Honoring Vision and Dedication  

Each year, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center hosts the prestigious NEXT Awards, celebrating “exceptional entrepreneurs transforming their industries and creating opportunities for economic growth.” This year, Redwood Literacy and our Co-Founder & Director, Kait Feriante, were honored to be nominated in two categories. This past Monday, Kait and Redwood Co-Founder Andre Feriante proudly represented Redwood at the NEXT Awards Ceremony.  

A Night of Recognition  

Our team is proud to announce that at the ceremony, Redwood Literacy won the award for Growth in Products & Services for companies with more than five years in business, while Kait received the award for Growth Entrepreneur of 2024. These honors reflect the incredible dedication Kait and our entire team have poured into making Redwood what it is today. We couldn't be prouder or more grateful to Kait for her unwavering leadership and vision over the past six and a half years.

A Message from Kait following the NEXT Awards:

My heart is so full.

When I moved to Nashville in 2022, I had no idea what an incredibly welcoming and championing entrepreneurial community I was about to join. Redwood started working with Luum Studio in late 2023 and Sarah Deane Hale told me about BrainTrust at our first coffee. I went to a Low Down and heard Sherry Deutschmann and Morgan Stanley speak, and I was immediately convinced that this was a community I needed to be a part of. Since then, I've gotten the immense pleasure of getting to support and be supported by inspirational female entrepreneurs who are amazing at what they do and are humans I want to be like (Traci Schubert Barrett, Sarah Whitaker, Nancy Everitt, Jennifer Quinn, and Lana Pargh). Last week, I got the immense honor of giving a Tess Talk at BrainTrust LIVE 2024, and this week, I got the immense honor of representing Redwood Literacy & Redwood Schools at the Next Awards Ceremony put on by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Our incredible team won the Growth Award for the Products & Services category, and I was floored to receive the Growth Entrepreneur of 2024 award as well.

If you run a business or are close to somebody who does, you know it's no small thing. And you also know it's made up of daily collaborative nitty-gritty work that is not all that glorious and full of plenty of failures. So when weeks like this happen, I'm taking time to celebrate. I'm celebrating all week long the incredible accomplishments our little company has made because of every single student, client, staff member, contractor, donor, and cheerleader who has been a part of this thing since 2018. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing to invest in Redwood.

Upward and onward. This work we get to do is so very special.”

-Kait

Don’t Miss Kait’s Acceptance Speech  

If you haven't had a chance to watch Kait’s emotional acceptance speech, you can check it out here (and might we suggest keeping some tissues on hand).