Global leadership. Social impact. Human potential.
Building stronger leaders, organizations and communities around the world.
I’m Zoë Dean Smith, a global executive and social impact leader, strategist and facilitator with more than 25 years of experience leading organizations, developing people and building initiatives that create meaningful impact.
My career has taken me from grassroots enterprise and women’s economic empowerment in Africa to global philanthropy, leadership development and social impact. I’ve led teams and multimillion-dollar portfolios, built programs across cultures and sectors and worked with leaders, entrepreneurs and organizations around the world.
Leadership shaped by
people, purpose and possibility
My career has spanned business, philanthropy, social enterprise, leadership development and global social impact. From leading a social enterprise in Eswatini to managing major philanthropic investments and spending more than a decade in senior leadership at Vital Voices Global Partnership, I have built teams, programs and partnerships designed to create lasting change.
Across that work, one thing has remained constant: my belief in people. I bring deep listening, curiosity and an ability to connect people and ideas across cultures, sectors and perspectives.
Where I make a difference
Supporting organizations through growth, change and complexity while strengthening leadership, culture and strategy.
Designing experiences that build self-awareness, strengthen leadership and turn insight into meaningful action.
Bringing people together for conversations that build connection, surface new thinking and move groups toward action.
My signature methodology for helping people step back, see the whole picture and make intentional choices about what comes next.
I’ve worked at the intersection of business, philanthropy, leadership and social impact, from leading a social enterprise in Eswatini and working with entrepreneurs across Africa and Asia to managing major philanthropic investments and spending more than a decade in senior leadership at Vital Voices Global Partnership.
Along the way, I’ve worked with corporate executives, nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, emerging leaders and communities around the world.
A career built across worlds
The Holistic Life Map™
I created the Holistic Life Map™ more than 16 years ago as a way to help people look beyond one dimension of their lives and consider the whole.
Since its first workshop in 2008, I have facilitated more than 85 Holistic Life Map experiences in 20 countries with participants representing more than 100 nationalities. Today, the methodology is used with individuals, teams and organizations to create space for reflection, perspective and intentional action.
What people say
“Working with Zoe Dean Smith is literally like having a conversation with your smartest, bestest friend -- the one who both kindly holds your stories without judgment, and challenges you to reach for more than you can imagine for yourself. Being coached by her was one of the most rewarding gifts I've ever given myself.”
Karen Walrond
Leadership Consultant | Speaker | Author of Radiant Rebellion & The Lightmaker's Manifesto,
United States
"To say that Zoe's facilitation was measured, intentional, and ultimately outstanding would be an understatement. She read the room with precision and gentle kindness. Her immediate understanding of the various individuals in the group - who ranged broadly from geographies around the world and professions from health care to education and from communications to finance - and ability to coalesce the group into a deeply caring circle of trust over three two-hour gatherings was both magical and inspiring.."
Bill Stoddart
Founder - 45North Partners,
United States