel like she canbe and do anything, that she has
really the whole world in frontof her and the opportunity to do
that.
So that kind of feels like thislike out there idea.
And so what I believe is thatthere's policy that has to
inform that.
There's good governance that ourcommunities and our country need
(33:20):
to do that, and that there'sopportunities that have to come
to fruition.
There are a lot of incredibleorganizations here in Columbus,
here and there in Cleveland,that are supporting the work of
women and girls.
And I think people finding a wayto continue to support that work
is really, really absolutelycredible.
So that 10 years from now, thatdoes come to be true.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
Love it.
All right.
Today's conversation with LizGordon Canless reminds us that
disruption doesn't always meanbreaking apart.
It can also mean buildingdifferently by creating spaces
rooted in care, connection, andcourage.
Liz is helping redefine whatleadership looks like for this
generation and the next.
(34:00):
Thank you for joining us on theNorth Star.
Stay tuned for moreconversations with leaders who
are shaping what's next.
Welcome to the North Star, a space for candid
conversations on leadership,equity, and social justice.
This season we're exploringdisruption, how bold thinkers
are reimagining what changelooks like.
Today, I'm joined by Liz GordonKenlis, managing director at
Zora's House in Columbus, Ohio,a vibrant community hub where
(00:22):
women and gender-expansivepeople of color gather to dream,
connect, and create.
Before joining Zora's House, Lizspent more than a decade in
higher education and now leadsan organization that's
redefining what belonging andleadership can look like in
practice.
Welcome, Liz.
Thank you so much, Debrianne.
(00:42):
It's so great to be here.
Yes.
Well, before we get started andtalking about Zora's House and
your leadership practice, I'dlike for us to kind of jump into
where you and I first gotconnected.
And that was earlier this yearin 2025.
We both were part of the, I'mnot sure what the cohort number
was, but we were both a part ofCase Western Reserve's
(01:05):
Weatherhead's ExecutiveDevelopment Leadership
Experience Program.
It was the EDLE program, whichwas such an amazing experience.
And I was actually saying thisearlier today.
Part of the reason why I wantedto have you on the podcast is
that when I had an opportunityto meet you through our um EDLE
experience, we did not have anopportunity to connect as often
(01:27):
as I would have liked.
SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
But I agree.
SPEAKER_00 (01:30):
Yeah, when I had an opportunity to meet you and
learn more about the work thatyou do, I immediately like had
this admiration for you and thework that you do.
Particularly, I know we bothwork in uh had experiences in
higher ed.
So I'm just really excited tohave you here.
And can you tell me what it waslike, what your experience was
in the EDLE program?
(01:50):
For me, it was verytransformative.
So just to kind of walk ourlisteners through that
experience, it was a six-monthcohort program.
It was pretty intensive.
At least it felt prettyintensive for me because you
were coming from Columbus.
So you know, we met once a monthon what Thursdays, Fridays,
Saturdays, right?
(02:12):
Once a month, we came together,we had lots of homework, which I
did not do much of the homework.
I just didn't have time.
I was a lot of homework.
My my me showing up is the gift,right?
I'm at least gonna come toclass.
I didn't do the homework.
And for someone who's aprofessor, that was a horrible,
horrible student.
But we came together, we learnedabout all the different aspects
(02:34):
of executive leadership, and wedid a lot.
We heard from amazing, you know,speakers and uh folks in the
field.
And it was just really a greattime.
And given sort of the heavinessthat the beginning of the year
kind of kind of ushered in, Ithink it was a great experience
to be in community.
And these are also happened tobe folks of color.
(02:56):
All of us were blackprofessionals who were going
through this experience.
What did the experience feellike for you?
SPEAKER_01 (03:02):
First, like you said, it was transformative, it
was empowering, it was timely.
And it'd been a long time sinceI'd been in a classroom setting
like that.
And it always felt exciting likethe first day of school.
I loved getting up north toCleveland and to Case's campus
and prep for our classes, and itreally invigorated the way I
thought as a leader.
It changed the way I thought asan entrepreneur for sure.
