Boxing Diva To Boss Lady: Renee Aiken's Winning On Her Own Terms
Two decades in New York City jails will leave its mark on you. The uniforms – so uncomfortable, so drab – the cold roundness of the bars, the perfectly imperfect symmetry, the unquestionably defined lines of the place itself. From the way you dress to the way you carry yourself, even to the way you speak, an indelible sign, like an unyielding bruise, lingers long after you’ve made it out.
For Renee Aiken, that mark is most evident in her work.
It’s evidenced by an almost otherworldly ability to handle rough, forward, not-to-be-messed-with men. An ability to be the only woman in the room and yet, remain supremely confident in herself and her aptitude. An ability to shine, no matter the circumstances.
“Doing” 20 years, as Aiken put it, marks you, teaches you plenty of hard-earned lessons. But they’re lessons that the Corrections Officer-turned boxing promoter is thankful for, that she puts to use every single day.
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Aiken speaks often of circles, ironic for a woman who makes her living just beyond the ring.
Her two decades in corrections, working in a number of capacities across New York City, for instance, produced a circle, not often revisited by the Queens native though. After walking away from corrections, it was the circle of Monte “Two Guns” Barrett. Then it was Ira Glass and the circle of Don King’s production company. And before all of that, before the cells and bars and mats and gloves, it was the circle of her family, a young life spent in “the hood,” the grit she bore before she ever even donned a uniform and a badge.
“I’m the type of person, you can put me in the White House, or you can put me in the projects and I’m going to make it work.”
Most recently, Aiken has set to building out her own circle.
Aiken took advantage of a handful of connections – a girlfriend whose husband worked for Don King Productions, a friendship with Mike Tyson’s sister and a family member who knew Barrett personally – and a deep enjoyment of the world of boxing to finally close the book on her work in corrections in 2006.
At first, it was just hanging out. Aiken would attend fights as a friend, as a guest, supporting one fighter or another – her nephew, Zab Judah, just so happens to be a pro boxer with 42 wins and a handful of championships to his name, though he’s become known more of late for his decision-making outside the ring than his exploits in it – just soaking up all the entertainment that fisticuffs had to offer.
But when she got hooked up with Barrett, joining onto his entourage as a personal assistant, she was finally able to make her first foray into the business of boxing.
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It hasn’t been an easy road for Aiken, of course, with success coming in fits and starts. The first iteration of her business, Diva-Rize-N, was actually the marriage of two separate companies, one belonging to Aiken, one belonging to a connection of a connection.
Envisioning opportunity, the pair set their sights on D.C.’s boxing scene.
But nothing was as easy as they hoped, and their first show wound up not an unmitigated disaster, but nothing. It never happened. Despite all the time and effort invested, the weigh-ins and work both by Aiken and her cohort and the fighters and their crews, the cards never came to pass.
A hurricane shut down the city.
“Everybody was evacuated from D.C. and so my show ended up not happening,” she said, exasperated even now.
Tough to take, of course, but these things happens. So it goes. Time for a take two.
“We ended up pushing it to another date. We did everything again, I was at the venue to go check the ring was up – and the police storm into the building.”
The night prior, a patron had been assaulted in the club where Aiken and Diva-Rize-N were getting set to put on their show. Laws in D.C. state that if a crime occurs in a building, it must be shut down for a minimum of two days following.
Aiken was ready to give up. But, as always seems to be the case when life seems to left us high, dry and with nowhere else to turn – an opportunity appeared. Another connection asked for help putting together a show in the Catskills.
Deterred, but cautiously optimistic, Aiken agreed.
The show was a success. The Boxing Diva was born.
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This year, Aiken felt a change was in order.
Diva-Rize-N, her baby, needed an update. Boss Lady Promotions LLC is now your premiere one-stop shop for all your boxing promotional needs. The so-called Boxing Diva has taken a step away from the matchmaking world, moved closer to the promotion side of things.
