Jenkins, Odessa

Odessa Jenkins

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.

IOC Resources by Odessa Jenkins