The Real Reason Leaders Are Burning Out (It's Not What You Think)

In this episode of Building Leadership Community, Coach Dora Mendez sits down with Jonathan Meagher-Zayas, founder of Equity Warrior Strategies, LLC, to explore what it truly means to lead with purpose in today’s complex systems.

Jonathan shares his journey from nonprofit fundraising to systems-level leadership, including raising over $14 million, coaching nonprofit leaders, and building capacity across organizations. Together, they unpack the difference between burnout and what Jonathan calls “moral injury”—a systemic failure that impacts high-performing professionals.

This conversation centers on inclusive leadership, community, and the role of self-awareness in sustainable career growth. It offers practical insights for leaders who want to move beyond intention and create meaningful change within their organizations.

Key Themes:

• Inclusive leadership in practice
• Moral injury vs. burnout
• Community-centered leadership
• Systems thinking in nonprofit leadership
• Self-awareness as a leadership skill

🔹 Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome + Guest Introduction
01:10 – Meet Jonathan Meagher-Zayas
07:38 – Leadership Story & Early Influences
10:03 – Nonprofit Leadership & Systems Thinking
13:44 – Transition to Community Foundation Work
16:27 – Leadership During 2020 & Equity Work
18:42 – Origin of “Equity Warrior”
22:54 – Why Community Matters in Leadership
23:54 – Burnout vs. Moral Injury
27:24 – Advice for Emerging Leaders
30:16 – How to Connect with Jonathan

Guest Links:
🔗 Connect with Jonathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmeagherzayas
🌐 Guest Website: https://EquityWarriorStrategies.com

CTA:
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back, amazing leaders, to season three of the Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Coach Dora Mendez, and today's episode is truly special. We are honored to welcome a leader who embodies what it means to be an equity warrior in every sense of the word, someone who shows up authentically, unapologetically, and with a fierce commitment to building capacity, advancing justice, and empowering the next generation of change makers. Our guest today is a queer Latinx millennial who is redefining nonprofit leadership as a strategist, educator, fundraiser, coach, and champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. He raised over 14 million for causes that matter. He's coached hundreds of nonprofit board leaders. He's trained leaders around the globe. And he's doing all of this while pursuing his doctorate and living his values every single day. What does he not do? You are all gonna fall in love with him as much as I have. Today we welcome Jonathan Mahar Syaz, founder and chief strategist of Equity Warrior Strategists LLC. By the end of this conversation, you will walk away with actionable strategies to build capacity in your organization, a deeper understanding of what inclusive leadership truly looks like, and a powerful reminder that equity work isn't just a buzzword. It's a daily practice, a commitment, and a calling, something that we know about here at the Building Leadership Community podcast. This episode is your invitation to lead with courage, authenticity, and impact. So let's settle in. Let's take a breath and get ready. Hello and welcome to buildingleadershipcommunity. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. I'm the founder and CEO of Coach Door LLC. Our guests will be much for more, small business owners, and community leaders that drive social impact. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be. It means so much that you join us week after week for these conversations. You are back with us for season three. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be. That's why we started this podcast. If you are new to the Building Leadership Community podcast, we are so glad that you are here. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Say hi in the comments. And if you're watching us on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button at the bottom of your screen so we can continue to give you great content. We have some great resources to share with you today. If you are thinking of starting your own podcast, check out our mini course, The Entrepreneurs Podcast Blueprint. I've partnered with my husband and co-producer Dylan Rogers to create five easy to follow video modules, along with a workbook that you can download and follow along at your own pace. And you get a very handy AI prompt sheet that will make getting your episode out there into the world a breeze. The link is in the description. Also, this video includes affiliate links. If you purchase through them, it helps us keep bringing you amazing, inspiring content as well. We are continuing this season with powerful conversations, and today is no exception. Let me tell you about our guests. Jonathan is the founder and chief of strategists of Equity Warrior Strategies LLC, a queer Latinx millennial nonprofit leadership strategist dedicated to addressing equity issues, building capacity, engaging communities, and motivating leaders to get stuff done. With over 14 years of professional nonprofit experience, Jonathan has worked across fundraising, communications, volunteer management, program management, leadership development. I can go on and on and on. But one of his biggest achievements is raising over $14 million through major gifts, corporate relations, events, foundations, philanthropy, government grants, an annual giving, just the whole gambit of supporting organizations. Jonathan is also an experienced community engagement and communication strategist. Having led social media campaigns, he has coached and supported hundreds of nonprofit board leaders. But Jonathan doesn't just do this work, he studies it too. He holds a master's in social work with a degree in a macro concentration and a master's in public administration, which is also my degree, MPA, with a concentration in nonprofit management from the University of Albany SUNY. He earned his bachelor's degree in religion, linguistics, and gender studies from the University of Rochester. He is a certified fundraising executive, a certified diversity professional, a certified TEAM team communication styles facilitator, and holds a board source certificate of nonprofit board consultant. I could go on and on and on about Jonathan's brilliance. He's a global educator who has trained hundreds of nonprofit leaders. But why don't I stop talking and let Jonathan pour into you today and let's bring him onto the stage?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Hi, Jonathan. Hi, Dora. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I'm glad. Can you pronounce your name for our listeners and our viewers? Of course, yes. A proud last name. Uh my name is Jonathan Mahar Sayez. So uh my husband and I combined our names when we got married, so we intentionally build on that. But I uh I know it doesn't look easy to pronounce, which is okay. But yeah, it's Mahar Sayas.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

