Renegade Roundup: Embracing Your Inner Rule Breaker, Plus IRL Connection

“I’ve been called many things in my years. I think I’m going to like this name best.”

Christina Naylor shared those words after being accepted into the Spring Renegade Accelerator. We rolled out our?#IAmARenegade?campaign last week, encouraging members to claim the title, and this Chief Operating Officer didn’t waste any time.

Hearing Christina reminded me of the moment I embraced the name and started my business. My boss called me “a renegade” because I’d been asking too much forgiveness and not enough permission. Instead of changing what made me stand out in the corporate world, I claimed it. And the career love of my life is guiding people to find success with a Renegade mindset.

There are so many Renegades I want you to meet as our community grows. Here are just a few you need to know:

Thirty-four women embarked on a journey of positive disruption Friday. The new Renegade Accelerator class is a?powerhouse?group including founders and C-suiters, spanning industries from media to health. We’re welcoming?Tatiana Ferreira, SVP at Neiman Marcus Group (pictured); Soche Picard, North America CEO at Arch Worldwide; Nicci Hicks, founder of Pivot; Kimberlee Davis, Partner at the Bahnsen Group; and Friday Abernethy, EVP at Univision Communications, to name a few. Follow Renegade Global here on LinkedIn and?Instagram?to watch them accelerate their businesses and brands over the next eight weeks.

I was jazzed to see these two Renegades together on the streets of Rome:?GameHers founder Rebecca Dixon and Forces for Nature podcast host Crystal DiMiceli.

Our?members-only?“On the Road” Slack channel is also sparking meet-ups in Renegade hot-spots like Austin, Los Angeles, New York, Columbus and Chicago. One of our members shared her multi-city travel itinerary, and Renegades filled it with contacts in each place.

We have members in 10 countries and every major US city. Everywhere you go, you have a Renegade!

Speaking of being on the road, I’m back out there as travel and speaking return in full force.

It was phenomenal to feel the energy of stakeholders at?Drift’s Flash Miami 2022 conference?in March, where I spoke about the power of getting uncomfortable. There's nothing like making human connections, in person and in real time.

Please?sync with me on social media, and if I’m in your area, let’s try and meet up in the physical world! In the next few weeks I’ll be in Chicago, Baltimore and Montreal—still joyfully based in Austin!?

Here’s what I told our new Renegades: surrender to the experience at hand. It’s guaranteed to be an adventure.

-Amy Jo Martin, CEO and Founder of Renegade