Speaker Lisa Cruz
Keynotes shaped by leadership
Speaker Lisa Cruz
Lisa Cruz is a keynote speaker, public relations strategist and founder of Red Shoes Inc. with more than 30 years of experience helping organizations navigate change. She connects with people who value honesty and substance by bringing a rare combination of executive leadership, community-centered work, lived experience and straight talk to the stage.
Lisa speaks to rooms that want more than polished inspiration. Her talks acknowledge complexity and power while offering clarity and direction. Her delivery is straightforward, full of heart, and will leave you laughing, in tears and wanting more all at the same time.
Speaking Topics
- Healthcare: Lisa speaks to the realities of trust and access in healthcare, drawing from both professional experience and on-the-ground community work. Her talks explore how policy and lived experience intersect and why culturally aware leadership matters at every level of care.
- Women in Business: An honest conversation about female leadership and taking up space. Lisa speaks to women navigating power dynamics, expectations and the tension between confidence and permission.
- Crisis Communications: A crisis reveals systems and people at the same time. Lisa brings real-world experience responding to high-stakes situations and explores how leaders can communicate with steadiness, recognizing that the same crisis can affect people in different ways based on their proximity to the issue.
- Women and Resilience: This keynote centers on resilience that is earned, necessary boundaries and the refusal to make yourself smaller to fit someone else’s comfort. Lisa is known for her candid perspective on work-life balance, believing it’s not something you ever perfectly achieve but something you continually negotiate. She shares lessons in grit and grace that help the next generation of women move confidently through the shifting pressures of work and home.
- Personal Journey: Lisa shares her own story as a way to open conversations about growth and choosing action over intention. This talk resonates with audiences navigating change, loss or moments of reinvention.
About Lisa
Lisa Cruz is the founder and CEO of Red Shoes Inc., a full-service marketing and crisis communications agency she founded amidst the Great Recession in 2008. Her work spans healthcare, construction, manufacturing, education and economic development, with deep expertise in crisis communication, leadership and organizational strategy.
Lisa has led communications during some of the most challenging moments an organization can face, including natural disasters, investigations, workforce issues and public scrutiny. Her work is grounded in cultural awareness and a clear understanding that people react to systems, crises and leadership differently depending on their lived experience.
In addition to her agency work, Lisa serves as Executive Director of Multicultural Coalition Inc., where she focuses on systems change to support equity in action through community organizing. During the pandemic, Lisa made a conscious decision to move beyond intention and toward accountability, asking herself what meaningful action actually looked like. The impact has included thousands of individuals gaining access to COVID-19 vaccinations, more than 100 health equity events eliminating barriers many face to these services and critical information shared in multiple languages, eliminating yet another all-too-common barrier for communities.
Recognized nationally as one of PR News’ Top Women in PR, Lisa is known for her ability to pair strategic thinking with lived experience. Her leadership is grounded in the understanding that real progress requires listening, humility and a willingness to act.
Growing and protecting brands ®