I love that. And then this the Sayaz part is Puerto Rican, am I correct?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Yep, yeah. So um yeah, Mahar is my husband's Irish Gaelic ancestors, and then Sayas is my mom's Puerto Rican side, which we took to honor her and my grandpa, which are so key to my leadership story.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

So wonderful, because that's a great segue because you know my um my paternal side is Puerto Rican, the Mendez is Puerto Rican, and that's something that we share. We should we have so much in common. We're we both uh are champions of DEI, we're both educators, um, we both have masters in public administrations, we both have our LLCs, we we just have so much in common, and and uh but your lens is very unique. Um, and so that's part of the reason why I wanted to have you on our show. This season, season three, we've had the most diverse um group of leaders. And I I think you're gonna bring so much value to our listeners and viewers. And I I want to start there, exactly there, which is tell us uh about your unique leadership story.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, oh I'm so excited to connect, Dora, because I know we have so much in common and it helps make the connection and community building even stronger. So um, so uh kind of quickly to begin, like I I mentioned my um mother and my grandfather, and they kind of kick off and start, I would say, my leadership journey because my mother and my two grandparents, her parents were so key and influential to inspire me throughout my career. So um uh my grandparents originally from Puerto Rico. They came to upstate New York, where I grew up in Syracuse, New York, and started their own churches. Um, my grandpa founded the first Hispanic Pentecostal church in Syracuse and just had a passion and dedication to serving the community. Um, and then my mother is an experienced educator in the Syracuse Public School District, doing dual language education and always went above and beyond in recognizing the systemic barriers that her students face. So um I start with them because they really have guided and inspired me throughout many moments of my career and like why I'm still so connected and doing this work. So um, but I started uh really a passion. I think when you go off to college, you figure trying to figure out what you want to do, and I always knew I wanted to make a difference. I didn't know exactly what it was, I didn't. Um, I actually was that overachieving student where I did, I think, six internships during my undergareer at college. Like wow, I just had to try it all and stuff like that too, which is great because I did one with New York State and I was like, state work is not for me. My husband works for the state, but not for me. Um, and you learn and explore. So um it's in there that I fell in love with nonprofit work. I my first internship was with an LGBT community organizing organization. We were organizing around transgender equity um in 2011, I want to say, like, you know, and kind of advocating for efforts there. Um, and then I fell into fundraising and got connected with the community um to translate some of the skills. So that was all an undergrad that just found this passion for nonprofit work and this opportunity to blend the like accountability of the public sector with the creativity of the private sector um to address our community's most pressing problem. So um, so the overachiever in me was like, oh, I'm ready for this. I'm passionate, I want it, I'm gonna go to grad school and not just get one master's, but two. So that's what led me to SUNY Albany, um, where I got my master of social work and master of public administration. And it was a great opportunity to just take all the great learnings from social work of the social equity lens, the assessments, uh, direct rapport and communication skills with the public administration lens of just accountability, financial management, leadership governance, uh, and combine them. And then I started working in the sector. So um in a transitioned easily, um, I had worked always in the sector, various roles. Uh, I started off primarily as a fundraiser, but when you're a fundraiser, you need to help out uh many uh other aspects of nonprofit work. Like I can't just raise programs for an organization that struggles with staff retention, or the programs aren't up to par, you know. So I always found myself always trying to elevate the resources for the organization and then also helping out kind of elevate, you know, the staff engagement, the program management, the excitement from there, the board engagement. So I was always tapped into many opportunities, and um it did get to a point where I was a little like burnt out, you know, frankly, just because I think we get to a point when we're like working so much and we realize that. Um, and then I actually transitioned to work for a local community foundation. Uh, so I got to be on the funder side, um, which was a credible opportunity. They designed a role.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

