MEDIA | Elizabeth Zion

Publications & Articles

SDG Academy | Nov 2025

Gratitude as a Virtue to Enable Education for Sustainable Development

When we teach sustainability, we often lead with crisis...

The Journal | Nov 2020

It was two months before my Junior Cert

After a long journey, she’s now a hopeful 17-year-old who is studying International Relations, Politics and Social Justice in UCD...

The Irish Times | Jun 2019

My childhood was ‘ripped away’

The day when I felt I had lost everything and the roof of my home...

The Irish Independent | Nov 2019

Busy year for talented young Donabate writer

It has been a busy year thus far for 6th year Donabate Community College student Elizabeth...

The Irish Times | Apr 2017

Library Halls

As I walked down the library halls, I could almost hear the sounds of gun shot. The fire crackling, people’s thoughts. The creaking of the doors...

The Today Show feat. Jonathan Healy

RTE One | Apr 2025

Your Beginnings Will Not Dictate Your End

The To Be Human Podcast | Apr 2022

The Tommy Tiernan Show

RTE One | Mar 2025

The need for family reunification

TED Salon: UNICEF | Dec 2021

The Humanity of the Homeless

Irish Global Health Network | Oct 2023

Helping children through pandemic

RTE News | Apr 2021

Podcasts & More

Mind the Gap with Mary Oyediran

Episode 11 | Oct 19, 2022

Elizabeth shares her vivid personal journey through racism, homelessness, and 18 years of family separation, offering spiritual insight, poetic resilience, and a contagious determination to rise above adversity and protect mental well-being.

To Be Human with Jennah-Louise

Episode 74 | Aug 21, 2022

How challenges of family separation shaped a young woman's belief in the fundamental right to family reunification. A thoughtful and compassionate perspective on resilience and purpose.

Change Makers with Clare McKenna

Season 3, Episode 6 | Jul 26, 2022

Exploring the emotional and systemic challenges of family separation due to immigration policies, as Elizabeth shares her personal journey and advocates for children's right to family life and dignity.

Blog Posts

What I Would Tell Her

If I could go back and speak to my fourteen-year-old self, I wouldn’t tell her about everything we would go on to accomplish. No stages, no rooms, no open doors. Not because those things don’t matter, but because they were never really the point. All I would tell her is this: the God you already believe in is worth trusting. He is good. And He cares about your dreams . She wouldn’t need a preview of the future. She wouldn’t need to know what was coming. She would just need to

Elizabeth Zion

Mar 92 min read

What Do You Have That You Haven’t Received?

I’ve been thinking about humility lately. Not the fake kind - you know, the 'aw shucks, I’m nothing special' thing people do when they’re actually fishing for compliments. Not the self-deprecating jokes that are really just insecurity dressed up. Not the deflection thing where you can’t acknowledge anything good about yourself. Real humility. The kind that actually changes how you see yourself and everything you have. It started with a question I couldn’t shake: What do I hav

Elizabeth Zion

Feb 196 min read

The Year I Learned to Keep Building

Closing the year with this month’s edition of Exemplify with Elizabeth Zion. If you’re new here, this newsletter is where I explore faith, calling, sustainability, and what it means to build work - and a life - that matters. It’s honest, it’s messy, and it’s always rooted in the question: what does it look like to actually live what we say we believe? This month, I’m reflecting on what 2025 taught me about keeping building when voices say stop - and what happens when you let

Elizabeth Zion

Dec 31, 20257 min read

What It Means to Be a Liberator in Your Field

Hello everyone! Welcome to the November edition of Exemplify with Elizabeth Zion. In this post-graduation season, most people are settling into their full-time jobs or currently job hunting. This month, I want you to consider that there is a greater meaning to the work you do. It's a double-edged sword, the fact that we live in a society obsessed with speed. Launch faster. Scale quicker. Build now. And if you're not visibly achieving, you're falling behind. If no one can see

Elizabeth Zion

Nov 4, 20254 min read

Why I Built My Thesis on Gratitude (And Why Environmental Education Needs It)

Last month, I completed my MSc in Sustainable Development. My thesis explored something unconventional: gratitude as a foundation for environmental education. I know how that sounds. In the middle of environmental crisis, gratitude feels almost... naive. But hear me out. The Problem with Doom and Gloom Environmental education has increasingly relied on fear-based messaging. We show students melting ice caps, displaced communities, extinct species. We hand them a burning plane

