Zena R. Smith hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she grew up with her five brothers in an apartment project complex located in the tough steel town neighborhoods of Pittsburgh’s Hill District. Although her home town is well known for its mean streets ridden with crime, violence, poverty, and urban despair, Zena is one of the Hill District's shining success stories.Smith began sowing the seeds of a life in education as early as the age of eight when, under the guidance of family patriarch “Centennial Samuels,” she committed to immersing herself in reading, math, and the sciences.The recipient of numerous academic honors, awards, and scholarships throughout high school and during her college career at Spelman College (and later Clark Atlanta University), Smith has made it her personal and professional mission to help young people and their families navigate the complexities of today’s education system. Following graduation in 1984, Zena began her professional career with Big-8 accounting firm Deloitte Haskins & Sells, where she further developed her analytical skills and professional capabilities. In 2000, leveraging her learned business acumen, Smith launched a major educational initiative that would, a decade later, blossom into MASTERs Plus Tutoring Program. MASTERs Plus opened its doors officially on February 18, 2011, and since then has flourished in its role as an educational resource and assistance program for local students. In May of 2013, Smith embarked on a new journey with the founding of OASIS Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization that serves socioeconomically disadvantaged youth by providing a transformative educational space in which to address and close the achievement gap. Today both organizations are testaments to Smith’s personal history, a career of hard work, focus, and determination, and the fruits of long-term academic investment.