W(o)W: Changing Our Community with Myra Richardson

Myra N. Richardson is a multi-faceted entrepreneur and strategist. As the founder of Red Torch Consulting and 225 Fest, she still finds time to prioritize and give back to the community that made her who she is today.

Richardson’s journey from activist to a political and entrepreneurial luminary began in 2016, when she organized and led the Wave protest in Baton Rouge after the death of Alton Sterling, protesting police brutality against Black people. At 17, Richardson got 8,000 people together for Baton Rouge’s largest peaceful protest. 

This spark of change ignited a fire in her to continue the change in her community. In 2017, she became the Louisiana Youth Ambassador for the Women’s March on Washington. In 2018, she led March for Our Lives for better gun laws. She’s also busted onto the political scene, joining John Bel Edward’s re-election campaign and Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s campaigns. 

Her activist spirit is inspired by Shirley Anita Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman and the first Black woman to run for president. Richardson’s aspirations are reflective of Chisholm’s, both valuing their representation of their communities, their “seat at the table” as Richardson says. 

Richardson has received countless awards like the University of Chicago Leadership Award, the NAACP Montague Cobb National Award, and the ExxonMobil Pass the Torch Award. She is the Business Report’s youngest 40 under Forty ever at age 22. She even received recognition from the Obama Administration, which is one of her greatest accomplishments. Yet, as incredibly accomplished as she is, Richardson prefers to be known most for her community work. 

She is committed to making Baton Rouge a better community. She created 225 Fest, a Baton Rouge-inspired cultural experience complete with food, live music, talking panels and art. Her main hustle, Red Torch Consulting, is an agency that assists other businesses with marketing, content creation, strategic planning and community outreach. 

How does she do it all? With her busy days full of meetings and mandatory local food finds, Richardson relies on God, who she spends most of her time with, music and her support system.  She could never live without her best friends. “We all eat really well,” Richardson said, especially her comfort foods, French fries and tacos. 

As a community servant and strategist towards activism, Richardson strives to inspire. Her advice to other women is that “operating in authenticity will make space for you at the table”. She has embodied this throughout her career and while serving all Baton Rougeans. Building anything, especially a community, begins with a strong sense of identity. 

“My life motto is, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’”

In order for Richardson to face all these different fields, she has to have her pearl earrings! When she was younger, her aunt told her it was a sin to leave the house without earrings. “I’ve always thought as long as I have some earrings on, I can tackle the world,” she said.

Today, this locally and nationally recognized leader continues to mobilize and create a more inclusive and equitable future for Baton Rouge and people everywhere, as we do here at PPG. In a Ted Talk, Richardson said, “We all deserve to take up space. We all deserve to step into who we are meant to be, not who we are told we are.”

Keep up with Myra Richardson on her Insta, @moveswithmyra, or send her an email at myra@redtorchbtr.com!