Robyn is a dynamic and charismatic leader, educator, presenter/facilitator, artist, and motivational speaker.
Originally from Pensacola, she graduated from Mercer University in Macon, GA in 1989, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English and African American Studies. Shortly after, Robyn relocated to the New England area where she lived and worked for over 30 years. Robyn is a lively instructor of both youth and adults. Her career in education began in the Wellesley Public School District in Massachusetts. There she served as a classroom teacher, academic coordinator, a K-12 program director, and seventeen years as assistant principal at Wellesley Middle School. Her knowledge of administration, teaching and learning, and “relational” discipline is the foundation for her current work as consultant.
Robyn holds a Certificate of Educational Leadership, and is a certified English/Language Arts teacher in the State of Florida. Her work with youth extends from the classroom into church and community. She is a former youth pastor and continues to passionately mentor young women and girls. To that effort, Robyn is a member of The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. a national advocacy organization that works to level playing fields for Black women and girls.
A prolific poet and playwright, Robyn is the founder and artistic director of Stage Praise Productions – a theatre company whose mission it is to change the face of entertainment – and the world – one story at a time! She has written more than a hundred skits and full length plays and has directed and staged nearly forty of them at different venues all along the east coast. Popular titles include Show Me The Glory, Moving Day, Moving Further Still, Scrambled Eggs, and Empty Kitchen Chairs-The Stage Play, – to name a few. She has written countless collections of poetry and in 2004, recorded a CD of poetry set to original jazz with her friend, GW Russell Jr., entitled The Pianist and the Poet.
Through her company, PENsive Professional & Creative Writing Services, Robyn is a writer, proofreader, and editor, and has ghostwritten several books, authored speeches, papers, personalized messages, and academic articles and papers. She is a published author in The Apple of His Eyes, an anthology of stories by women published in 2022. In 2021, Robyn founded and hosted her first collaboration of women writers, The Writers Block – a platform for novice writers that transforms the solitary experience of writing into a community of support with hands-on coaching from conception to completion. Her desire is to create “blocks” of writers in national communities so that no woman who has a story to write experiences “writer’s block.” Robyn believes that “creation is waiting in eager expectation for writers to be revealed.”
Her varied professional experiences – from school administrator to theatre director to senior associate pastor – have set Robyn apart as an exceptional leader. Having been mentored by great leaders and learning from many who needed significant growth, Robyn developed a passion for leaders and leadership, and founded R Squared, a leadership coaching and education consulting firm. She has developed workshops, retreats, workbooks, and interactive manuals that transform businesses and organizations by growing and adding stellar leaders who guide with proficiency and empathy.
Alongside Dr. Smith, Robyn teaches and coaches leaders through the lens of personal healing and emotional intelligence, incorporating the understanding of common leadership styles and how best to incorporate them into any business model. Her work is tailored to her client; personalization and careful thought about the audience is given to every presentation, every workshop, every speech. Robyn believes that the most effective leaders are those who remain in touch with their limitations, determined to transform their “shortest comings into their tallest comings, into the ones from which they lead.” Robyn is transparent, straightforward, inspirational, and generous in her delivery, leaving audiences captivated and asking for more.