(03:25):
And it made me realize thatthere's just this bigger network
out there of people that arerooting for each other, that are
doing really different andimportant work.
And I absolutely loved it.
I mean, I have so many wonderfulthings I could say about our
cohort and our instructors andthe quality of the instruction
and just like how it's just beento date my most favorite
(03:46):
professional developmentlearning experience I've ever
had.
And it was really special.
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
Yeah.
Did you do your homework, Liz?
SPEAKER_01 (03:52):
Oh, you know, Jeffrey, and if we are on
record, of course, girl, I didmy homework.
Every month.
I definitely on my bookshelfbehind me, I have all lots of
our um good notes that we'vetaken and our books and
everything.
So it's all here with me.
SPEAKER_00 (04:08):
Yeah.
I mean, the speakers weredynamic.
So all of the lecturers that weexperienced who came from all
across the country to kind ofshare what they knew and learned
about leadership really helpedto inform how I am as a leader.
And so it really did help me.
And it kind of like you said, itwas very timely.
And given everything that we'veexperienced so far in 2025, it
(04:31):
really did kind of shape for mein real time what it meant to be
a leader.
Not to mention, like you said,the community of just other
like-minded individuals andleaders that we had the
opportunity to share.
So it was definitely great.
Part of what I learned about youbeing a part of that cohort
experience is that you alsostarted your career.
(04:52):
I don't know if you started yourcareer in higher ed, but you
definitely spent a lot of timein higher ed.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat.
So I always love to ask peopleabout their origin stories.
So can you share us with us alittle bit about kind of your
origin story?
Kind of tell us a little bitmore about what brought you to
this point.
SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
Yeah.
So I will always tell peoplethat I am a daughter of the city
of Columbus.
I was born and raised inColumbus and I absolutely love
this city.
And when I was thinking aboutgoing to school, I didn't really
know where I wanted to head orwhat I what I wanted to do.
But I ended up at Wright StateUniversity in Dayton, Ohio.
I was studying musical theaterand thought I was going to go to
(05:29):
Broadway, Jeffrey, and I stillmight.
You never know.
It's not too late.
But at that point in myeducation, that's what I wanted
to do.
But I ended up as a studentgetting really involved in
student leadership.
I was an RA, and that was justsuch a wonderful experience for
me.
I absolutely loved the idea oftransforming community and of
building communities with otherpeople.
(05:51):
And so after I finished myundergraduate degree, I went to
graduate school at OhioUniversity in Athens, Ohio.
And I was a grad student thereand I ran some residence halls.
And this was at that point in mycareer, early career, I thought
I'm going to be in residencelife and housing on college
campuses for the rest of mycareer.
It was all I really wanted todo.
(06:11):
To me, it was fun work.
It was dynamic work.
It was important.
I was meeting so many differenttypes of students.
And then at a certain point, somany different types of staff.
So I went on and I worked for acouple of years at Miami
University.
And that was the first time, butnot the last time, that I was
really privileged to be undersuch tremendous leadership of
another black woman.
So Dr.
(06:32):
Vicabel Robinson was my directorof housing at the time at Miami.
And she really transformed theway that I saw women showing up
at work.
She had very young children atthe time.
I admired her leadership somuch.
And Miami is a really wonderfulcampus, but also a difficult
place to work and live whenyou're a staff member of color.
And in my roles in housing, Iwas living on campus.
(06:53):
So living in staff housing allthe time.
I lived where I work, and thatcould definitely present some
challenges.
And so there was an opportunitythat opened up at Ohio State in
Columbus in my hometown.
And Dr.
Vicka was the one who called meand said, this position has
opened at Ohio State.
You're going to apply for thisjob.
You're going to get that job.
And we're going to say goodbyeto you here at Miami, but you're
(07:15):
going to go be home with yourfamily.
And so this woman in leadershipreally encouraging me to like
think about family first andthink about what I wanted to do
professionally first was thatwas such a gift to me.
And I am still in great contactwith Vicca and really owe that
to her.
