Heroines of Systemic Change: Beyond Traditional Paths
Lisa Berger remembers pitching her vision for a women-owned bank not at a convention or glitzy investor meeting, but in a sunlit Columbus coffee shop packed with other local entrepreneurs. Stories like hers, and those of Amy Klaben, Karen Morrison, Barb Smoot, and Sophia Fifner, defy the narrative that transformative leadership must come from elected office or corporate corner suites. These Central Ohio women are writing new rules—in finance, healthcare, housing, and civic engagement—reshaping the lived experience of their communities with radical authenticity and grit.
Recent numbers speak volumes. According to the National Women’s Business Council, women-owned businesses in the U.S. are growing at twice the national average. Yet, as Berger and Ilaria Rawlins discovered when founding Fortuna Bank, female entrepreneurs are denied commercial loans three times more often than their male counterparts. This is not a matter of merit; it’s a reflection of systemic bias. Determined to break this cycle, Berger and Rawlins launched Fortuna in 2023, setting a minimum investment low enough to invite a new class of local investors—three-quarters of whom are women. Even as their client base and assets quickly rise, the founders are powerfully explicit: the mission is about transformation, not just transactions.
Housing advocate Amy Klaben is another force who refuses to accept the status quo. Her nonprofit, Families Flourish, originated as a pilot within Ohio State’s City and Regional Planning program before evolving into a robust program tackling multiple dimensions of poverty: housing, employment, coaching. Klaben’s leadership has also shaped broader efforts like the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio. She understands that policy drives real opportunity only when those with lived experience sit at the table. Interviewed recently by Columbus CEO, Klaben pointed to empirical research showing that stable, affordable housing yields cascading benefits in education, health, and job stability—a reality too long ignored in conservative political rhetoric, which favors market-driven “solutions” over people-first investments.
Healing, Leadership, and Economic Power
Karen Morrison, president of the OhioHealth Foundation, took a legacy of public service inherited from her physician parents and turned it into a crusade for health equity. Her current focus: slashing Columbus’s unacceptably high rates of infant mortality through direct interventions such as the Wellness on Wheels mobile units. According to an Ohio Department of Health report, infants in some Columbus ZIP codes are twice as likely as others to die before their first birthday. Morrison’s hands-on approach—sending doctors and nurses directly into underserved neighborhoods—translates progressive values into tangible results in maternal and child health. The conservative argument that individual “choices” alone determine health outcomes is laid bare as a falsehood amid these conditions; systemic barriers demand systemic solutions.
Another vivid example is Barbara Smoot’s journey with Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD). Taking the helm as a part-time director more than a decade ago, Smoot shepherded WELD from a single local chapter to a nationwide force—now boasting members in 16 states and programming accessed around the globe. Smoot’s story is not one of overnight success but of tenacious coalition-building. “Our most persistent challenges require collective leadership,” she told a local business panel last fall. That mantra, echoed in WELD’s expansion to support women at all stages of their careers, is vital. Financial empowerment isn’t just about the next promotion; it’s the backbone of stronger communities. When conservative orthodoxy insists that “anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” organizations like WELD show that opportunity is rarely distributed equally unless made so deliberately.
Sophia Fifner, as CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Club (CMC), commands a different field but channels the same ethos. She’s turned CMC into a laboratory for civic connection—a place where people from all walks can gather, debate, and imagine. Her leadership also extends into her writing, notably her Substack, The Advocate Next Door, where she shares stories and strategies on advocacy and burnout, particularly for women. By fostering this discourse, Fifner cultivates the social capital that is the true currency of sustainable change.
“We cannot build a fair and just Columbus—as a city or as a community—if opportunity is only theoretical, inaccessible to those living just a few blocks from prosperity.”
The Obstacles and the Road Ahead: Resilience in Action
One thread unites these women: a refusal to see obstacles as permanent, and resistance to deeply rooted, conservative assumptions about who gets to win or lead. A closer look reveals how their methods—grounded in direct service, coalition-building, and new institutional models—stand as rebukes to policies that value profit and tradition over human thriving.
Critics may argue that isolated programs can’t fix structural racism, gender bias, or economic disparity on their own. That’s true. These leaders recognize it too. Still, they act in the here and now, refusing to let the perfect be the enemy of the possible. Karen Morrison’s infant mortality initiative offers immediate relief but also pushes for systems change in healthcare delivery. Fortuna’s purposely lower investment minimum opens the financial world to new owners and voices, even as broad inequities remain. Klaben’s Families Flourish targets individual families with wraparound services, but her parallel advocacy for citywide affordable housing policy shapes the entire landscape. WELD’s growth hints at what’s possible when women—often marginalized in both business circles and policymaking—are empowered to lead together.
Harvard Business Review’s 2022 survey found that regions with higher percentages of women-led businesses experience faster wage growth and lower poverty rates. Is it any wonder, then, that progressive policies consistently outperform laissez-faire alternatives when measured by outcomes like public health, economic resilience, and household stability? Decades of data—and the lived realities on Central Ohio’s streets—demand more than tinkering at the edges. They call for bold investment in leadership from communities too often left outside the room where decisions are made.
What if the future of your city depended not on a single “hero” but on the quiet force of determined women disrupting old power structures, one conversation—and one institution—at a time?