So I want to just um slow you down for a bit for our listeners and viewers because um not everyone um understands what you mean by the sector. So there's the private sector, excuse me. Yeah, which is the private sector company, right? Which is making corporations and traditional, like you know, products and corporation, and then there's the public sector, which is government and nonprofits. And yeah, and then what I always tell my students is that nonprofits uh don't doesn't mean no money, because you talk about this $14 million. It doesn't mean no money, it's just how the money is used. So it's not used to like give shareholders profits, right? It's used to do something that benefits the community in some way. So that's what I I just wanted for our listeners and viewers. I just want because we know this language, is this, you know, but I realize it's jargony for for some of our listeners and viewers. This might be a little jargony, but when when you say the public sector and nonprofit in particular, we're not saying no money. These are businesses. Oh, of course, yeah. Right that have operations, right? So when you're talking about staffing and HR and retention, right? These are businesses, but the purpose uh and the mission of these businesses is service. So it's so it's a different model of business. But they these are businesses, it doesn't mean nonprofit doesn't mean no money, it's just how the money is used. So I didn't mean to cut you off. I just wanted to put that little asterisk there so that our listeners and view, I want to make sure everyone's really following along with you. Um, and so now you're we're in your journey where you're now at a community uh foundation. And so instead of fundraising to help serve the community, now you are a funder, giving money to community. So that's what we mean by community foundation. So I think that's where we left off.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Yeah, no, thanks for the clarification. And I apologize. I, you know, you get so excited and you're like, yeah, of course, I know this, you know, and building on that. So um, yeah, I appreciate that. So um and I I mentioned this key point because it was so key for my career. Um, so I, you know, transitioned to working for a community foundation, which is essentially like uh a foundation gives out money and gives out grants to nonprofits, a community foundation, a specific type of foundation where we pull funds from many people together, and then people can give out and grant in their own way or support. So instead of starting your own foundation, you can partner with a community foundation to help uh give out funds. Um, and it was there that I realized specifically for me is this passion for um being really uh intentional and helpful for nonprofits, but not doing the direct work myself. Like I loved, I love being like the macro social worker in me who loves the thinking a little bit above the systems, uh being a little bit higher from that. So I my you know mission from turning from serving the rec community is like I my community I serve is the people who are serving the community too. So that's kind of was a key pivotal moment for me to recognize my passion, excitement, and kind of setting myself up for you know working what I do now, um, which is a key reflection for me in that point. And I had worked at this community foundation during the beginning of 2020, which we know was the start of the uh pandemic. And it was a really pivotal moment for me to just recognize the power and opportunity that some of these organizations had of convening resources really quickly, granting out funds, listening to government leaders who um frankly didn't have the capacity or strategy yet to know how to implement stuff too, but knowing that people were not working, they had food needs, healthcare needs, recognizing that um, and a key moment because you know, the start of the 2020, the pandemic turned into our uh age of civil unrest and the the racial reckoning in our country when many people realized the systemic racial oppression that existed in our country and around the world. So, and it was like a pivotal moment for um you know us as a sector impact to kind of think about the community, how we were stepping up and serving the community. And being uh the only, I was the youngest person on staff, I was the only queer person, I was the only person who had any ancestry outside of Europe. So I it it fell to me, and this kind of passion uh allowed me to create a lot of opportunities and resources for folks along the sector. So, you know, um during this time I created leadership programs for emerging uh professionals who wanted to work in the space. We created a leadership program for people who wanted to serve on boards with the intentionality of helping diversify uh nonprofit boards and kind of overseeing that. Um, these training programs for executives, and uh even so, like this we call it a roadmap, essentially like this intense guide on how boards can help diversify their staff and um and their organization.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

So speaking of that, because that for me that that touches a nerve because uh, you know, I'm I spent most of my career in human resources and people and culture. And so I'd love to hear kind of like I feel like all the work that you've done, all the education you've done, and then pivotal moment in our history, milestone moment in 2020. I'd love to hear like the genesis of this equity, this equity warrior. Oh, I would love to, yeah, yes, I'd love to hear like I love just like the term itself. And um because you know, when I hear when I hear warrior, I think of someone who's very aggressive, but you're you're so pleasant to be around. It's clear that you're also a collaborator just based on your uh just your style and also your work history, like you and and doing things in community. So when I hear warrior, I think of someone who's like aggressive and tough, but I don't get that from you. I guess like a champion. So I'm I love I love I I mean there's obviously a reason why the the word warrior is there, right? Yeah, so I'd love to kind of hear the genesis of like how why, and this is what you wanted us to put in your tagline, right? Like that is the thing that you wanted. So I'd love to hear what's the origin story of the equity warrior?