And so happy to say thatpublicly about just what a
positive impact she had on me.
And so I spent most of my highered years at Ohio State, first as
(07:38):
a live-on staff member inhousing, running one of the
large towers that are on theNorth Campus.
And then I moved into a moreleadership role within the
housing team within studentlife.
And I loved it.
I just loved how different everyday was.
I loved how I was able to wearmany hats and think about
problem solving in ways thatwere meaningful for students.
(07:58):
I also loved showing up forstudents who looked a lot more
like me and maybe were much moreon the margins of campus
communities and did that throughadvising some student groups.
And so that was reallyincredible.
But probably my mosttransformative higher ed
experience was when I chairedthe staff committee at Ohio
State.
So Ohio State's one of thelargest employers in central
(08:19):
Ohio.
And so the staff committee wascreated to advocate for staff
who were working at theuniversity.
And in that role, I reported tothe office of the president.
And at that time, Ohio State hadits first Black president, Dr.
Michael Drake.
And so I was in this leadershiprole.
I was in my really early 30s.
I had one child, and then I waspregnant with my second baby.
(08:39):
And so I'm this like muchyounger staff member working
alongside this really incredibleleader who was also leading
during a really difficult timeat the university for a lot of
different reasons.
And I just admired seeing hisleadership transform the campus
community.
I learned a ton about policy,about governance, about local
(08:59):
and state laws and how theyimpact public universities.
And there was that time where Iwas like, okay, I used to say
that I didn't want to doanything nerdy with governance
and higher ed, that that was theboring stuff.
But then I was going to boardmeetings and I was seeing how
the decisions were made and howthe budgets were made.
And it was really exciting tome.
And I also saw another woman inleadership at that time, and
that was Katie Hall, who was thepresident's chief of staff.
(09:21):
And that's where I really waslike, okay, I think that's what
I want to do.
I think I want to be a chief ofstaff.
I want to be this orchestratorand coordinator of the chaos and
of the purpose and of thestrategy.
And so I left Ohio State and Ibecame an assistant dean of
students at the Columbus Collegeof Art and Design, which was a
really small art and designcollege in the heart of downtown
(09:43):
Columbus.
And that was a big change forme.
Leaving Ohio State, one of thethings that we used to do there
was make a big place feel reallysmall.
And so even though OSU was huge,it felt like this really small,
tight-knit community to me.
And so leaving that was hard,but I needed to get a new
professional experience.
I needed the opportunity to makesome of my own big decisions.
(10:05):
My term position with the officeof the president had completed.
And so I was done with that workwith him.
And so I was excited to be atCCAD and to be in a really
different campus culture.
It was a private school, whichis very different in a lot of
ways in a public university.
And then COVID hit in 2020.
So I was about six months intomy tenure at CCAD when the
(10:25):
pandemic started.
Then I worked through thatperiod of time for the next
three years.
And that's kind of where myhigher ed journey came to a
close.
I was ready for something reallydifferent after a few years at
CCAD.
And that's when Zora's housecame calling.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
Before we get to Zora's house, I just in you sort
of kind of narrating your story,your career story.
(10:59):
Is that an internal kind ofcompass for you?
Or, you know, you mentioned Dr.
Vica.
Are there other people who arekind of assisting you in making
these decisions?
Or is it just kind of thisinternal feeling that you feel
it's time for me to make ashift?
SPEAKER_01 (11:16):
I've always really felt like professionally, every
pivot and change that I've madehas been really intentional and
authentic, but it has oftencaught me by surprise.
So I remember my move from OhioState to C C A D was also under
some really tremendous guidanceand encouragement from someone
who was special to my career.
(11:36):
And that was Chris Mundell.
He's still at C C AD.
I actually first met Chrisforever ago.
I used to, I babysat for hisfamily when his children were
really little.
And it's always amazing to seekids grow and get better because
his kids are in high school andcollege now.
But Chris was one of the firstblack male professionals I knew
in higher ed.
And I watched his career kind offrom a distance.
We were involved in some Ohioprofessional organizations for
(11:59):
higher ed professionals, but wenever worked on the same campus.
