Ric Keeley spent 14 years in the film industry before leaving Hollywood to pursue his passion for cooking. After training at the French Culinary Institute, he took his commitment to healthy food into school cafeterias, cooking and educating students about eating for a good life. Currently the Executive Chef for the Town School in San Francisco, he was instrumental in teaming Zimkids up with Ross School students in the Hamptons.
Goodwell Nzou was born in a remote Zimbabwean village, the 16th of 22 children, and lost his right leg to a snake bite when he was a kid. Refusing to succumb to local belief that people with disabilities are “useless,” he won scholarships to King George VI School, to Christian Brothers College, then to Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. He interned at the University of California, San Diego, and Novartis Pharmaceutical and is currently a Phd candidate at Wake Forest University. He is also a drummer and marimba player, formerly president of Liyana, featured in the films iThemba and Music by Prudence. For Zimkids, he’s a bottomless well of insight into the needs of Zimbabwean children.
Julie Tazzia, a founding member of the P&G Alumni Network, is one of the most active and creative members of our board of advisors. With over 20 years in administration, marketing services, sales and merchandising at Procter & Gamble, she is currently a Principal at Sycamore & Company, a Michigan-based management consulting firm. She is also an American Sign Language, working with Michigan school districts. Julie is also a fine arts photographer, and has shown in galleries in Michigan and Ohio. She hopes one day to travel to Zimbabwe, with her camera of course, and meet all the kids she speaks with frequently via Skype.
Gloria Slagle lives outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, where is she an active dog musher and an avid painter. A wife and mother of four grown children, she studied elementary education and fine arts at university and has been active in her faith community at Fairban’s St. Raphael Catholic Church for over 13 years. She became involved with Zimkids when Dennis Gaboury visited her parish in 2005 and has been a vibrant fundraiser, trusted advisor and generous friend to Zimkids since 2008.
Dee Duhe met Zimkids through her son John, a member of the Independent Pilots Association and friendAdrian Suskin, who was instrumental in funding the construction of the Center. Dee and her ladies have made over 300 and counting quilted blankets for our kids, and sent us over 20 sewing machines, fabrics and patterns for our sewing center. A retired accountant, she has volunteered on mission trips to orphanages in Romania, China, Guatemala and was named as a “Point of Light” by the Bush Point of Light Foundation and awarded the “Volunteer of the Year Award” for Collin County, Texas. To Zimkids, she is the Supreme Texas Gogo who drives like a truck driver and inspires others to good works