Elizabeth Russell

Elizabeth Russell

By Jane Shuput

“Community Building is Consensus Building”

Elizabeth Russell is an unusual businesswoman. She combines finely tuned empathy and grace with deep seated strength and ability. Imagine a calm woman who has an immediately pacifying affect on her company, yet maintains a packed schedule and is responsible for a tremendous deal of growth within the Asheville community — this is Elizabeth Russell.



Russell
currently serves as Executive Director of Eagle Market Street
Development Corporation, a group that works to build community through
a variety of programs. Their most noted endeavor is the revitalization
and preservation of South Pack Square or the Block, an important area
both for architectural and social history. Beyond economic
redevelopment, EMSDC also runs social service programs such as You
Stand, connects the community with the Block Gazette, and is investing
in the construction of modular housing for low-income families in the
Asheville area.


Russell joined the group in 1998 after relocating to Asheville from Fort Lauderdale. “I initially started part-time.


I was hoping to
make a transition into retirement,” she said. Ten years later, Russell
is working full time as the Executive Director and wakes up each
morning to teach health and fitness classes at the YMCA to heart
transplant patients in the Second Chance program.


“I never could justify not doing that.


I mean, it just
seems like such a good thing; it wasn’t bothering anyone else’s
schedule… I don’t need to go to Eagle Market St. at 6:30 in the
morning. So from 6:30-8, I can do that class. And then I started
substituting for somebody at the Women’s Resource Center… I really like
it. I enjoy the people a lot.”


Russell’s
personal career path speaks well for her varied abilities. She studied
Art History and Pre-Medicine at Rutgers University and then received
here MFA from Columbia University in Medieval Architectural History.
She continued on to complete a long and fulfilling career within the
Public Service sector in Florida, beginning with work for the
Historical Commission, adjusting to Parks and Recreation, and finishing
in Family Development and Resources.


Her collective
skills and experience came together beautifully when she joined Eagle
Market Street. “I’ve spent a lot of time watching the community grow
and come back to life… I think it’s a very exciting time,” she said.


Russell works
hard to implement strong programs and aid the vision of the community —
all while maintaining perspective on human nature.


“People come
when they’re ready to come. They don’t come necessarily when you think
they should come. So sometimes it takes a long time to get the
response,” she says, “but it brings such joy and celebration when they
do.”


“If I spent
every day of the remainder of my life working to help people heal from
what’s already transpired, I wouldn’t have enough time. You can call it
building assets, you can call it eliminating blight, you can call it
economic development — you can put any name on it you want, but it’s
about healing and bringing people back to a point where they don’t feel
like something’s wrong…. We have a lot of work to do and if I have to
spend the rest of my life doing it, I’d feel very fortunate.”