Women See Each Other: Deputy Mayor Renée Lapeyrolerie to speak at Pearls & Purpose
Deputy Mayor Renee Lapeyrolerie will be a featured speaker at Pearls & Purpose, a fundraiser for Les Dames NOLA’s Leading from the Heart Award grants and other philanthropic programs.
There’s a phrase Deputy Mayor Renée Lapeyrolerie comes back to when she talks about her career: Women see each other.
She has seen it happen in her own life. At pivotal moments, women recognized what she could do and gave her the opportunity to prove it — including entrusting her to manage two of the biggest political campaigns of her career.
She hasn’t forgotten.
“There were many women who opened a door for me and advised me,” Renée said. “Therefore I give women and young people — and now, people my age — a look and chance to show what they can do.”
That idea feels especially at home at Pearls & Purpose.
Renée will join Robin Barnes as a featured speaker at Les Dames d’Escoffier New Orleans’ September 25 luncheon at Antoine’s Restaurant, benefiting the chapter’s Leading from the Heart Award grants and other programs supporting women in food, beverage and hospitality.Renée’s résumé doesn’t follow a tidy straight line. It moves through communications and political consulting, business development and infrastructure, state and local government. She has worked on presidential campaigns, served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, led Louisiana’s Office of Multimodal Commerce and served as Chief of Staff at the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans. Today, as Deputy Mayor of External Affairs, her work includes coordinating economic development initiatives and partnerships in New Orleans East.
The common thread is simple: “I love my community and this City and want to be of service,” Renee says.
Her career is also a reminder that the skills women develop in one field can carry them somewhere entirely unexpected. A communications degree from Loyola University eventually led Renée into work involving transportation, ports, rail, water systems, economic development and some of the institutions that quite literally keep New Orleans moving.
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For Renée, women’s leadership isn’t confined to any one industry.
“Women bring an essential perspective to business, education, medicine, the arts, culture and hospitality,” she says, “creating broader opportunities for people to connect with what is being presented.”
But having women in the room is only part of the equation. The next step is helping other women get there.
“I hope that we are giving opportunities and mentorship and support of all kinds to the next generation of women leaders,” Renée says.
She also believes that mentorship needs to evolve. Technology, the pandemic and a changing workplace have altered how generations enter and experience professional life. Rather than allowing those differences to become divisions, she argues for something more useful: connection.
“We have to work on those connections and learn from one another,” Renee says.
That’s a fitting idea for a gathering called Pearls & Purpose — and for an organization built around women supporting women.
Sometimes leadership begins with recognizing someone’s potential. Sometimes purpose means making sure she gets the chance to use it.
And sometimes, as Renée puts it, women simply see each other.