July, 2026
“Whether working in global institutions, government, or the private sector, I think leading with humility, curiosity, and a clear sense of purpose is universal,” says Elizabeth Scharpf MPA/ID 2007, MBA 2007.
She’s experienced this throughout her career tackling difficult problems across sectors and continents. After her time at Harvard, she launched Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), a social enterprise in Africa that turned banana tree trunk fiber into affordable menstrual products, reducing the time women and girls missed from work and school due to menstruation. Through this venture, as well as her roles at the World Bank, the Clinton Foundation, and emerging biotech companies, she consistently saw the value of staying grounded.
In late 2024, she felt a pull to shift her focus. “I started feeling this urgency to give back to my own community where I've been living for the last 10 years,” she says of California’s Central Coast, a region navigating wildfires, shifting federal policies, and a turbulent political environment. “I wanted to channel my time into something for this country and my own community.”
Today, as co-executive director of a social enterprise called Leading From Within, she helps local changemakers expand their capacity to lead, collaborate, and drive solutions. At Leading From Within, that means strengthening the civic ecosystem from the inside out. “We call it ‘leading from within’ for a reason,” she says. “We start with self—your strengths, your blind spots, your habits—and we build from there.” The social enterprise offers structured spaces so leaders can engage in intense self-reflection together, all with the goal of increasing impact in the community.
For Elizabeth, one of the clearest indicators of impact is what happens after Leading From Within’s programs end. “Leadership can be incredibly lonely,” she says. “We see that in every cohort—people arrive thinking they’re the only ones facing this pressure.” Leading From Within intentionally counters that isolation. “Around 7 out of 10 of our participants continue to collaborate and lean on each other after they complete our programs,” says Elizabeth.
Panelists at Leading From Within’s gathering on leadership in times of cascading crises (L-R): Claire Peeps, former executive director of the Durfee Foundation; Sigrid Wright, executive director of the Community Environmental Council; Mona Miyasato MPP 1991, county executive officer of Santa Barbara County, and Gayle Beebe, president of Westmont College.
A recent session for nonprofit, government, private sector, and civic leaders focused on “cascading crises.” Mona Miyasato MPP 1991, the county executive officer of Santa Barbara County and one of Elizabeth’s close partners, described how COVID forced her to abandon the illusion that there was always a clear playbook. Instead, leadership required improvisation, courage, and the willingness to act amid uncertainty. Says Mona, “It’s okay not to know. It’s okay not to have a system or rule to fall back on. You just have to create as you go.”
Emotional steadiness can matter as much as technical expertise. Mona described the “fog of war” she felt during the Montecito mudslide disaster of 2018, when torrential downpours led to a devastating flow of debris that killed a two dozen people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and damaged critical infrastructure. “The biggest contribution I could make right at that moment was just my presence there,” says Mona as she described the chaotic moments in the emergency operations center.
Mona and her co-presenters also explained how they center themselves to prepare for the challenges of service. Meditation, cultivating empathy, letting go of ego, and preparing to be available for unplanned interruptions are just some of the ways they reduce chronic stress and maintain good judgment.
For Elizabeth, leading from within ultimately comes down to paying attention to where—and for whom—you’re showing up. After decades of global work, she paused long enough to ask whether her own time and energy could be rooted more directly in the community around her—a question she believes other leaders should be asking too. “There was a moment that I just had to stop and think about what I was doing 50 hours a week and whether that could be channeled in a more productive way for this country and my community,” she says. “And that's why I made the shift. And I hope perhaps others will as well.”