SPEAKER_00 18:42

You know, I it it's right timing too, because like that point in my career realized I had the skills and opportunities to help advance organizations in this work, but I didn't professionally have the title of a director of DEI or DI specialist, or you you know, like I it was always add-on and so integral and so some of my both uh you know professional roles and volunteer roles. And I remember, you know, especially in the time of 2020 when people are like, I'm an ally, I'm trying to like advocate and champion. And I just for me wanting to distinguish my own sense of uh why, what what was I intentionally trying to do, and also like uh set myself up so that like you know, there's a difference for someone sharing social media posts about social, you know, uh social justice, and me who's ready to go in the organization and say, let's do an assessment on where oppression and ideologies influence all aspects of your organization and step that up. So I was trying to figure out what that looks like. And also for me, realizing um that this is an ongoing process, and what we're really trying to address and kind of dismantle are these oppressive types of ideologies that have influenced how we speak, how we talk, how we act, expect certain people to act, how we organize our resources, how we vote. So I always thought like that was a key, you know, um issue that I was having too, as well, um in recognizing. So um I think I don't know exactly the origin of like who first called me a warrior, but I brought it like it came up and I just casually embraced it. Like I was like, equity warrior, great, like love it too. I also love, you know, it was for me during this time where I was like kind of reckoning with uh where my family's come from and my ancestry and recognizing that too as well. And recognizing warrior means so significant terminology for our indigenous ancestors and how they embrace and show the community too as well, and recognizing that a lot of our indigenous ancestors use the term warrior not as an aggressive type of you know approach, but a more of like how are we centering what's important to the community? How are we showing up? How are we using our skills to kind of contribute to the collective good? Um, so that was kind of my terminology and thinking that I also for that see it when I when I hear how you break it down.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

I see the term warrior as someone who is taking action. Because you mentioned like it isn't like someone just hashtag BLM. You're actually the person who is in the organization, not only just like planning and strategizing, but figuring out how to execute.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

How to exit how to execute and teaching people and training people how to execute what's on the paper in real life to break down these systems. So uh, you know, when I think of you as a warrior, I I think of you as someone who takes the action, who knows how to take the action, actually. knows how to build systems and teach people how to take the action necessary to make the change that's necessary. And so that being said, um I love this idea because you know I think about uh you know like my paternal uh my uh the my paternal maiden name is uh mehia which is Spanish for like magi king right yeah um or royal like royalty so I I just love the whole analysis to sort of like the roots and the ancestry yeah um so let's let's talk a little bit let's switch gears a little bit and talk about how why community is so important to you you know leadership can be lonely it can be lonely and isolating and um so here's your like opportunity to share what community means to you and maybe share a little bit of unwellness tips I heard you earlier talk about like burnout in your past yeah so I'd love to hear like why community is important to you and um yeah I'll I'll leave it to you.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

No oh that's great. Yeah um I, you know I you see the most supportive communities are spaces where I'm allowed to be my authentic self and show up and bring in and able to help others kind of do the same as well. So that's how I always define like what a strong community is for me is the opportunity for that authenticity and allowing others to breathe their authenticity you know self too because that is so key for avoiding things like burnout moral injury in other areas where you're not getting the support needed to continue you know some of the important work for that.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

So can you define what do you mean by moral injury?

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Yeah it's a term that actually came from the medical field. I don't love the term burnout. I use it because it's the people can easily understand like oh you're getting tired of a system and doing that. But we we know that the best people ever go into these roles and opportunities and they could be the most talented people and end up burning out not because they can't handle it. It's because they're experiencing what some folks have had of moral injury of like they're doing so good a work they're self-sacrificing the system and the system is taking advantage of them and not supporting them instead of actually letting them thrive and grow and kind of build on that.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

