Meet Arzo Yusuf | Nonprofit Executive Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Arzo Yusuf and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Arzo, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
We are often taught not to take risks or be extremely careful when facing making the decision of taking risks. Risks can be very dangerous so to choose to take a risk requires a combination of analysis, knowing the consequences of the outcome, making as best of a decision as you can, and definitely using your gut as an indicator. I have taken many risks throughout my life. Some of them worked in my favor, and some of them led me to unfavorable outcomes. The quote, “with great risk comes great rewards can be true, but it’s important to know that it can be costly in many ways.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’ve been a part of the nonprofit organization, Angels Nest TLP for ten years. The mission of the organization is to provide support to youth transitioned out of foster care who often end up homeless, become sex trafficked or fall victim to gangs and end up in the criminal justice system. When I joined the organization I was initially elected to be on the Board of Directors then I was nominated to be the Board President to which I didn’t want to pursue that role—I was afraid of the enormous responsibility and kept thinking what if I mess up? What if I fail? It could hurt the organization and the youth we are trying to help. After weeks of deliberation, I accepted the nomination and then received unanimous support and was elected to be the President serving a term and a half in that role. Serving as President of Angels Nest really helped me get my sea legs in terms of leadership. It was one of the best things that could have happened to me for my development.

What sets our organization apart from others is that we are nimble and really have our finger on the pulse of the important needs and challenges of the population we serve. Because of our smaller size, we can change course, add additional programs if needed to create the right kind of support for the youth we serve.

What sets me apart from others perhaps is my leadership style. Sometimes I can be bold and make the hard decisions, other times I encourage others to see their own potential and be empowered to rise to the occasion and compassion is an ingredient in my leadership.

With our nonprofit, we got to where we are today through commitment, hard work and tenacity. Not just mine, but our founders and Board of Directors too. Organizations face challenges and set backs and we’ve faced our fair share. Different people led the organization that had expertise navigating various challenges and the most important part, none of us ever gave up. We’ve been loyal, committed and now seeing some of the fruits of our hard work.

In the last year, I’d have to say I’m extremely grateful to God for all the wins I’ve been experiencing. With each one, I felt like, this is the best day of my life! Then the next win came along and I thought the same thing. Angels Nest and our program partners at Butterfly’s Haven just opened a housing program for young women that aged out of the foster care system experiencing homelessness called “Wings of Empowerment.”

A very exciting moment happened recently. City Councilwoman Hernandez attended our ribbon cutting ceremony for Wings of Empowerment along with officers from LAPD and Firefighters from LAFD, our board members and people from the community and I felt awe struck that after ten years of investing my life into this cause, my dream of the community coming together to support this cause came true. Good people are all around us, we just have to find them.

I’ve learned many lessons along the way. The most horrible life moments are not permanent, they are temporary and will not last and the pains will eventually go away. Similarly, as great as the moments on top are and the feelings of elation, they too are temporary. What we are mostly living with is the middle, perhaps even the mundane at times. It has never been more clear to me the beauty of living a life of purpose.

Life is long and it’s not easy, but having a path that is fulfilling, makes the journey worthwhile. Never giving up has turned into my life motto. If you stay in the game long enough, it’s almost as if success is a natural law. Fighting our own internal battles and making a conscious choice to be a good human being, which is not always easy. To me, that mostly means just having consideration for others, everyone’s going through something, let’s just interact through kindness, understanding and forgiveness.

If I could tell the world something about me or my brand story it would be that I have a lot of heart in everything I do and everyday I pray these exact words, “I wish for peace, love, joy, harmony, balance and abundance for the world, amen.”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A week in L.A. with my best friend Tracy Kuaea to just have a good time together would definitely be joyful happiness for me! We’d have multiple spa appointments including getting a four handed massage at Surya in Santa Monica. Another day, we’d get afternoon tea at the Peninsula in Beverly Hills. We’re both steak lovers so a fine dining experience at Mastro’s eating the best ribeye would be divine! Another dinner experience would definitely be an evening at Vibrato listening to live jazz. We’d have a shopping day at Westfield Century City that would include margaritas at Javier’s. We’d pop over to listen to live music at the Fairmont Century Plaza lobby bar followed by dinner at Lumiere. We would enjoy tickets to more live music at Disney Concert hall, Hollywood Bowl or the Greek! We’d for sure have some beach days in Malibu and try to get in a hike. We must have dinner at Dante’s at the Maybourn at some point. For her farewell send off, we’d have a champagne toast on the rooftop at Jean-Gorges at the Waldorf Astoria watching greatest sunset view of Los Angeles.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My aunt, Shali Shalizi, has been there for me a few times during my falls and helped pick up the pieces. I love you so much. And my best friend, Tracy Kuaea, who’s been an incredible support to me for decades. Our talks, analysis of everything and endless laughter has been like medicine for my soul. Love you friend. In the last few years, the Century City Chamber of Commerce and its members have become an incredible community for me and they support me and our nonprofit’s mission and have been instrumental in our success.

Website: www.angelsnesttlp.org and www.sexybossbabe.com

Instagram: @thearzoyusuf @LAangelsnestTLP @thesexybossbabe

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/arzo-yusuf-49454054?trk=public_profile_articles_see_all

Twitter: @arzoyusuf @angelsnestTLP

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@angelsnesttlp?si=uvjebhP1PQ-zKori

Image Credits
Photo credit: Youssof Sekander