Our Story
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“My experience in the mountains was that people really care about their communities in an up close and personal way. And they were having conversations about race and gender identity and class differently than I’d experienced in most places. They aren’t always getting it right, but they are having hard conversations. That’s where change starts.” – Danaé Aicher
The Story of BZora
In many ways, the seeds for BZora were planted in western North Carolina where BZora Founder and Executive Director, Danaé Aicher, first leaned in to a generational calling to community engagement focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice.
In facilitating some of those hard conversations and consulting organizations in the region, Danaé noticed individual community members who wanted to participate but often couldn’t because of cost. BZora is an effort to make community engagement in these conversations and educational opportunities more sustainable and less cost prohibitive.
If you would like to support those efforts, please consider a solidarity contribution.
Our Mission
BZora is a nonprofit organization specifically for individual community members and smaller community groups who want access to the same type of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging trainings and workshops that larger, better resourced organizations are able to pay for. In addition, BZora is a place where community conversations can take place in a brave and safe space held by well-trained facilitators.
BZora also was inspired by the great American Writer, Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora was a revolutionary. Her work is among the greats of American Literature. Her work and legacy make her an intellectual giant. Her influence and memory lives on today, including on this site.
“You Don’t Know Us Negroes” adds immeasurably to our understanding of Hurston, who was a tireless crusader in all her writing, and ahead of her time. – New York Times Book Review
Meet Our Board Members
Lawonda Jiggetts
Florida, USA
Irrum Shah
North Carolina, USA
Jody Escaravage
North Carolina, USA
Suzanne Misur-Porter
North Carolina, USA
Latisha Reed
California, USA
Community Inspiration
Jenny Pickens Art
Jenny Pickens is an Asheville, NC area native. She is a self-taught artist who has been making art all her life.
Working in mediums including fiber arts, pencil, pen & ink, pastels, oils, as well as hand built pottery and repurposed jewelry, Jenny’s work has been featured in a variety of articles, galleries & festivals around the community.
Executive Director
Danaé Jones Aicher (she/her) identifies as an African American and Black woman, a native of Florida where she is from and grew up, and is now living again, and a southerner. Raised talking about race, and with a really strong discussion of being Black in America as being excellent in America, Danaé went to college to study history, with a specialty in 20th century US and European diplomacy – about the furthest you could get from an explicit discussion about race! She went on to have an almost 20 year career as a journalist covering politics, and then handling press, media and messaging for large political campaigns.
Upon becoming a mother to two children, Danaé made the intentional decision to become a stay-at-home mom as a revolutionary act, given that Black women have specifically and historically been tasked with taking care of other people’s families and kids. In many ways, it was her role as a mother that brought her into the work of more explicitly focusing on race as a social/racial justice educator.
BZora
Main: (828) 407.0464
PO Box 620307
Oviedo, FL 32762-0307
Header image credit: Photo by Miles Peacock on Unsplash
Zora Neale Hurston Images: Public Domain
