Dr. Raye Mitchell

        Sought-after international speaker on women in technology, diversity, innovation and leader on how women can capitalize on emerging technologies to enhance the consumer experience and the whole of the consumer’s life experience in real time and almost everywhere. Dr. Raye Mitchell is a passionate philanthropist, technology start-up founder, author and dynamic public speaker engaged in utilizing emerging technologies, new media and digital and entertainment products, and innovation to transform the consumer experience in all arenas of life experiences.  Building on 30 years of expertise merging business innovation and legal skills, Raye launched Women Lead Forward.com in February 2015 just ahead of President Obama’s #TechHire program. With a focus on accelerating access to and opportunities for women and girls of color to be empowered as current and future global leaders, Raye works to meet the unmet needs of the millions of millennial women and women and girls of color who seek inclusion and fresh thinking from a vantage point that reflects their own life experiences. Skilled at building diverse leadership teams, preparing women and girls as leaders in innovation, disruption, creativity and entrepreneurism, Raye Mitchell’s personal mission is to utilize her stellar academic accomplishments, her professional skills, and her years of solid creativity to support humanitarian projects and drive innovation. More information at www.drrayemitchell.com. Emerging Technologies/Leadership Projects: About  www.WomenLeadForward.Com On February 24, 2015, Raye Mitchell launched a new national initiative called Women Lead Forward™ in Living Color (www.womenleadforward.com) as an accelerator applying new technology and innovation platforms to transform diversity inclusion practices in technology, innovation and in executive leadership. The mission of Women Lead Forward is to create a national platform and to transform how women and girls of color gain access to equality in engagement as global leaders in general and in the tech and innovation economy in particular.   Women Lead Forward launched just weeks ahead of President Obama’s national initiative entitled The #TechHire program.  Women Lead Forward is well positioned to contribute solutions and training support to respond to the national mandate to engage and equip a new generation of leaders with leadership skills and market-ready-skills in tech and tech-related industries.  Women Lead Forward is a multi-platform program that will prepare girls (age 8-18), as well as millennials (aged 18+) and a generation of rebounders (aged 45+ returning to the marketplace and recovering from the financial crisis of 2008) with both technical skills and leadership skills to rise to leadership levels in all sectors.   In addition to developing new technology and developing platforms that leverage emerging technology in the corporate social responsibility segment, the delivery of life-changing social services and other humanitarian endeavors, Women Lead Forward will provide cost-efficient and accessible leadership training through The C-Suite Project™, a leadership-training program supporting women of color to prepare to lead on boards and in executive level leadership across sectors.   About Current Book Projects: My current book project, The C-Suite Project: The Millennial Woman’s Guide to Presence, Persistence, and Power,speaks to this emerging audience of female leaders who do not seek the traditional corporate c-suite career path. These women instead elect to define their success based on their net social impact and contributions. In reality, the true "c-suite" for these millennial women of color is connected to another set of Cs—the ability to be competitive, confident, and competent, and contribute as change leaders and independent entrepreneurs in charge of their own futures.   About The C-Suite Project (www.TheCSuiteProject.com) The C-Suite Project™ is busting open the doors of opportunity for women of color. The C-Suite Project is about forging a new path to the new c-suite for a new generation of leaders. We are launching a national program called The C-Suite Project that promotes women who elect to utilize their unique perspectives and skills in all segments of profit and non-profit industries to lead global change by advancing to executive level positions and leading on boards.   The purpose of this project is to enhance, accelerate, and educate millennial women of color on how to disrupt the status quo and develop break-through barriers that block forward progression. About Humanitarian/Philanthropy Projects: Raye Mitchell is relentless in her pursuit of innovative solutions to some of the most persistent and consistent social, economic and attitudinal issues holding women and girls, especially women and girls of color back from being recognized for their invaluable contributions to our global community as leaders, game changers and contributors to innovation.   