About
Zora Z. Williams
Zora’s namesake is the illustrious Zora Neale Hurston. Black history, tradition and thought are the foundation of who she is and the pillars of her value base.
Her mother’s family comes from Washington DC with their roots traced back to Awendaw, South Carolina and Goldsboro, North Carolina. Her father grew up in the Windy “Chi-Town” Chicago city with his family’s roots originating in Mississippi and Alabama. She is the physical manifestation of the efforts from the Great Migration from the South of the United States to the North as Black people forged a new life and legacy for themselves and their families. The grit and tenacity of her ancestors have translated into her own personality.
In addition to those traits, Zora is known to be spunky and outgoing just like her namesake. You will frequently find her laughing out loud, talking or working voraciously on her personal projects. Also, like her namesake, Zora is an obsessive archivist as evidenced by this site’s creation. You could call her a francophile, but she’s more of a francophone as it opens the door to more international black communities. Zora has a yearning for learning and feels most at home in a classroom. She leads her life by the principles of fellowship, kindness, sophistication and quality which she aims to exemplify in her work, actions and outfits.
Zora has had respectable success in her youth and will use that momentum to propel herself into the next phase of her career. This website chronicles her past work and her future endeavors. She welcomes all new visitors and future collaborators to learn about her life’s canon to date.
“This was my world, I said to myself, and I shall be in it and surrounded by it, if it is the last thing I do on God’s green dirt-ball” – Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on The Road.
Personality
Ms. Williams is best known for her outgoing and energetic nature. She is lovingly loquacious and emphatically empathetic. Her introspection and ambition are the key drivers of her success. She constantly seeks to connect with people and to curate enriching social and learning experiences for those around her.
Background
Ms. Williams hails from the Washington DC Metropolitan area, having roots both in the city proper and in Montgomery County, Maryland. She attended her neighborhood school, Rockville High to enroll in the International Baccalaureate program which marked the beginning of her rigorous academic pursuits.
Higher Education
Upon graduation she attended Stanford University to pursue two bachelor’s degrees: one in French Language and Literature the other in Science, Technology and Society. In the latter degree program she self-designed a concentration that investigated the intersection of data science and law entitled the Politics of Data. This area of study spawned into a honors thesis where she explored the use and judicial understanding of predictive algorithms in the criminal justice system, focusing on risk assessment tools in Santa Clara County, California.
Rugby Team
She was a very active student playing on the Stanford Women’s Rugby Team all four years, co-leading the Black Pre Law Society, sitting on the School of Humanities Student Advisory Council, as well as serving as a Resident Assistant for the Education and Society Themed Dorm amongst other activities.
Honor Thesis
After completing undergrad with honors and distinction, she continued expanding her academic repertoire by deferring her full-time job start date by one year to travel to Paris, France to present her honors thesis findings at the MediaLab at SciencesPo Paris.
GAP Year
During this gap year she began to launch a series of personal projects including a dual podcast production that explores the different components of identity and strategies to be cognizant and in control of them all. Additionally, she started penning a forthcoming memoir about her experiences as a Black francophone in Paris.
Today
Now, Ms. Williams works on all of her projects concurrent to her full time role as a Strategic Platform Account Manager at Google LLC. There she is building up her business acumen and knowledge of the technology industry before pursuing her JD to apply the learnings from her job and her honors thesis research in practice within international milieus.
Awards
Letter from Superior Court of Santa Clara County
Letter of gratitude from judges at Santa Clara County Superior Court based in San Jose California. Given to Zora after she presented her honors thesis findings to the court.
National French Honors Society Member – Pi Delta Phi IOTA
Pi Delta Phi is the National French Honors Society for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited public and private colleges and universities. Zora was inducted at the end of her undergraduate career.
Nelee Langmuir Essay Award
The Nelee Langmuir Award will be given to a student essay in the field of Modern European History with a preference given to work on the Holocaust, and offers a prize of $500. In alternate years, the award will be given to an undergraduate student who shows excellence and commitment to studying French.
View Notification Email | View Essay
Stanford Women’s Rugby Most Improved Player Award
Given to the Stanford Women’s Rugby player who demonstrated the most substantial improvement in their game performance over the course of one academic year.
Shanta Annan Memorial Award
The Shanta Annan Memorial Award is given for outstanding performance by a freshman in an African and African American Studies Course at Stanford University. This award comes with a $250 honorarium.
Harvard Book Award
Harvard Prize Books are awarded to outstanding students in the next-to-graduating high school class who display excellence in scholarship and high character, combined with achievement in other fields. Donated by Harvard Clubs and Shared Interest Groups (SIGs), Prize Books are presented annually in nearly 2,000 high schools around the world.
LearnServe Venture Panel Award
Awarded to the best venture project during the 2013-2014 academic school year.