Tagline
It’s not idealistic, it’s necessary: A business coach shows how it is essential to care about the world to be a good leader.
Bio for Rayne Martin
Rayne Martin is Founder and Leadership Coach at It’s the Impact. During her previous 25 years of executive experience, she held many titles, directly led organizations with hundreds of employees and millions of dollars of services and championed many programs that served the community.
She now uses her experience and unique strengths to help leaders dig deeper into their purpose and vision, fine-tune their strategies, overcome mindset blocks, and build the pathway to success in their big audacious dreams to see a better world for everyone.
Episode highlight
Continuous dedication to promoting a more just and equitable world has brought Rayne Martin into contact with many marginalized groups where she served as an ally and a catalyst for real change to the tune of improved housing, education and better life opportunities. Tune in to learn about her journey to make the world a better place as a leadership coach.
Links
- Email: rayne@itstheimpact.com
- Website: https://www.itstheimpact.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raynemartin
Quotes
- “You aren’t leading if you are not using your leadership to make a more just and equitable world.”
- “Whoever you feel like you are, whatever groups you want to associate with, do that now more than ever.”
- “What I am constantly on a quest about is to be a fully aware white person in the world who is operating with a high-level privilege.”
Takeaways
Childhood Incidents
Rayne grew up impoverished in a small rural town of 200 people in North Louisiana. Her father painted houses, her mother did odd jobs, and she and her siblings slept in sleeping bags on the floor of their parents’ bedroom or on the porch in the summer till age 12.
She recalls going grocery shopping with her family once a month at a store in town, where each child was allowed one thing of their choice. Even though she has good memories of the time, she grew up “not realizing… from a monetary perspective and from a relational perspective, that things could be abundant and available”.
At age 12, she staged a boycott against worksheets. In high school, she demanded school officials provide her classmates with the college entrance exam and stood with her black friends when they spoke out against the fact that the school had separate ‘black’ and ‘white’ beauty pageants.
When she left the town to go to a small liberal arts college, she realized how poor she had grown up. Her high school guidance counselor had discouraged her from applying to colleges because she didn’t believe that Rayne could pay off college debt in the future, which was very demotivating.
Even though she had been amongst the top of her class in high school, she was made to take remedial English classes at college. She was surrounded by those who had a private or religious school education and felt “radically undereducated”.
She began working at a very early age, and although she enjoyed the financial freedom, it contributed to her feeling that she had to put in extra effort for anything she wanted. Coupled with her academic struggles, she felt that she was not the smartest, but could out-work everyone else to be successful in life.
Influential groups
Compared to the liberal city of New Orleans she lives in now, Rayne’s hometown feels conservative. However, she understands how the “identity of being rural” contributes to those thoughts based on the information available.
Her mom has a gay brother, so their family members were the “amusing outcasts” who were lovingly welcomed in the rural community. Rayne’s mother asked her to invite her Black friend and her mom to their house, which was the first time any white person had done so in their town.
Rayne’s father held some sexist opinions, due to which she could not consider herself a woman leader. However, she has now come into her own leadership style that is more connected with her own skill sets and likes, which is not male-centered.
Being the minority in most of her work environments, Rayne used to adopt cultural behaviours of the majority groups. However, she has learned now that it can be viewed as cultural appropriation and is disrespectful. She is aware of her white privilege and opinion value and chooses to encourage others on her team to give their opinions before her.
Temperament and Personality Influences
Rayne has always been described as authentic – not afraid to speak her mind or confront injustice and immoralities. She is grateful to have recently met her biological father and discovered her Ukrainian heritage, but also grateful for her stepfather modelling how to parent non-biological kids, which serves her in her role as a stepmother to 2 children.
Cultural Epiphanies
Rayne’s husband recently wanted to join a yacht club, and she is uncomfortable being around people of that social class. However, she is working through her own bias against that group and through her guilt of being affluent now when there are others who aren’t.
Advice to an Employer
Rayne thrives in working with leaders who want to make a difference, and looks to be brave and authentic in the fight for creating a positive impact. “It jazzes me up like nothing else!”, she remarks.
More Great Insights!
Rayne’s program, The Changemaker, is a comprehensive support system which includes personal coaching, the 4 Cs of changemaking and group work to help you be vulnerable and push through the blind spots as you work to change the world!
Extro
Rayne Martin has been dedicated to making the world a better place since she was a child. With the social justice mindset from her mother, the nurturing care from her step father and the experience of overcoming a life of poverty, she has now come into her own. Rayne’s organization, It’s the Impact, supports leadership change makers with a supportive community and resources to build an ecosystem for addressing the real problems of our communities.
