Our Mission
To help organizations, leaders and individuals thrive during periods of growth and change.
Our Values
Help First – We lead with service.
Curiosity – We stay open-minded and seek to learn and grow.
Inspiration – We spark possibility, action, and joy in the process.
20+ years
Experience in Human Resources and Operations
CPHR designation
Issued July 2011
Credential ID 27570
Former COO and CEO
Executive experience verified by the International Association of Fractional professionals.
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Meet Zakeana Reid
Fractional COO & CHRO, CPHR
Zakeana Reid is part strategist, part organizational firefighter—equally at home in the boardroom and on the frontlines of people leadership. With over 20 years in human resources, leadership, and organizational strategy, she has guided teams and executives through rebrands, restructures, and the complex dynamics that don’t appear in policy manuals.
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As a Certified Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) and former Chief Operating Officer, Zakeana knows firsthand the weight of high-stakes decisions—and the isolation that often accompanies them. She’s led individual contributors and senior leaders alike, always with the belief that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating the space for others to find their own.
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Through Elios Collective, Zakeana brings her unique blend of operational expertise, leadership insight, and systems thinking to help organizations turn reflection into action. She partners with leaders to move through defining moments with clarity and confidence, grounding every engagement in practical experience and evidence-informed practices.
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“I don’t offer easy answers,” she says. “I offer a trusted space to wrestle with the hard questions—the ones that drive clarity, courage, and lasting impact.”
My Story
Elios Collective started with a question: How can I use what I’ve learned to help organizations not just survive change, but thrive through it?
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That seed was planted after I read research on Alberta’s nonprofit sector. I was struck by how many organizations there are, how essential they are to the economy, and how often they struggle to scale beyond the start-up phase. My background in HR and organizational leadership — helping businesses grow and, at times, downsize — showed me that the same skills I had honed in HR and Operations could help this sector flourish.
Along the way, I also discovered the lens of systems thinking — the idea that what we see on the surface is often just the tip of the iceberg, driven by deeper patterns and structures. That resonated with me because so much of my work in HR and leadership was about more than policies or processes; it was about the hidden dynamics that shape how people and organizations really function. Systems thinking gave me language for what I’d already been doing instinctively: looking beyond quick fixes to see that for lasting change, mental models need to shift.
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After the buyout of my previous organization and my departure from the new leadership team, I gave myself space to reflect. Through High Performance Coaching, I wrote out what I wanted in my next role. I could have stepped into another senior HR or Operations position — roles I knew I could do well. But nothing I saw sparked excitement or offered the chance to stretch and grow. So I decided that if the role I wanted didn’t exist, I needed to build it.
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Elios Collective is that creation. It’s my way of amplifying impact. Working inside one organization, I could make a difference. But by partnering with many small businesses and nonprofits, I believe we can collectively create a much larger ripple of positive change — strengthening communities, fueling Canada’s economic engine, and proving that change and transition are not barriers, but invitations to something greater.