And then I ran into him at aconference.
I was so excited to be at thisconference.
I was representing Ohio State.
And he said to me, I need a newdirector of housing and a new
assistant dean of students.
And I've always wanted you to beon my team and this is going to
be the right time for you.
And I thought, I have neverthought about working at CCAD.
(12:20):
I've always loved CCAD as, likeI said, a kid from Columbus, but
C C AD is an incredible part ofour creative community.
It produces these wildlytalented artists and creative
professionals.
And so from a distance, I knewabout the art college, but I
wasn't familiar with it for manyyears.
And so that was a time wheresomeone else who I really
respected, who I admired for theway that they showed up in a way
(12:43):
that there certainly were not alot of other black men leading
units in student life across ourstate and across the country.
And so I admired Chris for thatwork.
And so I was, I was ready tolike take the leap with him and
go to CCAD.
But I would often, yeah, sit andask myself, like, what type of
skills am I still missing?
What haven't I had the chance todo?
And, you know, in particularwith CCAD, I knew I had not had
(13:05):
a lot of business operationsexperience yet.
I had had a lot of HRexperience, a lot of leadership
and event planning, a ton ofcrisis response at Ohio State.
You learn a lot about crisisresponse when you work in
housing at a big school.
But I didn't have some of thecontract and business decisions
and the financial decisions thatI knew.
I needed to possess that in myportfolio to move forward.
(13:27):
And that was scary to me.
The money stuff always made menervous professionally.
But I wanted to have thatchallenge and I certainly was
able to get it during that time.
SPEAKER_00 (13:35):
So now you are the managing director at Zora's
house.
And I'm really, really excitedto get into this because this is
what seems to me a dreamposition, right?
And I don't want to put words inyour mouth, but as a sociologist
and someone who focuses in onthe experiences of folks of
color, and in particular womenof color, to think about the
(13:58):
mission of Zora's house and thework of Zora's house.
So to kind of back up a littlebit, Zora Near Hurston, for
folks who may not know, was awriter, an anthropologist, a
filmmaker, all of the things,right?
Written prolifically, lived from1891 to 1960.
One of her most kind of commonlyknown works is was Their Eyes
(14:23):
Were Watching God.
We could spend another hourtalking about Zoranel Hurston
and the impact that her work hasand continues to have in a lot
of different spaces.
So you currently work at Zora'sHouse, which of course is named
after Zoran O'Hursten, right?
And of course, honors her work.
(14:44):
And Zora's House serves womenand gender expansive people of
color in deeply intentionalways.
I'll let you talk more about thework of Zora's House, but I did
want to just kind of share anexcerpt from your 2024 in a
report, which to me was deeplyimpactful when I was reading
more about the work.
(15:05):
And it and it states at Zora'sHouse, we believe that to dream
freely is to resist and tocreate what does not yet exist
is an act of liberation.
In a time when the very notionof equity is being challenged,
cultivating a radicalimagination is not simply
visionary.
It is necessary.
So first, tell us about how yougot to Zora's house and tell us
(15:29):
about the work that you all do.
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
You know, so throughout all of my years in
higher education, I would oftensometimes, you know, I'd hear
from headhunters, I'd hear frommentors or colleagues on other
campuses who would have, youknow, roles that were DEI
facing, you know, multiculturaloffices that were looking for an
assistant director or differenttypes of work on a campus.
(15:54):
And would often reach out to meand say, Liz, I think you should
look at this role.
I think you should considerthis.
And this really draws on a veryseparate part of my professional
life that involves the publicspeaking I do around foster care
and adoption.
So I'm a former foster youth.
I'm a transracial adoptee.
I talk a lot about theexperiences that people of color
have when we're adopted andraised in white families.
And so people tend to thinklike, oh, Liz wants to do this
(16:16):
work in communities on collegecampuses that would be focused
on identity, on culture, onequity and inclusion.
And throughout my career, itjust wasn't something that I was
ready or wanting to do.
I really wanted to focus oncommunity engagement, on
housing, and on that experiencefor students.