Elizabeth Zion

Oct 8, 20255 min read

The Boy Who Called Me Beautiful

Welcome to the September edition of Exemplify with Elizabeth Zion! I'm so glad you stopped by to read this month's reflections. As some of you know, I’ve been on a journey I’ve dreamed about for years. Today I write from my little hotel room in Osaka, Japan, having already passed through Germany, France, the Netherlands, and even a short stop in Beijing PKX, where I heard worship music floating through the airport speakers. Unbelievable!!! In Seoul, I visited two churches: an

Elizabeth Zion

Sep 1, 20254 min read

When You Reach a Goal You Once Only Dreamed About

Welcome to the July edition of Exemplify with Elizabeth Zion And this one means a lot to me, because I’m posting it on my birthday. Birthdays are often a time of celebration. For me, it's also a time of deep reflection. Today, I’m not just thinking about where I am. I’m remembering what God has done in my life so far. The state examinations in Ireland just came to an end a few weeks ago. And my heart can’t help but go back. In 2018, I sat my Junior Cert. I was 14 years old, a

Elizabeth Zion

Jul 15, 20252 min read

You're Not Too Young

Dear friend, There’s a voice I've heard for as long as I can remember. It says things like: “You’re too young. Too soft. Too late. Too much.” It’s the same voice that told David to go back to the sheep. Told Jeremiah not to speak. Told Timothy to wait until he was older. And it’s the same voice that told me to stay small. I believed it for years, that purpose came with age, that wisdom needed grey hair, and that authority belonged to people who were more “put together.” I tho

Elizabeth Zion

Jun 2, 20253 min read

Called to Many Things? This Is for You.

Welcome to this month's edition of Exemplify with Elizabeth Zion! I'm so glad you're here. This month's piece is about being multi-faceted or as some people like to call it multi-passionate. Whether you’re multi-passionate or still discovering what you’re called to do, I hope this encourages you to embrace the fullness of who you are called to be. I only recently discovered this term, but it has really helped me make sense of all the different passions and desires I have. I f

Elizabeth Zion

Mar 31, 20254 min read

The Paradox of Servanthood

Hi everyone, It’s been a while. Thank you for sticking around. I lost my motivation to post newsletters, but I kept thinking about a number of topics. In this month’s newsletter, I want to draw your attention to something that may feel counterintuitive: servanthood . Weird, right? Servanthood is not exactly a buzzword in today’s world but I found myself thinking about this word a lot considering the fact that everything we see on LinkedIn, on social media, in books and self-h

Elizabeth Zion

Feb 27, 20252 min read

What happens when a GEN Z chooses to walk away from social media?

This month, I want to share something close to my heart: social media and the freedom I found in stepping away from it. This comes as Australia recently announced a ban on social media for children under 16. When I was 16, I made a life-changing decision, I permanently deleted all my social media accounts. It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t something I’d planned, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Little did I know, this step would lead me

Elizabeth Zion

Nov 30, 20243 min read

Beyond the Cap and Gown: Finding Fulfillment After Graduation

Graduation season is a joyous time and a momentous occasion, celebrating the culmination of many years of hard work. It is deeply special and fulfilling to finally wear that cap and gown, to see your name written on a scroll in an exclusive, almost regal font, and to be acknowledged for every sleepless night, ounce of stress, and all the effort poured into our education. I experienced this for the first time this year, and I loved it. I was pleasantly surprised at how meaning

Elizabeth Zion

Oct 29, 20244 min read

Publications & Articles

TV Shows & Videos

Podcasts & More

Blog Posts

What I Would Tell Her

What Do You Have That You Haven’t Received?

The Year I Learned to Keep Building

What It Means to Be a Liberator in Your Field

Why I Built My Thesis on Gratitude (And Why Environmental Education Needs It)

The Boy Who Called Me Beautiful

When You Reach a Goal You Once Only Dreamed About

You're Not Too Young

Called to Many Things? This Is for You.

The Paradox of Servanthood

What happens when a GEN Z chooses to walk away from social media?

Beyond the Cap and Gown: Finding Fulfillment After Graduation