Eze Redwood
Hometown:
Kansas City, MO
Connect: LinkedIn
Eze is excited to help communities harness this critical moment in time to create inclusive prosperity, so individuals or populations aren’t left behind. He believes we are at a crucial fork in the road -- where there has never been more opportunity, but at the same time, there has never been more inequity. Eze believes the right individuals and leaders can help craft solutions that can help our great nation deliver on its promise of freedom, opportunity, and support for all.
Eze Redwood is a strategist whose first business was a candy operation that made $40k in four months when he was 12. After finishing classes at Williams College at 19, Eze would get promoted, hire, and train, at a boutique marketing firm office focused on Verizon Fios and AT&T U-Verse accounts at 20.
Eze would go on to lead an internal innovation think tank at a global investment bank, serve as a Google NTEN Fellow creating movements around digital inclusion, cofound a restaurant ranked #3 Place to Eat by Yelp!, and was a co-leader of the Kansas City Startup Village that got coverage in Forbes, CNN, Fast Company, NYTimes and WSJ while attracting high-growth companies from around the world and creating a community that produced a 75% entrepreneur success rate. Eze was also a founder of what became the largest entrepreneurship group in the region, a White House Urban Economic Development Forum invitee, and a board member of over 10 nonprofits including being recommended to serve on the Leadership Council of the National Small Business Association.
Eze’s strategy consulting firm, LV8, was acquired by a marketing firm in 2019, where he served as VP until launching a strategy consulting firm focused on “solving hard problems” in 2022. Eze likes *short* walks on the beach, and all breakfast/brunch foods!
ERC Project
Project Title:
Vibrant Michigan City: Community Convening & Building | Catalytic Downtown Gary Gateway & Livable Broadway
Host Community or Region:
Indiana
Host Organization:
Michigan City Economic Development Corporation (EDCMC) and City of Gary, IN
This collaboration provides support to two communities in northwest Indiana—Michigan City and Gary—through community engagement and planning initiatives. The Vibrant Michigan City initiative aims to revitalize disinvested areas by implementing a community-centered economic inclusion strategy. In partnership with the Brookings Institute, LISC, and local stakeholders, this project is crucial for fostering economic development, civic engagement, and social enrichment in Michigan City's East Side, West Side, and Midtown Corridor. The ERC Fellow will execute the playbook's agenda, focusing on business improvement, neighborhood leadership, housing strategies, and entrepreneurial support. The Gary, Ind. project will concentrate on downtown revitalization along Broadway Avenue, incorporating community outreach and planning while supporting small businesses and real estate developers to leverage transit-oriented development in downtown Gary. The fellow is instrumental in empowering local groups, facilitating resources, and overseeing the initiative’s success, significantly impacting each community’s socio-economic landscapes and enhancing quality of life.
Interested in supporting this project or learning more? Contact the ERC program team here.
