“I think as women, we don’t start because we don’t see the plan that gets us to the other side of the door. And all I care about is getting to the other side of the door, and I’ll figure it out along the way.” – Odessa Jenkins
Odessa Jenkins discovered her purpose as a girl playing tackle football. Now she uses that “why” to break down barriers for women in sports and to find her way to what’s next.
More About Odessa:
Odessa Jenkins is President of Emtrain and Founder of the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC). Prior to Emtrain, she served as head of business development for Parity, and VP of Client Operations at YourCause, a start-up that helped to revolutionize the CSR industry. An in-demand national speaker, Jenkins is a recognized market leader in CSR, DE&I, Team Dynamics, and SAAS technology with multiple years of leadership experience in private funded start-ups, joint ventures and Fortune 100 public companies.
A disrupter in sports, Jenkins is paving the way to create inclusion and equity in sports for women and girls. She was an inaugural participant in the NFL’s first Women’s Career in Football Forum and is one of the first women to obtain the coveted NFL Bill Walsh Diversity Internship in an on-field position. Featured on Fox, CBS, ESPN, Yahoo Sports and more, Jenkins was named one of the most influential and powerful women in sports by Sports Illustrated.
Highlights
- The questions Odessa asks herself when choosing people to be on her “personal board of directors”
- Why Odessa’s house growing up was “like Thanksgiving every weekend” and how it informed how she thinks about teams
- What happened when Odessa’s cousins realized that she could actually play tackle football and basketball growing up
- How Odessa manages the way people see her––and the things they often get wrong about her
- Why Odessa leans into “want to” vs. “have to” when making decisions
- Odessa’s advice for how to find your why, achieve your vision, and show up as your full self
- How to know what you can change and what obstacles to walk around instead
- How Odessa gets back on track when she deviates from her path
- The gospel music lyric that inspired Odessa to celebrate every win, no matter how small
- How to build a team that fills the gaps you need filled to achieve your vision
- How to turn a group of people into a team
- What Odessa has in common with Ted Lasso
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC)
Connect with Odessa: LinkedIn
Thank You for Listening!
This episode was produced by Lara Dalch and Jennifer McCord.
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xo,
