We Are RedGuard

Meet Donna Brown

Working at RedGuard

What has been your background at RedGuard?

I was blessed with the opportunity to come on board in November of 2005, just months after the Texas City blast that changed the safety culture of the refining and chemical industry and birthed the first Blast Resistant Module. This led to an exciting career with many opportunities, changes, and challenges with multiple seats on the bus. It has allowed me to pursue a passion for customer service in a unique culture-oriented company.

Several years ago, I came up with a couple of analogies for my role here at RedGuard:

Donna is like that green Gumby doll being very flexible and agile
Donna is like Mikey in the Life Cereal commercials, which will eat anything. I enjoy taking on any challenge with passion and persistence.

Tell us a little about your day-to-day job currently:

In December of 2021, I joined the Market Development team in an Inside Sales position. I support all the RedGuard Directors of Sales across the United States and Canada.

What do you enjoy most about working at RedGuard?

I love being part of the great TEAM Culture at RedGuard and having such awesome teammates make up the culture. I love seeing the opportunities that I have handed over to our sales team come to fruition with buildings being built on the production floor and then delivered to satisfied customers who repeatedly do business with us because of our fantastic customer service, project management, transportation specialists, service technicians, logistics, accounting teams that continue to look in the mirror every day and challenge themselves to aspire to build the best products and company that they can. I consider Lange/RedGuard part of my extended family.

I also love working for a company that provides a product that saves lives. One of the best but hardest tasks I do is the Explosion Report on all industry-related explosions following the event from the time it hits the news thru the investigation, litigation, and rulings to change safety standards. I feel it is an incredible privilege and responsibility to pray for those going thru this tragedy as a survivor, family member, co-worker, safety professional, and company owner as I read thru and gather this data and disseminate the facts to the management, sales, and marketing teams at RedGuard.

Personal Side of Donna

Tell us a little about your family:

I have been with my husband Steve for 38 years.

He is the Head Mechanic at the Haysville School District and has held that position for 31 years. You could say we tend to bloom where we are planted. He manages a fleet of 60 diesel buses and 40 passenger vehicles. We have three boys, all living in the Wichita area, and we have nine grandchildren.

Two of my sons are entrepreneurs owning their own businesses. The third is a computer engineer team leading a cloud storage company. The nine grandchildren range in age from 11 to 6 months, so Granny B’s (yes, that is what I am called by those that love me the most.) home is filled with smiles, giggles, little hands and feet to clean and watch out for in the evenings and on weekends.

Best place you have traveled to and why?

It would be our Highway 101 California road trip because:

The favorite place to walk is on the beach
The diversity of God’s creation, from the ocean, and beaches, to the Red Wood forest.
Great seafood!

Three things you enjoy are:

Cooking for my family. The whole family meets every other Sunday for a home-cooked dinner. One of the favorites is breakfast for lunch. On Birthdays the birthday child or Grandchild gets to pick the menu.

Reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word, the Bible. 5 to 6 days a week, I post a blog on Facebook about my walk with the Lord. My ladies’ groups: Sunday School and journey circle, pray and encourage each other. We are members of Country Acres Baptist Church and are involved in various ministry opportunities.

Playing Words with Friends and Scrabble. Having played Scrabble as a child with my grandmother, aunt, and mother, the transition to Words came naturally. I have played Words since 2013 with several of my aunts and friends. I have played 15,275 unique words and tiles covering 1208,513 feet.

Three things you don’t:

Smoke – I am allergic to secondhand smoke, so I tend to shy away from places where that is taking place.

Drink – I am also allergic to fermented, so even pickle juice is not in my diet.

Use of foul language. As a follower of Jesus, He has asked me to be pure as He is pure and has purified me through His death, burial, and resurrection. Using inappropriate language is just one of the things He has convicted me not to do.

If you had to eat one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That is a hard one because I love food, and it brings many memories of meals I have shared with family, friends, and co-workers. So, if I am limited to one meal a day, it is going to be a six course meal:

My son Paul makes an excellent Smoked Corn Salsa with Chips
Fresh spinach salad with homemade Ranch Dressing
My Grandma’s Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn, and Green Beans from the garden.
My Daughter In-Law’s Melanie’s homemade bread and peach pit jelly
My fresh fruit salad with berries, grapes, kiwi, and melon.
Homemade Chocolate Cake with homemade Ice Cream, Hot Fudge Sauce, and Whipped Topping served with Coffee about 2 hours after the main course.

All this only has calories I need to consume for the day, right?

People would be surprised if they knew (about me):

I received my bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University in dietetics and food service management and once managed the cafeteria at the Ruffin Building in downtown Wichita. This is probably where I get my passion for cooking and staying healthy.

Before coming to work for RedGuard, I had the honor of working with my Dad- Frank Barnett as a real estate appraiser for 20 years at All Service Agency in Haysville, Kansas. Setting down at the kitchen table and gleaning his advice and knowledge was a blessing.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

Photography: I use it in my Facebook Blogs, and I would like to get better at it so I can be more creative in capturing God’s creation and the human spirit.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

Gardening – I have both indoor and outdoor plants
Reading – Biographies and historical fiction, I have recently been into World War I and II
Crafts, sewing, and art projects with and for the grandkids

If you could have dinner and drinks with any famous people, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

If I could be the Mary who sat at Jesus’s feet and glean the Biblical wisdom, feel His presence, touch the hem of His garment while He dined at the table of her brother Lazarus that would be the meal I desire most because of my relationship with my best friend and love of my life Jesus.

If you could do another job for just one day, what would it be?

I have always dreamed of owning my own business and what entrepreneurial endeavor would best fit my passion. I dream of owning someday and running a small specialty resale and new shop marketing, specifically kitchen and dining room products. It would be nice to serve the local community of those downsizing and building families with a storefront and an online venue. So, spending one day in that job to see what it would be like would be nice.

We Are RedGuard – Donna Brown