Work Book Writing Speaking Contact
Louisville · Operator · Builder

Build. Write. Connect.
Repeat.

I'm Chris Redd. I lead talent acquisition for technical consultancies, build hospitality brands like CULTURA, write The Redd Room, and help operators turn relationships into runway.

Chris Redd, speaker portrait at Rally Conference
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Born in Milwaukee. Built in Louisville.
I run recruiting at scale, build hospitality from the ground up, and write about the unglamorous habits behind every overnight success.

By day I'm Head of Talent Acquisition, Americas at Software Mind. I lead a team of 11 recruiters sourcing technical consultants across Latin America for US enterprise clients.

By night and weekend, I'm the founder of CULTURA, a dual-concept hospitality platform with a flagship under construction in Louisville. Specialty coffee by day. Natural wine and mezcal by evening. A licensable OS underneath both.

I write The Redd Room on Substack and LinkedIn. I co-founded Network+Chill. I'm a member of Leadership Louisville Class of 2026. I co-authored Beyond the Handshake. The work shows up in different uniforms. The operating principle is the same.

12+
Years Leading TA
11
Direct Reports
28
Gems Published
Chris Redd in pinstripe suit
Show up like the work matters.
Because it does.
Chris Redd · 2026

Four lanes. One operator.

I don't pick between recruiting, hospitality, writing, and community-building. I run them as one portfolio. Each one feeds the others.

01

Fractional Head of TA

For seed-to-Series-B technical companies that need senior talent leadership without a senior-leader headcount. I install pipelines, hiring playbooks, and recruiter operating systems. Then I hand you the keys.

Three engagement tiers, scoped to where you actually are.

Engage
02

CULTURA Hospitality

A dual-concept café and natural wine bar with a flagship under construction in Louisville, Kentucky. Specialty coffee sourced direct from Latin American producers. Cocktails built on mezcal and the agave story.

Behind the brand: CULTURA OS, a licensable tech stack purpose-built for dual-concept operators.

Visit CULTURA
03

The Redd Room

Essays on identity, audacity, and the unglamorous habits behind every overnight success. Federer. Denzel. Danny Meyer. Isadore Sharp. Case studies disguised as a newsletter.

Currently running Your 62 Runway: a five-part mini-series on what it actually takes to leave the atmosphere.

Subscribe
04

Community + Civic

Co-founder of Network+Chill, a national entrepreneurial community. Member of Leadership Louisville Class of 2026. Active across gBeta, Render Capital, and the Russell Technology Business Incubator.

The thesis: ecosystems are built one warm introduction at a time.

Connect
Beyond the Handshake: 28 Gems for Growing a High-Value Network

Beyond the Handshake

By Chris D. Redd & Ricky Mason

Most networking advice rounds down to "show up and exchange business cards." That's not a network. That's a contact list.

This book is the field manual we wish we'd had: 28 specific, repeatable practices for turning warm introductions into long-term professional capital. Built from the trenches. Not the LinkedIn highlight reel.

A network is not what you have. It's what you've earned the right to ask of, and answer for, the people in it.

Notes from the workshop.

A Substack about the work behind the work. No frameworks pretending to be wisdom. No three-step solutions to four-decade problems.

Get every essay in your inbox. No noise.

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Stages, panels, and the occasional fireside.

I speak about what I'm actually doing. Not what's trending on the conference circuit. Talent at scale across LATAM. The economics of dual-concept hospitality. How operators turn a side project into a real second act.

Recent rooms: Rally (Cross-Sector Innovation Conference), Leadership Louisville cohort sessions, Render Capital portfolio events.

i. Building a 50-person recruiting org without burning the team out
ii. Why your second business has to be unrelated to your first
iii. Networks compound. Contact lists depreciate.
iv. Identity-led leadership in distributed teams
Chris Redd speaking on a panel at Rally Conference Chris Redd in conversation at Rally Conference
As Featured / Affiliated With
Software Mind Render Capital gBeta Leadership Louisville Russell Tech Incubator Rally Conference Network+Chill

Tell me what you're building.

I read everything. I respond to most. Pick the door that fits, or send a note through the contact one and I'll route it from there.