ALEXA MORRIS grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, dabbling in several jobs (including Senate page) before choosing the world of non-profits, where she remains to this day. When she married Ben Parkett’s daughter and learned of his Holocaust survival journey, she became determined to help him turn his story into a book. Alexa lives with her family in Northern California and is currently at work on her first novel. Alexa joins us today to discuss “ The CourtYard” , a memoir she co-wrote with Ben Parkett.

Hours before the Nazis came to arrest the Parkett family in July 1942, Madame Nicolas from the apartment upstairs, tips them off that their names are on a list. Their neighbors band together to protect them, hiding the family in a vacant warehouse across the courtyard from their apartment. The courtyard becomes a refuge. With their world turned upside down, it is Ben’s job, at only nine years old, to leave the courtyard each day to get food for his family.

This is a story of community support and resilience-building that provides us with strategies that are useful in our current professional environments The courtyard helps us unlock new pathways for innovation and growth it's about cultural resilience and the ways it drives transformation across various life challenges.