So um I I I like to shift that terminology I see that because it's so it's a reframe yeah okay because when you say burnout it's really on like the person but when you say moral injury it's like the system has failed this person. Yeah and and yeah I oh I I love this reframe I love it this moral injury I just think that's so that's fascinating thank you for sharing that where it's the burnout is is is really centered on like the person and where this moral injury is uh on the system that has failed the person.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yeah agreed um because we need to focus on what that is too I like one of my favorite colleagues mentioned the term grace um like giving grace and what does that mean and it's usually going soft on the person but hard on the problem. So you know why are we shaming people who are overworked underpaid and dealing with so many systemic barriers instead of saying hey can we just make this easier because I want my nurses, my teachers, my social workers, my frontline staff to be the best possibly ever because they're doing the most important jobs ever, you know, recognizing that. So um and what does that look like from a systemic level you know especially as we're seeing now is the rollbacks on healthcare the the the lack of investment in some of these areas too is just like systemic issues that are impacting you know um so essential folks in our communities but also impacting underrepresented and under-resource groups to begin with because most of these folks in these roles come from you know communities of color, LGBTQ communities, women you know these roles are already you know systemically undervalued. So um and that's why I think so important for these communities to really show up and add community because um I really think like we're really going to navigate this together by collectively supporting each other and coming together. Like that's how I see the most sense of how we're navigating issues and tough topics from that point.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

So that's what community means to you bringing bringing your authentic self in in community with others to solve to be able to navigate and solve problems. Yeah and um you know Jonathan I could talk to you forever and it it's clear you have so much to say and so much experience. I would love for you to to share um you know what advice do you have for the next generation of leaders? You want to would you what would you tell your younger self when you first started out early in in your career yeah um it's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

I would always say too is um strengthen your self awareness skills like the more that you understand who you are what your strengths are and how you like to show up and what you need community the better it is can the easier it is is going to advocate for what that community and your career need. So like we don't have to be good at everything we are inherently all having different roles and opportunities and the more that you better understand what type of strengths you have, what that role is, the better you can then fit into how you can show up and support others in that way. So really key you know I would say number one develop your critical self-reflection and awareness skills.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

I love that self-reflection and self-awareness I I I love that so much.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

I think that's great advice and I don't think anyone has given that yet um to to our audience in the rear I mean I there's so many ways that you can develop it like depending on like if you're an internal or external processor. So I'm an external process as you can say I could talk forever. So I have my groups of friends I have my therapists my husband when he's forced to listen to me like all these people that need to let me process all my thoughts and stuff like that to have it figure it out. So but you might be a better journaler or like you need to go outside and walk and meditate. But the key part too just because I think you know as we're seeing so many people lack this critical self-reflection they don't know how they're showing up in spaces like you know like a lot of uh toxic behaviors in the workplace like micromanaging or uh defensiveness uh or fear frankly is showing up because people aren't taking the time to crudely aware and be like not just like what am I thinking but why do I think this and how is this influencing how I interact with people or how I want to show up or what I'm trying to achieve so that I can be the best person you know I possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

So I I love that. So you're tying the self-reflection to leadership because if you don't understand yourself and understand how you are showing up in spaces uh it's hard to lead yeah to ask and ask others to follow. Sure. Um so I I just I I love that notion.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

So how can people how how would you like our audience our listeners and our views viewers to um learn more about you keep in touch with you um yeah I'm gonna give you some space here to share what you would like um with our listeners and viewers yeah um I would say uh love to always connect uh feel free to find me on LinkedIn that's probably the platform I'm the most active on I know that uh I follow uh that's how Dora and I first got connected so feel free always follow me on LinkedIn intentional resource sharing posting on there too as well um I've done a lot of intentional work on my website so feel free to check that out not just as information on my business and my services but um resources like other types of content there well we're gonna put these all in the description but I would love for you to say the website name for our listeners. It is equity warrior strategies.com so uh you can uh easily find it that way um I think I've done a good job of doing the SEO where Equity Warrior comes up and it's me so untried you know so but definitely check out connect on LinkedIn do website I have some exciting stuff coming up in 2026 that's not ready to announce yet so um always feel free to connect and you know then you can see what those will be in terms of resources training content live engagement so um that's probably the best way and I'm always open to conversations like this where I get to connect and build community with more folks as well.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Jonathan thank you so much for being here I know that our listeners and viewers are going to get so much value out of your story. You have such a unique story you you you are so accomplished and so on so many levels. I love this my big takeaway is this notion of moral injury I think that's that's a new concept for us here and I just love that. And so I want I can't thank you enough. I want to ask all our listeners to viewers to make sure they like share and subscribe if what we've discussed today resonates with you. And if you're watching on YouTube don't forget to hit that subscribe button hit that button the um and uh I just I can't wait um uh for folks to hear what you have to say and hold on for for a minute as we roll our closing credits you've been listening to building leadership community watch on YouTube at Coachdoor and listen wherever you get your podcast follow me on LinkedIn Instagram and YouTube at Coachdoor and visit me on the web at coachdooramendez.com hosted by me at produced by DoraMendez and Dylan Rogers graphics editing and soundboarding by Dylan Rogers