But I first met our founder andCEO, Lsy Johnson.
(16:37):
We were at a birthday party forlike a friend of our children.
Our children are around the sameage.
And I was always just rootingfor anything that made Columbus
bigger and better.
I was always imagining what arethe best things that are
happening in our city for womenof color.
And I had seen that Zora's housewas this space that had been
(16:58):
built in the Wyland Parkneighborhood, which is one of
the neighborhoods that'sadjacent to Ohio State.
And I thought, that's amazing.
How cool.
I love that this is happening.
I have a minor in women'sgenetic studies, and so I knew
the work of Zora really well.
And I love the fact that hervoice and her legacy continues
to get to be a part of ourcommunity.
I thought that was amazing.
(17:18):
And I thought, all right, I justwant to check this space out.
But I didn't have a deepfamiliarity with Zora's House
prior to knowing about the role.
And so I was really feeling likeI was ready to move on to a new
position.
And so I was on LinkedIn and Isaw this posting for the first
managing director at Zora'sHouse.
And I kind of squealed and waslike so elated because I thought
(17:40):
to myself, this is my nextposition.
This is where I'm going to gonext.
I'm going to be able to continueto build community.
I'm going to use all of myoperational skill sets, my
leadership skill sets.
And I'm going to go and jointhis really new and growing
team.
And it's going to be differentfor me to leave higher education
and to, you know, move out ofthis space, but it'll be
(18:01):
awesome.
So I applied for the positionand shortly after met with LC.
And I think that was probablyend of August or early
September.
And then I joined the team inDecember three years ago.
So in 2022.
But there was that internalmonitor again, right?
Yeah.
And I definitely felt thisintense, like both excitement
(18:25):
and sense of calm when I saw therole and thinking to myself,
this this has to just be thenext opportunity for me.
So it's fun to think back tothat memory because it's very
vivid for me for sure.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (18:38):
Zora's House, a 10,000 square foot space, is
that right?
That's right.
So it's a huge space.
Right.
And tell me more about exactlywhat Zora's House aims to do.
So it's a community space, it'sa gathering space.
What types of programs doesZora's House offer?
And what kinds of what kinds ofthings have you all done over
(19:00):
the past, is it three years,three and a half years?
SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
Yeah, since I've joined, well, I'll say the first
thing that we did is that we webuilt the 10,000 square foot
building and we did thefundraising behind it, the$6.3
million that it took to buildthis new space.
And that was a part of myinterest also in joining the
team was I knew that Zorus Housewas going to build a new
physical space.
And as much as I loved thecurriculum and education of
(19:25):
having students be together incommunity, I also loved the
facilities and operations workof it.
And I had just finished some bigconstruction projects in my
portfolio in higher ed.
And I thought, oh, I would bereally skilled at helping with
the building of this new space.
So the old Zora's house isactually in a 2,500 square foot
home that's very residentialfeeling.
(19:46):
It's still in Wyland Park, rightin the neighborhood where we are
today.
But we had really quicklyoutgrown that space.
And so we bought an empty lotfrom the city of Columbus.
We bought that lot for a dollarand seven cents in honor of
Zora's January 7th birthday.
Oh my god.
So I know that wasn't that fun.
Because the lot was sittingvacant.
And like I think the city sawthe vision that we had
(20:08):
organizationally.
And what I'll say is I wastalking earlier today with
someone else, and they wereasking kind of similar questions
about the history of Zora'shouse.
And I said, so much of whatwe've done is because other
black women and other women ofcolor believed in the work that
we were doing, whether that waslocal donors, our banker who has
helped us so tremendously withour fundraising and our
(20:29):
finances.
Actually, first I recognized herwhen I first met her because I
lived in the dorms at WrightState with her daughter.
And so I felt this likeimmediately, like this motherly
maternal energy from her.
I knew she was going to help ustake good care of the work that
we were doing.
And there are a lot of MissCrystals involved in Zorus
(20:52):
House, a lot of reallyincredible leaders of color who
understand the imperative natureof our work and are willing to
stand beside us with their time,talent, and treasure.
