Alisa Cozzens spent much of her teenage and young adult years living in South Africa before earning a degree in communications at Brigham Young University. Alisa pursued a career in public relations and journalism while living and working in Salt Lake City, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington DC. She also has professional experience in purchasing, marketing, sales, and business start-ups. During the past 17 years, Alisa has pursued a career in Aviation Customer Experience and Management.
As a result of her years living in South Africa, and her extensive travels as an aviation professional, Alisa developed a deep desire to assist the many people she has met who work hard, striving to sustain themselves with little access to the resources they need. For most of her adult life, she has collaborated with family and friends to provide service and assistance to struggling communities at home and abroad. Almost 20 years ago, her family’s efforts resulted in the formalization of Serve a Village as a non-profit 501c3 entity, for which Alisa has served in various positions, including Executive Director. The mission of Serve a Village is to support sustainable projects that help to improve the health, education, welfare, and environment of needy communities throughout the world. Current efforts range from providing building materials to ravaged Ukrainian communities, to building wells in Kenyan villages, and bringing volunteers to offer community support in South Africa, Nicaragua and Jamaica. See www.serveavillage.org.
In addition to serving on the board of Serve a Village and BYU's Civic Engagement Advisory Board, Alisa and her husband Greg directed Gifts of the Heart for five years, a large semi-annual clothing and household goods swap that was held as a charity event in Northern Virginia. She is also very engaged in teaching English, swimming, tennis and gymnastics to her 22 grandchildren, most of whom are homeschooled, and providing encouragement and moral support to her four children and their spouses who are raising them!