Odessa "OJ" Jenkins
Pronouns: She, Her, Hers
Odessa L. Jenkins is a former American world-class athlete turned coach/entrepreneur/executive leader.
Jenkins is a successful tech/SAAS business executive, CEO of Bonfire Women, and founder of the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC). An in-demand global speaker/coach, Jenkins is also the founder of multiple nonprofits (Got Her Back). She is a recognized market leader in B2B SAAS tech, DE&I, and Team Dynamics with multiple years of executive leadership experience in privately funded start-ups, and Fortune 1,000 public companies. Jenkins previously served as President of the e-learning company Emtrain and served for several years as an executive leader at YourCause, a start-up that helped to revolutionize the Corporate Social Responsibility industry (exited to Blackbaud).
As a disrupter in sports, Jenkins has built one of the premier sports leagues in the country, creating opportunities, inclusion, and equity in football 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 Bill Walsh Diversity Internship in an on-field position (Running Backs Coach – Atlanta Falcons). Featured on Fox, Sports Illustrated, CBS, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, NFL Network, The Undefeated, and more, Jenkins was recognized as one of the most influential and powerful women in sports by Sports Illustrated (Unrelenting) and voted as Culture in Sports 2022 Sports Leader of the Year and is a 2023 Recipient of The 2023 Leigh Steinberg Denicola Humanitarian Award.
Often called the "Belichick" of women's football. At 72-2, Jenkins is the winningest Head Coach in women’s tackle football history. She is a Hall of Famer, a 7x National Champion, a 2x USA Football Team captain, and a 3x Team USA Gold Medalist.
Heralded as one of the top inclusive leadership experts in the country, she is determined to create equity in the world for all.
OJ IN THE NEWS
Leading From The C-Suite: Odessa ‘OJ’ Jenkins of Bonfire On Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Suite Executive
Rea OJ's interview for Authority Magazine on Medium.com this month. Jenkins went deep into her career and the things needed to be an effective C-Suite executive.
Introducing The Unrelenting
A former professional football player, Jenkins cofounded the Women's National Football Conference in 2019 with the hopes of building a long-standing, professional women's tackle football league with worldwide...
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More Companies Are Adopting 4-Day Workweeks. Here's How to Pitch One to your boss
The results are in: Both employees and companies benefit from shorter workweeks...
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Media
Testimonials and company appearances
WOW! Odessa Jenkins kicked off our Amazon Selling Partner Services senior women's leadership summit with energy, purpose, and power! We learned so much, and we are all super inspired by you!
"Every time I see Odessa, two things come to mind. 1. Rockstar 2. Amazing person I'm lucky enough to work with Odessa and always look forward to tackling complex projects with her. If you ever get the chance to work with her, take it."
To anyone reading this post, and looking for a dynamic speaker for your next engagement, please consider and take the necessary steps to bring in Odessa Jenkins. The future you will be glad you did.