Zita is the co-founder and CEO of the registered Canadian charity, Shorefast, which she launched with her brothers Anthony and Alan Cobb, on Fogo Island in 2004.
In 2024,The New York Times questioned whether she was the most radical person in travel[6], noting her innovative Inn has the potential to inspire “other places to create an economic model in which tourism is in service to the community, and not the other way around.”[6] Zita has been recognized for her significant contributions to the Canadian economy and business world[7][8] [9][10] garnering awards such as the Order of Canada (2016)[8] and induction into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame[11] (2020) with special distinction as the first social entrepreneur to be included within its ranks.
The charity Cobb founded, Shorefast, began with the mission to help build a resilient community economy on Fogo Island, Newfoundland.
[15] She battled and survived tuberculosis at the age of six during a year spent at a sanatorium, which she credits for the confidence that she carried with her later into her career.
[15] In 2006, Cobb and her brother Anthony founded Shorefast, a Canadian social enterprise, in response to the economic and cultural difficulties her Newfoundland outport home had experienced over the past decades.