She is a committed leader in the movement for equality, inclusion and innovation here in the USA and around the world.  Raye left the practice of law and the law firm she started over 20 years ago to become a social entrepreneur long before it was the thing to do.  Raye founded The New Reality Foundation, Inc in 2007 to transform the lives and opportunities for women and girls. Having been honored with the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service, the Nobel Prize for public service, Raye and the New Reality Foundation, Inc/G.U.R.L.S[1]. Lead Global Leadership Program (www.gurlslead.org) have received high recognition and awards for their contributions to resetting the playing field for girls and women of color. Raye’s work is hands-on and not merely serving in oversight functions.  She works long hours mentoring women and girls from all economic backgrounds, races and ethnicity.  She volunteers time above and beyond her own foundation work by working in the community leading support to programs that help women and girls evolve out of and escape from sex trafficking and domestic violence.  In addition to starting the G.U.R.L.S. Lead Global Leadership Program, Raye founded The M.B.A[2]. Series Executive Leadership Forums for millennials of color in 2011 with her HLS classmate Hill Harper, NY Times best selling author and philanthropist in support of President Obama’s initiative to build educational resources for African American students. Dr. Mitchell will receive the high honor of the Lizzie Glide Woman of Vision Award in October from the Mary Elizabeth Inn, celebrating their centennial anniversary and founded by Lizzie Glide, a turn of the century philanthropist concerned for women, is a “safe house” for courageous women escaping homelessness as they struggle to reset their lives disrupted by domestic violence. Dr. Mitchell has earned critical acclaim for her professional accomplishments, innovative thinking, and service to her community and has received numerous awards and recognitions, including being selected as a “Top-Idea Maven” by the Woman’s Advantage and being selected from over 5,000 candidates to be featured in The 2014 Woman’ Advantage Shared Wisdom Calendar. The calendar provides entrepreneurial advice for women business owners from influential women leaders across the US and around the world. Mary Cantando, Growth Expert of the Woman’s Advantage, announced that “Dr. Mitchell’s quote was selected because it was powerful yet easy to understand. Her idea is relevant to almost every woman in business today. Women business owners and those who dream of starting a business will learn so much from the advice provided by Dr. Mitchell and the other successful women quoted in the calendar.” In September 2013, she was honored by the Rho Upsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and included among prominent women in justice in honor of Constance Baker Motley, the first African America woman judge appointed to the United States Federal Court. The list of distinguished honorees included Federal Judge Honorable Saundra Brown-Armstrong, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Honorable Gail Brewster Bereola, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Venus D. Johnson, and Attorney and Social Entrepreneur Dr. Raye Mitchell, as distinguished Women in Justice. In December 2012, the Charles Houston Bar Association honored Dr. Mitchell with the Benjamin Travis Community Service Award and KQED/Wells Fargo Bank Public Media Women’s History Month Local Hero, the Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment’s 2011 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, and the 2011 Jefferson Award for Public Service (the Nobel Prize for Public Service. She is the author of “The Evolution of Brilliance: Voices Celebrating the Importance of Women” (2011). Dr. Raye Mitchell is a native of Los Angeles, California, and attended school at Los Angeles High School before being selected by the University of Southern California as 1 of only 20 qualified applicants worldwide to enter the Resident Honors Program for early admission to USC. She then earned a BS in public policy from the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy, an MBA from USC Marshall School of Business, and a JD from Harvard Law School. Dr. Mitchell’s professional experience includes working at such prestigious corporations as General Mills, RJR Nabisco, the Gillette Company, and the Colgate Palmolive Company prior to her leaving to attend Harvard Law School. [1] G.U.R.L.S. stands for growth, unity, respect, leadership and success. [2] M.B.A. stands for motivated, brilliant achievers.    

Humanitarian causes, leadership, technology innovation, civil rights, gender equality, entertainment, TV production, writing, public speaking, advocacy for girls, S.T.E.M., science technology engineering math, movies