S1/E11: How to Develop Authentic Relationships with Powerful and Influential People - Rene Redwood

René Redwood, CEO of Redwood Enterprise LLC, directs initiatives resulting in judicial, legislative, commercial, and political wins for public and private sector organizations, and non-profit organizations. For over 25 years, she has led strategic initiatives on equity and fairness, facilitated discourse on the business advantage of diversity, promotes policies and practices that value the human resource as an asset, and applied research and experience that offer solutions to reduce risk from and in organizational cultures. Redwood Enterprise provides services that mitigate barriers to inclusion; foster cultures to enhance performance in the workplace and respectful presence in markets or community; improve workforce and customer satisfaction; and promote measures for organizational accountability and societal impact.

The Redwood Enterprise proven systems and methodologies transform workspaces and communities by building and restoring trust with internal customers and external constituents. Ms. Redwood has been recognized for her expertise in cultural change; leadership development; strategic plans for racial justice, gender equity, addressing and preventing sexual harassment; and the impact of unconscious and systemic bias on individual and institutional success. She is often described as smart, strategic and energetic, and has been featured in Time Magazine, Elle, Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise, American Editor, etc.

Ms. Redwood moved from chemist to thought leader through her executive leadership for a prominent polling and research firm; the Presidential Glass Ceiling Commission (Civil Rights Act of 1991, Title II); a coalition of leading legal defense organizations; congressional district offices; and political operations for a national party. She served on a court appointed Task Force to oversee a Fortune 100 corporation’s compliance with a historic discrimination settlement agreement, rang the closing bell at NASDAQ as SME on business case for gender parity, and currently chairs the Equality Task Force for a security agency.

René Redwood has been honored as a Freedom’s Sister for "continuing the legacy of African American women for courageous, spirited trailblazing that has helped to shape our country" by Ford Motor Company Fund and Smithsonian Institute, and received the “Women-Owned Business, Servant Leadership Award”. She serves on the Investment Committee for Ms. Foundation for Women; Advisory Board of Women in Technology International; Board Chair Emeritus of NARAL Pro-Choice America; the Advisory Board for the WNBA Washington Mystics; and on the Congressional Black Caucus Scholarship Committee for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.