What is Faces of New Profit? It’s a spotlight on members of the New Profit community, why they do what they do, and who they are. This week, we talk to Liz Leberman!

What motivated you to work at New Profit and/or in the social sector?

I am passionate about educational equity and in college, I spent a few summers doing internships to explore a career in teaching. I loved the experience but also found myself asking, “could I have a bigger impact on education if I worked outside of the classroom?” I decided to explore opportunities in the social sector and spent five years working for a nonprofit consulting firm where I had the opportunity to help nonprofit leaders working to improve outcomes in education, workforce development, health, and more tackle strategic challenges and opportunities they were facing. As someone helping to design and scope these consulting projects, I was able to recognize patterns in the types of strategic questions that nonprofit leaders face and see the power of strategic support to help them navigate those questions. I also saw how hard it is for nonprofit leaders to find resources to pay for capacity building support since so much of their revenue is restricted and committed to programmatic work. I was inspired to work at New Profit because of our unique model that provides both unrestricted capital and strategic support to social entrepreneurs to help them build their organization’s capacity and their own abilities to navigate challenges that they face as they grow and sustain an organization. I am fueled by getting to shape and share stories about these amazing social entrepreneurs and the people they partner with to create opportunities for all in communities around our country.

What are a few things that are on your bucket list?

I want to do a road trip to visit national parks out west, revive my Spanish skills, and travel around New Zealand.

What is your favorite movie?

I’m super into musicals, which I think was inspired by watching the Sound of Music more times than I can count growing up. I’m still a big fan and even went and visited some of the original movie locations in Salzburg, Austria earlier this year (the view from the Nonnberg Abbey is amazing)!

What is your favorite book?

It’s tough to say what my favorite book of all time is but I’m in a book club with some New Profit colleagues and other friends and my favorite book that we’ve read recently is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

Who is the greatest influence on who you are today?

I wrote in my high school yearbook that my life goal was to become the next Gloria (that’s my mom), and that goal still stands true today. She has the biggest heart, works tirelessly and goes out of her way to help others, is open-minded and playful, and knows what the important things are in life.

What is the one thing you think our world is missing today?

I think our world is missing the commitment and capacity of people to truly listen to each other.