Podcast
The North Star
Hosted by JeffriAnne Wilder, Ph.D. · EN
Welcome to The North Star—a podcast produced by the Oberlin Center for DEI Innovation and Leadership, and a space for candid conversations on leadership, legacy, and navigating complexity.
In each episode, we’ll talk with changemakers, scholars, and disruptors who are asking bold questions and reimagining what leadership looks like—in education, in community, and in the world we’re building next.
Whether you’re leading a team, building a movement, or just trying to make sense of today’s challenges, The North Star is your companion for reflection, insight, and action.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Beyond the Byline: Student Journalism, Solidarity, and the Fight for Structural Equity
May 800:37:47Tap to summarizeIn this bonus episode of The North Star, guest host Chloe Caldwell sits down with Isaiah Johnson, Oberlin College & Conservatory Center for DEI Innovation & Leadership Changemakers fellow, Opinions Editor of the Oberlin Review, and co-founder of Oberlin's chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. Isaiah reflects on what it means to be an agent of change from the inside — navigating the tensions between conviction and compromise, platforming community voices through student journalism, and building solidarity in spaces like the Third World Social Justice Co-op (TWIC).From the ethics of what to publish to the lessons of the 2024 election cycle, Isaiah offers a candid look at how young leaders learn to hold power responsibly — staying connected to the communities they represent, resisting arrogance, and understanding that lasting change is built on relationships, information, and a willingness to show up even when the path forward is complicated.🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌐 Follow the Center on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Legacy In Action
Apr 2400:42:29Tap to summarizeIn this special episode of The North Star, the mic gets turned around as Executive Director JeffriAnne Wilder, Ph.D., takes the guest seat, interviewed by Changemakers fellow Chloe Caldwell.JeffriAnne reflects on what it means to carry Oberlin's almost 200-year legacy of inclusion into the present, pushing back on resting on historical laurels and asking what the college is doing right now to honor that legacy. She opens up about the tensions she's navigated between motherhood and academia, the importance of disrupting hierarchy to build true belonging, and why she believes Oberlin's legacy comes most alive through its students.Candid and wide-ranging, the conversation closes with a rallying call to the next generation: trust your gut, don't wait until you feel ready, and know that leadership isn't a title reserved for a certain age. It's something happening all around us, every single day. 🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌐 Follow the Center on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Leading with Purpose: Libraries, Equity, and Community Power
Apr 300:35:49Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we speak with Eboni A. Johnson, STEM Librarian and Head of the Science Library at Oberlin College and President of Oberlin City Council, about her unexpected journey from a reluctant prospective student to a leader shaping both campus and community.Eboni reflects on how mentorship, representation, and access to information have defined her path, and how libraries serve as powerful sites for equity and social justice. She also shares her entry into local government, her work advancing housing access and Oberlin’s nationally recognized Social Equity Plan, and what it means to lead with integrity. Grounded in the belief to “do your best and do right by people,” this conversation highlights how leadership can emerge in unexpected ways and how it can create lasting impact.🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌎Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌐 Follow the Center on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Gen Z, Activism, and Burnout: How One Student Is Redefining Leadership and Home
Mar 1300:32:27Tap to summarizeIn this special Season 3 episode of The North Star, JeffriAnne Wilder PhD welcomes third-year student and Changemakers Fellow Chloe Caldwell, the first student guest and future host of the new Gen Z Edit, to share how Oberlin College has become her “second home” 2,000 miles from Montana. Chloe reflects on choosing Oberlin College for its conservatory and history of progress, the community she found through music, friendship, and leadership, and how the Changemakers Fellowship reshaped her understanding of leadership from status to service. She also discusses her investigative podcast work on town–gown dynamics, why empathy and genuine dialogue are the most pressing needs in both Oberlin and the broader U.S., and how Gen Z’s political coming-of-age amid social media, polarization, and COVID has fueled both urgency for change and a deep insistence on well-being and balance.🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌐 Follow the Center on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Making Human Resources Human: Sinaya Surla on Inclusive Excellence, Firsts, and Future-Ready Workplaces
Feb 2700:46:41Tap to summarizeIn this Season 3 episode of The North Star, Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder talks with Sinaya Surla—Oberlin College’s inaugural Human Resources Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—about what it means to make HR truly human. Sinaya reflects on her journey from Multicultural Resource Center staff member to policy shaper, sharing how seven-generations thinking, employee resource groups, and clearer conflict-resolution pathways are helping center staff voice, equity, and belonging across campus. She also lifts up her doctoral research on writing retreats for women of color and the power of doing “less” as a strategy for sustaining long-term social justice work at Oberlin and beyond.🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌐 Follow the Center on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Dr. Alicia Smith-Tran on Imposter Syndrome, Care, and Inclusive Classrooms
Feb 1300:35:24Tap to summarizeIn this Season 3 premiere of The North Star, JeffriAnne Wilder, PhD talks with Alicia Smith-Tran, PhD—Oberlin College alumna, former varsity basketball player, and associate professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies. Dr. Smith-Tran traces her path from reluctant campus visitor to faculty member dedicated to building classrooms where first-gen and marginalized students belong. She shares research rooted in lived experience and reflects on balancing student support with her own well-being as a scholar and parent. A conversation about carrying Oberlin's legacy of inclusion forward—one story at a time.🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.🌐 Follow the Center on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Rooted in Oberlin: Dr. Johnnetta Cole on Building a Lifelong Legacy
Dec 1900:29:07Tap to summarizeIn 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 on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Four Pillars and a Future: JeffriAnne Wilder, PhD on Reimagining DEI, Innovation, and Leadership
Dec 500:41:18Tap to summarizeThis 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 on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Beyond Beauty: A Conversation on Colorism and Redefining Social Capital with Dr. Margaret Hunter
Nov 2100:42:24Tap to summarizeIn 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 on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
Transcribe →Rewriting the Narrative: Dr. Aldon Morris on Uncovering Marginalized Voices in Social Science
Nov 1400:40:23Tap to summarizeIn 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 on social media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram 🌎 Visit Oberlin College's website.Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
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