So whether it's their skill setof knowing how to get it done.
So we did the fundraising forthe building.
We worked with Moody Nolan, whois the largest black-owned
architecture firm in thecountry, and they designed our
(21:13):
building.
Again, another incredible familyin Columbus that was able to see
the vision and stand behind it.
And then we built our newbuilding.
And so since we've activated ourspace and opened the new space
over a year ago, we have a lotof different programs and events
and activations that are reallyjust rooted in uplifting the
dreams and the goals that womenof color have in Columbus and
(21:35):
beyond Central Ohio as well,because we have a retreat space
on our third floor.
And I like to imagine that a lotof the work that we're doing is
around the fact that differentpopulations in different
communities offer a regenerativeeconomy.
So when people spend a dollar ata black-owned business or at a
business that's owned by a womanor a woman of color, that dollar
(21:57):
tends to last longer in thecommunity for a lot of different
reasons.
And so we are able to identifydifferent points of connection,
other different socialenterprises, forms of networking
that are really meaningful forsomebody who might have just
moved here to Columbus or who'swanting to consider staying
here.
One of the things that I know iscritical about being a city with
(22:18):
a big university is how do youensure that the great minds that
come to the university end upstaying and living in your
community afterwards?
And so being a space wherepeople feel a sense of
connection to other women ofcolor, then it encourages them
to stay and live longer inColumbus and call our city home.
And that matters for a lot ofreasons as well.
So a couple of our reallycritical programs, first would
(22:40):
be our leadership fellows.
So leadership fellows is asix-month-long cohort.
This is a group of usually 13 to15 women of color in our
community, and they are criticalin activating our space.
And so they're in our firstfloor space from 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m., where we do all ofour programs.
(23:00):
We have our women of colorwriting circle.
We have these great networkingevents, we call those power
hours.
We also do rent our space.
And so we imagine this sense ofconnection to other nonprofits
that are doing really criticalcommunity work who might come
into our space that we've builtand they might use it for their
meetings and gatherings.
And so our leadership fellowsare able to support those
(23:21):
operations, but then also walkthrough a leadership curriculum
that covers the six months oftheir experience.
And then when they completethat, they do receive a stipend
that they are able to use thento invest in themselves later
on.
So Leadership Fellows has reallyevolved over the time that I've
been at Zora's House.
And that's one of our big impactprograms, in addition to our
women of color wealth builders.
(23:42):
So wealth builders is anothercohort, multi-month-long program
that starts off with the work ofKara Stevens.
She online uses the name FrugalFeminista.
And Kara talks a lot about howwe heal ourselves as women of
color, how heal ourrelationships with money.
And so it's great to have thiskind of basic financial literacy
(24:03):
curriculum.
But if you don't heal yourrelationship with money,
especially the ways that we haveto show up as caregivers and
caregiving multi-generationally,right?
Caregiving to elders, caregivingto children and to nieces and
nephews, and thinking about howwe do that in a way that's
healing for ourselves andfinancially responsible.
So Kara's work is so critical.
So she starts us off with thatwork, and then we walk the women
(24:25):
who are in the cohort throughthis different curriculum that
is what Wealth Voters is rootedin.
So that's another one of ourprograms that we tend to be
pretty known for and that runsfor many months at a time.
I love that.
Has this year tested Zora'shouse in any way?
Absolutely.
Our funding, we don't receive aton of government funding at
(24:48):
this time.
But one of the things that wereally stand by is the
solidarity and liberation workthat we aim to do.
And we don't aim to do it alone.
And so when I think about all ofthe other nonprofits that are in
Columbus, big and small, and theimportant work that they do,
everybody, the one thing I'velearned about being at a new
nonprofit that's still a littlebit on the smaller side is those
(25:09):
small programs, those smallinteractions, those small, a
smaller donor gift that yousomeone may say, Oh, it's only
$5, it's only$20, thosecontributions make such a big
difference.
And so when I see anothernonprofit that's struggling or
sharing really difficult news,it's hard to keep morale up.
