CORE BRAND BELIEF

In 2013, while conducting research in organizational leadership, she founded Women of Toledo (Northwest Ohio) as a grassroots experiment in connection. What began as a small grassroots initiative evolved into a regional hub that grew to serve more than 12,000 women and youth. The organization was built on a simple but disruptive insight: the greatest barrier facing individuals is not talent or ambition; it is disconnected systems. In Toledo, Ohio (USA), the community she proudly calls home, Nina helped advance gender-equity legislation, including the Pay Equity Act (O-173-19) and CEDAW (O-095-22). She also served as a mayoral appointee to the City of Toledo, Human Relations Commission and Gender Equity Commission (CEDAW). Through Welcome Toledo-Lucas County (Welcome TLC), where she co-chaired the Workforce Economic Development Committee, she supported City of Toledo and Lucas County’s recognition as a Certified Welcoming City and County with Welcoming America. Certified Welcoming is a formal designation for cities and counties that have created policies and programs reflecting their values and commitment to immigrant inclusion. 

Nationally and globally, her work has extended across leadership development, citizen diplomacy, international exchange, workforce development, and women’s economic empowerment. She has served as a Global Champion for Change with UN Women’s Empower Women initiative; a mentor to emerging leaders and Professional Fellows through the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, supporting fellows from Albania, Bulgaria, China, Hong Kong, Hungary, and Mongolia; and a delegate to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68). Her global engagement also includes serving as a Facilitator and Partner Organizer for the Congressional Office for International Leadership (COIL) Open World Program, engaging participants from Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, and Belarus, and as a Facilitator with the World Academy for the Future of Women at Karatina University in Kenya.

At the center of her work is a distinct leadership philosophy: relational intelligence paired with execution rigor. She leads by listening, convening, and building trust, then aligning people, data, and resources toward outcomes that last. This dual fluency has positioned her as both a community builder and a systems architect in economic and workforce development, while comfortable in grassroots circles and global policy rooms. She continues to expand her vision through HerHub Global, an AI-enabled platform designed to map opportunity, unlock economic and workforce mobility, and scale women’s access to income, skills, and networks worldwide. Yet even as her work reaches across continents, her leadership remains grounded in human rights and a fundamental truth: individuals facing barriers do not rise alone, and they should not have to.

​

Currently, she serves on the Fulbright Specialist Program’s three-year roster (2026–2029), an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by World Learning. The program facilitates short-term international academic and professional exchanges with institutions in more than 150 countries worldwide.​

​

Her story extends beyond individual leadership; it reflects what becomes possible when community is built as infrastructure, inclusion and human rights are advanced as strategic priorities, and human connection becomes a catalyst for lasting systemic change. 

​Of all her accomplishments, Nina considers her greatest privilege and proudest legacy to be raising her daughter, Isabella Ashira Corder, whose own journey led her to earn a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York. Isabella carries a deep awareness of community, humanity, and purpose. In many ways, she represents the continuation of Nina’s story and legacy; a bridge between heritage, resilience, education, and hope for the future.​