The intersection of 'passion and purpose'
Add Urban League Board Member to the list of Zillah Fluker’s accomplishments
By Tracey Weiss
Editor
Zillah Fluker has more than way to explain how she does her living. But this particular explanation really sums it up.
“If a person goes to the motivational section of a bookstore,” she said, “they have already articulated their motivation at some level and don’t know how to turn it on. I turn it on and take it up a notch.”
Fluker has decades of experience in corporate America and in working with higher educational institutions. When asked for an elevator pitch, she explains it well with this 15th floor stunner: “I help leaders and organizations figure out where they’re trying to go, who they need at the table, and how to turn those relationships into real opportunity and impact. My sweet spot is higher education, philanthropy, corporate engagement, and leadership—particularly around HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).”
In addition to an impressive list of accomplishments, Fluker can now add Board member for the Urban League of Greater Hartford to her resume. She and fellow new recruits just finished onboarding last month. “This is a working board,” she said. “I was appointed chair of marketing and communications committee.” The local affiliate of the National Urban League is beginning its 62nd year of continuous service providing education, employment, housing, and health programs while fighting for social justice.
The forever student
Fluker has a Ph.D. from Alabama State University, a Master of Arts and a Master of Business Administration from Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree from Alabama State University.
“My family is addicted to education. My grandmother had nine children and they are all educated. There was never a question of whether we would go to college, it was where.”Despite that, she said, as a child, “I was not a good student. All my report cards said, ‘Miss Wilkerson can be a bit chatty and is distracting to pupils.’”
Born in Zimbabwe, her family moved to Birmingham, Alabama when she was young. She still has a lot of family there and visits often. Today, she lives in town with her husband, Kwame, and her sons, Coleman, 15, a sophomore at Hall High School, and Ande, 14, a freshman at Hall.
After she earned her degrees, “I went into corporate America. I enjoy it,” she said. According to her biography, “She has worked for corporations such as RTX, Collins Aerospace, United Technologies Corporation, Carrier, Honeywell, and Motorola. A three-time Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Dr. Fluker has served at Central State University, Alabama State University, and Miles College. She also led executive leadership initiatives for UNCF (United Negro College Fund). She is a two-time Telly Award winner for creating HBCU Voices at UNCF and CSU Talks at Central State University, both storytelling platforms designed to elevate leadership lessons, community impact, and philanthropic engagement.”
She is the founder of activate|elevate, LLC powered by Martin Loyd, Inc. which incorporates technology solutions for leadership strategy, institutional visibility, executive positioning, and organizational impact.”
She’s worked with companies such as Toshiba America, to help the company expand and deepen its partnerships and corporate solutions within higher education.
“I was able to build them a conference and do dinners to bring in the two presidents (of the company and the university),” she said. “We brought in 50 executives who could learn more about each other and find mutually beneficial areas: Contact, Cultivate, Close. Build an outcome.”
The result is that those in higher education can understand opportunities in corporations, and vice versa. The result is about creating compatibility and ultimately, making monetary contributions as well.
Crossing the road
Right now, Fluker is at what she calls “the intersection of passion and purpose. How can I add more value to my client’s rosters?
“I’ve separated work into three categories. There’s Hard Work. I’m a forever student.
“There’s Heart Work, which is being able to join the Urban League, being on the board.
“And there is the Stuff I Know How To Do, for the people who pay me to do consulting work.”
“My number one goal is to make a proper dinner and keep my health and wellness intact,” she said.
Another goal? “To do all heart work. I want to do more in the West Hartford community. It’s a great place to live.”
Fluker is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s Hartford Alumnae Chapter and chairs the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast for Greater Hartford for 2026 and 2027. Past honors include serving as president of the Urban League Young Professionals (YPs).
In 2009, she was an honoree of the Hartford Business Journal’s 40 Under Forty and served on the Greater Hartford Boys & Girls Club board.
She has advice for the new generation of college students and graduates: “You can have a high GPA, but that doesn’t translate into being the best performer.
“Admit that you don’t know how to do something and then learn how to do it or find someone who does and can show you.
“Don’t underestimate the power of relationships and the power of cultivating relationships...make it intentional. Relationship building has been with us for centuries. It’s not about volume; it’s about quality.
“It doesn’t matter where you’ve been; it matters where you’re going and how dogged you are about getting there.” WHL
Contact Zillah Fluker at www.activateelevate.org.
