Olympian Zara Northover on Workplace Retaliation, Pro Se Litigation and Building a “Legal GPS” App

Host Barbara Zabawa welcomes Zara Northover—2008 Jamaican Olympic shot putter, entrepreneur, and advocate—who recounts her rise in the mortgage industry and how, amid COVID and post–George Floyd DEI tensions, her efforts to surface inequities and hiring concerns led to warnings from leadership and a racist “gorilla” birthday card allegedly sent by the former CEO and COO. Northover describes panic attacks, leave, HR pitfalls, difficulty finding the right counsel, rejecting a pressured settlement, and representing herself pro se since 2023, including a pending U.S. Supreme Court petition about whether “new harm” should be barred for failure to merge a first lawsuit lacking EEOC prerequisites. She also has a surviving federal wrongful-termination case. Northover shares her TEDx talk, book The Cost of Justice, and plans for a subscription-based “legal GPS” app to match users with attorneys and guide pro se deadlines and steps, plus her Moving with Faith clothing line at movinginfaith.com. 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 00:28 Meet Zara Northover 02:43 Lawsuit Origin Story 05:03 Retaliation and Gorilla Card 07:06 Navigating Lawyers and Going Pro Se 10:04 Supreme Court Petition Explained 12:24 Other Case and What’s Next 13:21 Book and Justice Aviators App 13:54 How the App Works 16:43 Workplace Wellness and HR Reality 18:27 What Resources Employees Need 26:51 Moving with Faith Brand 30:18 Final Thanks and Wrap Up