The Soul of Leadership: Building Spaces with Heart and Hope

In this moving episode of Our WellSpring, we sit with Rodney McKenzie Jr.—faith leader, organizer, and Vice President of Strategic Development at Freedom Together Foundation—to explore how love, hope, and spirit can shape the way we lead, fund, and build community.

Rodney shares how his upbringing taught him the enduring power of hope and instilled a deep calling to honor the people often made invisible. His work in philanthropy invites us to fundraise and lead not just with strategy, but with values rooted in faith, soulfulness, and care.

With wisdom and vulnerability, he reflects on what it means to bring the spirit of our ancestors and loved ones into the rooms we occupy—to design businesses and missions that remember the who and why at their core. We talk about the urgency culture that plagues our systems, the invitation to slow down, and how healing journeys—personal and collective—can become the foundation for social change. This episode is an offering for anyone seeking to reconnect to the heart of their work and lead from a place of wholeness.

Guest/s

Rodney McKenzie Jr., Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

Rodney is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the Freedom Together Foundation, where he forges bold, values-driven alliances with philanthropic leaders, grassroots organizers, and institutional partners to advance a shared vision of liberation, justice, and belonging. With more than two decades of experience at the nexus of movement building, philanthropy, and spiritual leadership, Rodney is guided by the belief that partnerships rooted in trust, love, and integrity are essential to lasting systemic change. Before joining Freedom Together, Rodney served as Vice President of Ally Development at the Fetzer Institute, where he nurtured transformative relationships with donors and funders committed to the role of faith and spirituality in social change. His leadership journey includes senior roles at Demos, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and Resource Generation—each grounded in the work of deepening democracy, challenging injustice, and building political and spiritual homes for those on the margins. An ordained minister and out person of faith, Rodney’s work is a powerful weaving of radical spirituality, strategic action, and moral imagination. He holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and began his path as a community organizer in Dallas, Texas

Our WellSpring Host

Uva Coles, Chief Learning Officer

Uva Coles serves as Chief Learning Officer for Spring Point Partners. As the organization's external communications and learning steward, Uva’s leadership ensures that inclusion, human-centered leadership, and narrative change are woven through every aspect of SPP’s partner-based learning deliveries. A writer, speaker, inclusive organizational strategist, and lifelong learner, Uva believes every room we step into is a classroom. Sometimes we are teachers; but always, we are students.

How to connect with us

Spring Point Partners