***This Episode***

In this episode of Civically Grown, Loh-Sze Leung shares her journey from student service leader to nationally recognized leader in workforce development and philanthropy. As the owner of Leung Consulting and co-director of Workforce Matters, she reflects on how service, collaboration, and community have shaped her leadership.

Loh-Sze discusses how her experiences in Interact Club, including organizing a senior citizens' prom and creating a life-sized Monopoly fundraiser, taught her that leadership is built through teamwork, creativity, and serving others. She also shares how her parents' example of service, including her mother's founding of the first Chinese school in the Bay Area, inspired her commitment to creating opportunities for others.

The conversation explores pivotal moments in her career, including expanding access to fresh food through the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and co-leading the development of a pivotal workforce framework. Loh-Sze also reflects on the importance of leading with empathy, flexibility, and a willingness to ask for help.

When asked to describe her leadership style as a plant, Loh-Sze chooses a grapevine because it represents growth, connection, and producing fruit that benefits others.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• How early service experiences shaped Loh-Sze's leadership philosophy
• Leadership lessons from organizing a senior citizens' prom and a life-sized Monopoly fundraiser
• The influence of her parents and the founding of the first Chinese school in the Bay Area
• Why collaboration and delegation make leaders stronger
• The importance of centering worker voice in workforce development
• How she built trust as a young leader in a new community
• Why empathy, flexibility, and asking for help are essential leadership skills

***Guest Bio***

Loh-Sze Leung is the owner and principal of Leung Consulting in Dallas, TX, which provides program development, technical assistance, facilitation, and strategic planning services to philanthropic and nonprofit organizations around the country with a particular focus on workforce development and economic opportunity through a racial justice lens. Since 2016, she has also served as co-director of the Workforce Matters grantmakers’ affinity group.

Loh-Sze has worked with a wide range of philanthropic clients, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, JPMorgan Chase, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She has served as lead facilitator for funder learning collaboratives in Cleveland and the San Francisco Bay Area focused on race equity in workforce development grantmaking. She also co-facilitated the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute’s Dallas Economic Opportunity Leadership Academy.

Loh-Sze has authored or edited a number of publications about workforce development including A Racial Equity Framework for Workforce Development Funders; Taking Action: Positioning Low-Income Workers to Succeed in a Changing Economy, a book of case studies about the future of work; Strengthening Dallas-Fort Worth: Building a Middle-Skill Pipeline to Sustain Economic Growth and Expand Opportunity; and the Sustainability Guide for Workforce Funder Collaboratives.

From 2005-2014, Loh-Sze was the executive director of SkillWorks, a workforce funder collaborative in Boston. Prior to SkillWorks, she was assistant executive director of the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement. A graduate of Harvard University and the UCLA School of Public Affairs, Loh-Sze lives with her husband and two children in Dallas, TX, where she has served on the board of Life in Deep Ellum and been a long-time volunteer with Reading Partners of North Texas, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, Young Men’s Service League, and the Orchid Giving Circle.

***Show Host***

Dr. Shaniece Criss

***About The Podcast***

From youth leadership to enduring community impact, Civically Grown highlights changemakers who have turned early civic action into meaningful legacies. A new episode is released monthly on YouTube and all major podcast platforms: https://civicallygrown.captivate.fm/.

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