Our Logo & Mission Evolution Story
In 1984 (40years ago!), ZF began granting a modest scholarship to one student for each year of their 4 years of college. Public websites, social media, cell phones didn’t exist and a logo was a far-off thought. We
just wanted to help students get a college education and believed this would be a catalyst for their
career and life experiences.
As we’ve passed through these years, we discovered and learned that affordability was key to post-
college success, that coaching could be the catalyst for our students’ understanding affordability and
how to launch into their careers. We identified a mission statement: Helping Students Become Effective
Adults, we got a logo, and we launched a website.
Things sure have changed. We now grant 35+ scholarships a year, have 14 Coaches who are committed
to our students; and we now have a logo AND a website! It was time for a logo and a tagline reflecting
our mission.
We then asked ourselves: “What’s next? Where are we going?” Our scholarship-coaching program is
becoming quite impactful and we want to expand it but never to a size that compromises the personal
student-coach relationship. So, the question became: Where and how else can ZF increase our
impact?
We looked at many of the challenges facing our society and discovered they had a common thread:
weak to corrupt leadership. We discovered our pathway: expand our mission from “Helping Students
Become Effective Adults” to include “Helping Effective Adults Become Inspired Leaders.”
We discovered the insights: how we live is who we are and how we live is defined by the choices we
make. And then, our ah-ha moment, it’s kind of like the magic of The Wizard of Oz.
Remember that the tornado carried Dorothy from Kansas to the Land of Oz. She quickly discovered that she
wanted to return to Kansas and her family. Dorothy was told to travel down the Yellow Brick Road to
the Emerald City where she would find the Wizard of Oz, who had the power to send her home. On her
journey, she met Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion; each of whom were searching for a missing part of their
character. As their journey unfolds, they all discover they actually possess what they thought they
lacked and didn’t need the Wizard. They simply needed self-awareness and the self-confidence to
make better choices.
We believe that most people possess the potential to be inspired leaders whether in their family,
community, workplace or otherwise. The magic is simple: it’s the process of "Discover. Choose. Live." ZF
will teach, coach, and practice this to help meet today’s societal challenges and to unleash leadership
potential. The yellow path at the left edge of our new logo isn’t a symbol for the letter Z, it’s symbolic of
each of our personal Yellow Brick Roads. We believe that each road is built through the process of
discovery, making informed choices, and living those choices. We are excited about how our new logo and mission truly symbolize who we are trying to become.
just wanted to help students get a college education and believed this would be a catalyst for their
career and life experiences.
As we’ve passed through these years, we discovered and learned that affordability was key to post-
college success, that coaching could be the catalyst for our students’ understanding affordability and
how to launch into their careers. We identified a mission statement: Helping Students Become Effective
Adults, we got a logo, and we launched a website.
Things sure have changed. We now grant 35+ scholarships a year, have 14 Coaches who are committed
to our students; and we now have a logo AND a website! It was time for a logo and a tagline reflecting
our mission.
We then asked ourselves: “What’s next? Where are we going?” Our scholarship-coaching program is
becoming quite impactful and we want to expand it but never to a size that compromises the personal
student-coach relationship. So, the question became: Where and how else can ZF increase our
impact?
We looked at many of the challenges facing our society and discovered they had a common thread:
weak to corrupt leadership. We discovered our pathway: expand our mission from “Helping Students
Become Effective Adults” to include “Helping Effective Adults Become Inspired Leaders.”
We discovered the insights: how we live is who we are and how we live is defined by the choices we
make. And then, our ah-ha moment, it’s kind of like the magic of The Wizard of Oz.
Remember that the tornado carried Dorothy from Kansas to the Land of Oz. She quickly discovered that she
wanted to return to Kansas and her family. Dorothy was told to travel down the Yellow Brick Road to
the Emerald City where she would find the Wizard of Oz, who had the power to send her home. On her
journey, she met Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion; each of whom were searching for a missing part of their
character. As their journey unfolds, they all discover they actually possess what they thought they
lacked and didn’t need the Wizard. They simply needed self-awareness and the self-confidence to
make better choices.
We believe that most people possess the potential to be inspired leaders whether in their family,
community, workplace or otherwise. The magic is simple: it’s the process of "Discover. Choose. Live." ZF
will teach, coach, and practice this to help meet today’s societal challenges and to unleash leadership
potential. The yellow path at the left edge of our new logo isn’t a symbol for the letter Z, it’s symbolic of
each of our personal Yellow Brick Roads. We believe that each road is built through the process of
discovery, making informed choices, and living those choices. We are excited about how our new logo and mission truly symbolize who we are trying to become.