In the season finale of The North Star, JeffriAnne Wilder, Ph.D. sits down with legendary educator, anthropologist, and social justice activist Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Ph.D., Oberlin alumna, former president of Spelman and Bennett Colleges, and past director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art—for a powerful conversation about a life shaped by Oberlin, sisterhood, and an unwavering commitment to equity. Dr. Cole shares intimate stories of intergenerational Black excellence, from her great-grandfather A. L. Lewis, Florida’s first Black millionaire, to her own path from Fisk to Oberlin, where she discovered anthropology and learned to follow passion over prescription. She offers candid wisdom for today’s students and emerging leaders about being “intellectually naked,” embracing purpose, and treating self-care as political—noting, in conversation with Audre Lorde’s famous words, that neglecting her own health had lifelong consequences even as she helped transform institutions and movements around the world, making her presence as the closing guest of this season all the more profound.

🔗 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

This special episode of The North Star turns the spotlight on Executive Director JeffriAnne Wilder, Ph.D., in a candid conversation with colleague Letisha Bereola about her journey, her identity, and leading Oberlin’s Center for DEI Innovation and Leadership amid a nationwide rollback of DEI. JeffriAnne reflects on leading in “quicksand” while programs around her were cut, the four pillars guiding the center’s vision—communication and thought leadership, research, education and training, and community—and how Oberlin’s long legacy of access and opportunity shapes her commitment to equity, leadership, and innovation. She also shares candid insights on redefining success, choosing rest over relentless achievement, navigating life as a Black woman leader and mother, and why amplifying all forms of human difference, not pitting groups against each other, is the heart of DEI in 2025 and beyond.

🔗 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

In this episode, JeffriAnne Wilder, PhD welcomes Margaret Hunter, PhD, professor of sociology and strategic advisor for faculty DEI initiatives at Santa Clara University, for a candid conversation about nearly three decades of research and advocacy surrounding colorism, racial justice, and institutional transformation. Dr. Hunter’s pioneering work illuminates how skin tone, beauty cues, and social capital operate within communities of color, and why colorism remains a multidimensional force shaping opportunity, belonging, and self-image. Together, they dissect the complexities of racism and colorism, the impact of pop culture and social media, and the challenges and hope presented by Gen Z’s unapologetic approach to equity, boundaries, and self-worth.

Find out more: Color Stories: Black Women and Colorism in the 21st Century by JeffriAnne Wilder, PhD

🔗 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

In this landmark episode, JeffriAnne Wilder, Ph.D. welcomes Dr. Aldon Morris, professor emeritus, influential sociologist, and author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement and The Scholar Denied, to discuss how disruption and bottom-up leadership reshape our understanding of history, social movements, and American sociology. Morris shares the journey that led him to recover W. E. B. Du Bois as the true founder of scientific sociology and challenges listeners to confront systemic omissions and embrace scholarship from the margins. Drawing on Civil Rights history, Black intellectual tradition, and his personal activism, Dr. Morris demonstrates the power of ordinary people, everyday agency, and building new generations of scholars—illuminating why diversity, equity, and truth-telling are central to transforming institutions and creating lasting social change.

🔗 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

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

We sit down with Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings Jr., teacher, principal, superintendent, consultant, and now professor at Howard University, to map a leadership journey that breaks barriers without losing its compass. From making history in Shaker Heights as the first Black superintendent at 35 to steering Alexandria City Public Schools through a pandemic and political crosswinds, Dr. Hutchings shares how his VIP framework (Vision, Integrity, Passion) kept him grounded while centering Black and Brown students.

You’ll hear the inside story of pushing for equity in districts known for tradition, what happens when you change who sits at the table, and why authenticity, down to how a family shows up, matters in public leadership. We explore measurable wins that challenge false tradeoffs between equity and excellence: higher graduation rates, full accreditation, and a strategic plan with equity at its core despite statewide retrenchment. Then we zoom out to the national stage as Dr. Hutchings steps from the superintendency into movement work, founding Revolutionary Ed and Hutchings & Associates, to help boards and leaders dismantle systemic racism with strategy, governance, and coaching.

• Origin story and early shift into education
• Becoming the first Black superintendent in Shaker Heights City Schools
• VIP leadership model: vision, integrity, passion
• Authenticity, family, and community grounding
• Legacy in Alexandria amid pandemic and politics
• Equity results: graduation, accreditation, new campus
• Burnout, therapy, and sustainable leadership
• Moving from district leader to national systems builder
• Howard University role and the leadership pipeline
• Research on Black women superintendents and solutions
• Pipelines, networks, and board relations for equity

🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.
🌎Visit Oberlin College's website.
Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group

Brand builder, marketing strategist, and entrepreneur Martin Ekechukwu joins Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder on The North Star to unpack how entrepreneurship can drive equity in a time when formal DEI programs are retracting.

From his immigrant roots to founding WHTWRKS, Martin shares the mindset required to build resilient businesses, align profit with purpose, and create brand ecosystems—not mere diversity checkboxes. He lifts the curtain on the truths of influencer marketing, opens up paths through supplier diversity and local impact, and shows why AI-fueled service models are the next frontier for founders and students alike.

Whether you’re starting out or scaling up, this is a guide to turning tension into opportunity.

• Immigrant roots, academic household, love of culture
• Leaving corporate to build, connect, and lead
• The limits of “change agent” roles in big firms
• Ecosystems over campaigns in multicultural marketing
• Influencer work as discipline, not luck
• DEI retrenchment, new access and supplier diversity gaps
• Social impact through arts, politics, and partnerships
• Profit with purpose in health and skincare needs
• Student playbook for organizing and peer networks
• Act local: councils, boards, and community service
• Becoming fluent in AI for practical business value
• A 10-year vision to reinvent product promotion

🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.
🌎Visit Oberlin College's website.
Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group

Dr. Herman Felton shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Jacksonville's inner city to becoming the 17th president of Wiley University, a transformative leader who has redefined what it means to lead an HBCU in today's challenging landscape.

• Product of "scarcity" who discovered his dyslexia later in life
• Joined the Marine Corps before attending Edward Waters College as a non-traditional student at age 28
• Inspired to pursue higher education leadership after witnessing his college president defend open-door admissions
• Views his role as a "disruptor" through the lens of resolve and faith
• Leads Wiley University with an understanding of its historical significance as a place founded in a Confederate stronghold
• Navigates today's higher education challenges with a measured, faith-based approach
• Co-founded the Higher Education Leadership Foundation that has produced 16 HBCU presidents in 10 years
• Believes future HBCU leaders need both specialist knowledge and a generalist understanding of all university operations
• Maintains that effective leaders ascend to the presidency rather than pursuing the title itself
• Hopes his legacy will be the multiplication of fearless, bold leaders committed to HBCU work

🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.
🌎Visit Oberlin College's website.
Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group