Rev. Zelna Joseph, PhD

President and CEO of the S/HE Identity, Inc.

  • Author

  • Speaker

  • Ordained Minister

  • Non-Profit Management Consultant

Reverend Zelna Joseph, PhD is an ordained minister with a heart to love and serve God’s people. She has over 30 years of leading faith and community-based, non-profit organizations. In 1990 she founded United We Stand Women’s Center to meet the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of women and families and the Teen Development Awareness Program working with disadvantaged girls in Colorado Spring, Colorado.

In 1998 she relocated to Washington, DC where she was Executive Director of a teen prostitution prevention organization, where she traveled to Russia and led a team of experts to Russia helping develop HIV/AIDS prevention outreach programs. She also served as President and CEO of an organization helping homeless women with housing and addiction recovery.

Reverend Joseph, working under the tutelage of Dorothy I. Height at the National Council of Negro Women, conducted a nationwide public campaign for aging African-American women. She also launched an obesity program for the organization.

Returning to Colorado in 2006, as President/CEO, she ran faith-based medical clinics offering affordable health care prior to the ACA and later served as the Executive Director of the El Paso County Bar Association.

Reverend Zelna Joseph completed her dissertation for a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies in 2013 from Atlantic Coast Theological Seminary. She received her Master’s degree in liberal studies/language and communication from Regis University, and received her Bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Colorado Christian University.

Reverend Zelna Joseph is a strong leader, experienced in organization and program development, strategic planning, fund development and coalition building. She is also a former City Councilwoman, and has served on numerous boards and commissions including, the Colorado State Board of Health and on the former Colorado Governor Ritter’s Interagency and Community Council on Homelessness. She also served on the Susan G. Komen for the Cure South Eastern Colorado, Board of Directors.

Reverend Zelna Joseph has devoted her life to helping underserved women, children and families and working to build strong communities. She was recognized for leadership and business skills with numerous awards, including the Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the year Award and the Colorado Springs Business Journal’s Woman of Influence Award. She left her position as the Executive Director of the El Paso County Bar Association in Colorado Springs to follow the call of God on her life: “To teach women to find their identity in God and take The S/HE Identity message to the world.”