Ellenore Angelidis is a multifaceted individual who balances a demanding career as a business leader, author, and community builder while being a dedicated mother of three. With over three decades of experience, she specializes in consulting with leaders and businesses on building practices and tools that support innovation and win-win negotiation results. Her expertise includes business negotiations, team leadership and development, problem-solving, international strategy development, public speaking, mentorship, executive coaching, and vendor management. Currently, Ellenore serves as the Board President of Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD), a Seattle-based organization she founded which is dedicated to raising literacy, inclusion, innovation readiness, and leadership skills in Ethiopia and beyond. It publishes colorful, culturally appropriate books for youth with its OHBD-Ready Set Go imprint, the brain child of award-winning author, Jane Kurtz, a close friend of Ellenore’s who serves as OHBD Creative Lead. OHBD also provides training and opportunities for Ethiopian youth and educators in person and online.
Ellenore has received numerous accolades for her outstanding leadership and innovative contributions. Recently, she was honored with the Education 2.0 Outstanding Leadership in Education Award in 2024. Additionally, her organization, OHBD, has received GuideStar’s Highest Seal of Transparency and was named the Top NGO by Charity Navigator, scoring 95 out of 100 points.
A Journey of Compassion and Contribution
Ellenore established OHBD in 2010 as a volunteer organization to help raise funds for a library in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, the birthplace of her daughter. Upon visiting the library in person, the inspiring lady was moved by a powerful sense of potential for positive change. The scope of her projects quickly grew, from fundraising to book publication to STEAM programs. In 2017, OHBD became an independent 501(c)(3) organization, and now it provides a range of programs to empower youth in Ethiopia and beyond to transform their future.
Today, OHBD has become the largest publisher of bilingual children’s books featuring African stories and languages in the world. Its rapidly growing list includes 160+ books in 24 languages. Nearly half a million books have been printed and distributed all across Ethiopia in 12 Ethiopian languages. Several US and EU libraries also purchase OHBD’s books to support immigrants and refugees, increase the diversity of books, and share great new stories. Besides, OHBD has been recognized as a top-rated NGO on Great Not for Profits, cited in Book Riot’s “19 Best Ethiopian Books” for Andromeda and Plow Nation.
Addressing the Distinctive Needs
OHBD prints locally to build capacity and make the books more affordable for schools and libraries in Ethiopia. They support equal opportunities for children with disabilities. This project is named for Mike Carr, a valued member of the OHBD community and an advocate for the inclusion of those with different abilities. As part of this project, the organization has launched a series of books featuring kids and adults with different abilities. Sixteen titles have been published so far in multiple languages. It collaborates with those innovating on behalf of kids with disabilities and shares their research and learning.
OHBD’s Notable Programs to Create a Tangible Difference
Under Ellenore’s leadership, OHBD successfully created, published, and translated 160+ culturally appropriate bilingual titles in 24 languages, totaling over 1300 books. It has printed and distributed over 455,000 copies of the books with support in-country, with another 125,000+ copies planned for 2024. The organization has also published three bilingual STEM laboratory manuals for middle and high school teachers in biology, chemistry, and physics. Furthermore, OHBD has trained over 65 students and tech professionals in computer science, entrepreneurship, and leadership since 2017 so they could pass the training to others.
Conquering the Challenges Worldwide
OHBD was inspired by the idea that the size of a kid’s dreams should not depend on where they are born. The fact that many kids around the globe don’t get the chance to learn to read or even hold a book in their hands is unconscionable. Ellenore believes every kid should see themselves represented in the books they get to read. Kids in Ethiopia don’t have a lot of culturally appropriate early reader books to help them learn to read. So OHBD set out to create over 200 unique titles (in multiple Ethiopian and African languages) to contribute to closing that gap. Education unlocks opportunities.
Collaboration: The Key to Achieving Sustainable Impact in Education
OHBD was founded partly to show the impact of ordinary people coming together with a big dream to do extraordinary things.
“We rely on people who will take time to read, review, and share what we are doing. We have met amazing supporters through social media and communities of all kinds,” Ellenore explains.
Collaborating with her daughter to write books about her family’s experiences in Ethiopia as well as areas of personal interest, like Andromeda, Princess of Ethiopia, has been a heartwarming experience for Ellenore as the world grapples with so many challenging issues. This partnership along with the contributions of hundreds of volunteers, including her daughter, has enabled OHBD’s remarkable success in a short period. Ellenore is happy to collaborate with any organization or individual with aligned goals focused on literacy, language and culture preservation, empowerment, and capacity building.
The Road Ahead
As the leader, Ellenore’s mission at OHBD is to inspire, empower, and enable youth in Ethiopia (and around the world) to reimagine their future through increasing literacy, innovation, leadership, and inclusion. She also wishes to create wonderful new books, add more African languages, and get the books in every school and library globally to both promote culture and language preservation as well as teach kids about a part of the world many hold dear and many others may never get to visit.
“We continued to grow our locally printed book selection in Ethiopia, both in titles and languages. We have launched a reading room focus to bring our books and kids together across Ethiopia and are working with my Rotary club and those in Ethiopia to make this a reality,” shares Ellenore.
Proud Moments
Ellenore is grateful to her daughter, Jane Kurtz, many writers, illustrators, translators, and reviewers along with the hundreds of volunteers who have helped her. She feels proud to inspire kids with beautiful books and see them explore both new and familiar worlds, even amid global conflicts and challenges. She often hears from parents and kids about the amazing impact of seeing themselves and their culture reflected and celebrated, not just in a handful of books but in so many books covering such a broad range of topics.
OHBD’s Efforts to Create a Brighter Future
A simple way to empower this initiative is by buying the OHBD-Ready Set Go books, as each purchase contributes to providing a free book for a child in Ethiopia. Another way is to run a fundraiser for an OHBD project or volunteer for a STEAM or literacy project. Additionally, individuals can register on the website to set up a monthly donation and receive the newsletter.
“We want to see our books in all US schools and public libraries so kids with ties to East Africa can celebrate their culture and see themselves in books. African kids have the opportunity to learn about a fascinating ancient African country that was never colonized, and kids from all backgrounds get to learn about diverse Ethiopia, the birthplace of all humanity. Our literacy work in Ethiopia will also get the vital funding it needs,” concludes Ellenore.