It's hard to feel like themission is able to continue to
(25:29):
move forward.
But the the one thing I think wealways tell ourselves is that to
do this type of work, to berooted in such like audacious
beliefs of what we want to seecome to fruition for our
community means that we willface certainly some really
challenging moments.
There were challenging momentsduring the construction process.
There were challenging momentsduring our ribbon cutting and we
were working to grow our staff.
(25:51):
And there's challenging momentsnow.
And I just continued seeing usfiguring out these really
creative and important ways thatwe'll navigate.
SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
So this entire season has been about
disruption.
Is there anything about yourleadership experience thus far
at Zora's house?
And I'm sure that you couldprobably think of a million
examples, but can you think ofany particular story or
experience that has really beencentered on disruption since
you've been at Zora's house?
SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
I think just all of the work that we constantly do
and that we don't exist as asocial service.
And so sometimes people, I'll beat an event, I'll be out in the
city or wherever I am.
And someone will say, I haveclothes, I want to donate to
Zora's house, or I have healthand beauty supplies.
I want to drop them off.
And I'll say, Oh, we are not asocial service.
(26:43):
We don't provide basic survivalneeds and goods.
That is a critical service.
And we have partners in the citythat are doing that really well.
And that certainly's meant todo.
We believe that women of colordeserve the opportunity to
thrive, not just survive.
Housing, food security,educational access, those are
survival needs.
But don't we deserve to gobeyond just surviving?
(27:06):
Don't we get to imagine what itwould be to start your own
business or to go back to schoolfor a future degree or to think
about pivoting your career at acertain point in your life and
getting new leadership skillsand that it's not too late?
You can do it.
There's not a right time or awrong time to make your own
dreams come true.
And so I think disrupting theidea that black women always
(27:28):
have to be surviving, that we'resupposed to always accept the
bare minimum.
I mean, I I see the flash inpeople's eyes when I disrupt
that idea for them through theirown implicit bias and make them
think twice about what they'reasking.
I say if you want to donate toZora's house, we will take a
check or credit.
You can send the money and we'lluse that towards our programs.
So, right.
SPEAKER_00 (27:48):
It's um, you know, and talk about the tax
implications of that, right?
It's, you know, correct.
I love that.
So like disrupting those likebiased narratives about black
women and other women of color,right?
This idea that why can't wethink about black women and
women of color building wealth,right?
Building leadership capacity asopposed to like, oh, here's some
(28:14):
clothes.
And there's nothing wrong withthat to your point.
But thinking about that througha different type of lens is
really, really disruptive.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
So we always close with threesort of rapid fire reflection
questions, if that's good withyou.
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
So the first question, and they're always the
same something that has made yousmile big this week.
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Something that made me smile big this week.
So over the weekend, I have anidentical twin.
SPEAKER_00 (28:44):
I was gonna say that because I saw something
somewhere about you being inTwinsburg.
Like twin test or something likethat.
SPEAKER_01 (28:53):
Shout out to Twinsburg, Ohio for hosting the
largest gathering of twins inthe country every summer.
And so my identical twin ran theChicago Marathon this past
weekend.
Oh my gosh.
She would not say super long,but she always is running with
her chapter or the Columbuschapter of Black Girls Run.
And so Chicago showed up andshowed out during a very
(29:16):
difficult time for thatincredible city, the
representation that they showedat the race and the support of
the volunteers.
It was just incredible.
I think one of the things I loveabout being at Zora's house is
the reminder that black peopleand black women are not a
monolith.
We have different hobbies andinterests, different dreams and
goals.
And, you know, I think for thefor the running community, which
(29:36):
I'm not a part of, I was veryhappy to spectate.
I was not running.
We're a record.
SPEAKER_00 (29:41):
I was imagining this.
I remember it.
I'm just much more E D L Eprogram.
You were talking about being inthe wild or something.
That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
Yeah, I'm much more into hiking and fitness, uh than
not running.
Hiking isn't that the same asrunning?
SPEAKER_00 (29:56):
No.
