Yolanda Collazos Kizer

Yolanda Collazos Kizer has achieved success as a small businesswoman, community leader and family member. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ms. Kizer adopted Phoenix as her home after attending Arizona State University. She has a BA from ASU in Social Welfare and Education and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.

Ms. Kizer entered the world of small business following an bilingual elementary school teaching career and several years as a banker. She took the plunge into small business ownership by opening Builders' Book Depot in 1986.Builders’ Book Depot quickly occupied a market niche as a retail mail order and Internet book dealership, specializing in the distribution of books and publications for the construction, architectural, interior design and engineering professions.

With a solid foundation in the retail world, in 1990 Ms. Kizer took her entrepreneurial ambitions to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, where she successfully partnered with HMSHost and won a multi-year contract for the operation of three newsstands in Terminal 4.

In 1998, Ms. Kizer was able to secure a contract with the City of Phoenix Aviation Department for the operation of Curious Creatures, a children's gift and apparel specialty shop, wholly owned by CASA Fenix Merchandising. That year CASA Fenix successfully partnered with HMSHost to own and operate eight newsstands and specially gift stores in Terminals 3 & 4. In 2000, CASA Fenix partnered with News & Gifts Shops International of San Antonio, Texas, to win a contract for operation of a large gift store in Terminal 2 named Arizona Passages.

Ms. Kizer was awarded the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the year 2000. The award annually recognizes the small business owner in the Hispanic business community who has not only been successful in the business world, but who has contributed to the community on a broader scale. The award recognizes her influence as a role model among women small business owners and in the Hispanic community.

Other recognitions and awards include:

Ms. Kizer never speaks of her business success without mentioning the community leadership involvement and personal achievements she has realized. Her ability to bring family members into her various business ventures without sacrificing close relationships with all attests to her efforts in this area. Her extended family remains close-knit and a vital presence in her life.

Mentoring Women. Female family members that Ms. Kizer has involved in her various enterprises and mentored include her sister, mother, sister-in-law and daughter. With each, Ms. Kizer has generously shared not only the workplace opportunities afforded by her success, but the opportunity for learning and advancing.

In addition, in all of her businesses Ms. Kizer has made it a point to include women who might be otherwise disenfranchised because "special circumstances" make employing them more challenging. Ms. Kizer has been willing to recognize that employees come from personal circumstances that are not always compatible with the traditional workplace and has striven to create a work world that accommodates motherhood, lack of formal education, lack of transportation and the challenges of domestic violence. In addition to ensuring that her employees receive skill training to enhance their work abilities, she insists that employees also attend seminars or classes in skills that also enhance and support their personal lives.

Ms. Kizer has also used her experience, expertise and position to mentor other women in the work world. She has been an active guest speaker in small business training classes offered by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, including their Spanish language course Su Plan de NEGOCIO.

Ms. Kizer was a founding member of MUJER, Inc. in the early eighties. She is a regular and popular presenter, as well as financial sponsor, at Arizona’s Annual Hispanic Women's Conference. In 1992, Ms. Kizer was a fellow of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, a national program which selects 25 women each year to participate in a four week leadership program for Hispanas. The program includes training at Harvard J.F. Kennedy School of Government and at the nationally recognized Center for Creative Leadership.

As a former President and Board member of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, she initiated several significant agency programs directed at facilitating the success of other entrepreneurs.

Service to the Community. Ms. Kizer takes very seriously a commitment to give back to the community. Currently she is treasurer of the City of Phoenix Sister Cities Commission and was appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano to serve on the 21 member Arizona Citizens Finance Review Commission She has previously served on the Arizona Governor’s Commission of Diversity, the City of Phoenix Commission on the Economy, Wells Fargo Bank Community Advisory Board, Los Diablos (ASU Hispanic Alumni Association) Board of Directors and the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum and State Fair Board of Directors. She has also been a member of the Arizona State University’s President’s Advisory Group on Enhancing Diversity and has served as a loaned executive to the Valley of the Sun United Way.

Ms. Kizer's professional affiliations are also extensive and include long time membership in the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, National Hispana Leadership Institute Alumni Association, Arizona Women’s Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Minority Owned Airport Concessions and the American Booksellers Association.