SPEAKER_01 (29:57):
Jeffrey Ann, girl.
My mind, it is.
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
Ankle is the same.
SPEAKER_01 (30:02):
That's not the same.
If there's a certain point whileyou're hiking, if you're having
to run, whoo, good luck to you.
I hope there's not a bear outthere.
Oh, right.
Okay.
So you're just outside walking.
Just outside.
Right.
Just outside in this.
So, but seeing my sistercomplete.
I mean, that yeah, definitely,it just wasn't just another
occasion for us to share.
And for and her, she was reallyreflective on how amazing the
(30:22):
collective group was of theBlack Runners of Chicago.
They had this whole amazing likeaid station that they had
throughout the race course.
And so yeah, I think what I loveabout Zora's House is the power
of celebrating our victories.
You know, that we share thattogether.
We share that as biologicalsisters.
We share that as sisters inservice and community.
And I was smiling big.
(30:43):
I was happy to be there with herand to see my twinny have that
victory.
And it was awesome.
So what's your sister's yourtwin sister's name?
Her name is Catherine.
She goes by Katie.
So Elizabeth Liz, CatherineKatie.
I love that.
Okay.
Second thing, what keeps you upat night?
What keeps me up at night is mybiggest goal with the work I'm
trying to do at Zora's House.
(31:03):
And that is what it means tocreate the ideal blueprint for
supporting everybody at workbased on what it means to be a
black woman at work.
And so I think about my currentmy full-time staff at Zora's
House and imagining like if Imake the blueprint here for the
best experience that we can haveprofessionally, how can it be a
blueprint that can be usedbroadly for everybody?
(31:25):
If we center our experiences inthe work, how can I make this
experience great for everybodyelse?
And that's hard.
The cost of benefits arechallenging.
Trying to figure out hybridwork, trying to figure out the
ways that I support my staff.
And I always say that thefull-time staff at Zorse House,
everybody is a caregiver.
That doesn't mean that they havea dependent age child, but it
(31:45):
does mean that everybody'scaregiving.
Caregiving to elders, to littleones, taking care of self,
protecting and taking care ofeducational goals.
All of those are things thatmatter to my staff.
And so I want that to besomething that comes to
fruition.
And leading during this time isreally challenging.
And so definitely gives me a fewgray curls here and there,
(32:07):
trying to make sure that thatbecomes possible.
But it's again one of ouraudacious goals that we have as
an organization.
And I've seen us do many big andamazing things.
And I think we can do this aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
The fact that you're thinking about that and you're
thinking really intently aboutit means that you're going to do
it.
So that's really important.
And final question.
When you imagine 10 years fromnow, how do you hope your work
in spaces like Zora's house willhave disrupted the status quo?
SPEAKER_01 (32:36):
So I have a little girl, Paloma.
She's seven.
So in 10 years, when she's, youknow, budding high school
senior, I imagine, and gettingready to think about what's next
for her.
First, I I want there to be aZora's house for her and lots of
other girls and women like her.
And I want her to not be heldback by the idea that there are
(32:57):
choices that are limiting her inher future.
I want her to feel like she canbe and do anything, that she has
really the whole world in frontof her and the opportunity to do
that.
So that kind of feels like thislike out there idea.
And so what I believe is thatthere's policy that has to
inform that.
There's good governance that ourcommunities and our country need
(33:20):
to do that, and that there'sopportunities that have to come
to fruition.
There are a lot of incredibleorganizations here in Columbus,
here and there in Cleveland,that are supporting the work of
women and girls.
And I think people finding a wayto continue to support that work
is really, really absolutelycredible.
So that 10 years from now, thatdoes come to be true.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
Love it.
All right.
Today's conversation with LizGordon Canless reminds us that
disruption doesn't always meanbreaking apart.
It can also mean buildingdifferently by creating spaces
rooted in care, connection, andcourage.
Liz is helping redefine whatleadership looks like for this
generation and the next.
(34:00):
Thank you for joining us on theNorth Star.
Stay tuned for moreconversations with leaders who
are shaping what's next.
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