Carolyn Johnson Woodruff

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Early life and education
Woodruff was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on June 14, 1955, to Thomas Theo Johnson and Dorothy Lewis Johnson. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class. She received her J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1983 where she served as Research and Managing Editor of the Duke Law Journal. She holds a FinTech certification from Harvard Business School, 2021.
Career
Legal profession
After law school in 1983, she was one of the first women to join a major North Carolina law firm, known as Tuggle, Duggins, Meschan, Thornton, and Elrod, PA. She became a partner in 1987. She was hired as a tax attorney, but with the advent of Equitable Distribution in October 1983 in North Carolina, Woodruff quickly became interested in the mix of her financial background and divorce law. She started her own firm in 1994, which is now known as Woodruff Family Law Group (Woodruff Law Firm, PA) and She still practices there today.
In 1989, she was the youngest in the first group of lawyers in North Carolina to become a North Carolina Family Law Specialist certified by the North Carolina State Bar. She was first selected for Super Lawyers in 2007 and remains there today. She has been in Best Lawyers in the United States since 2009.
Public Service, Licenses, and Certifications
Woodruff is a multi-engine instrument-rated airplane pilot with the Federal Aviation Administration. She is a North Carolina Certified Public Accountant (CPA 1994), and a Certified Valuation Analyst with the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA).
Business
Woodruff serves as the Director of Blue Ridge Bank, NA, and Blue Ridge Bank Shares (BRBS). Since Woodruff joined this board, BRBS has gone from an OTC stock to the New York Stock Exchange. She is a founder and Director of Carolina State Bank.
Woodruff received the C-Suite Award in 2021. She received the Women in Business Award in 2014. She is a member of various Bar Associations and CPA Associations such as ABA, NCBA, AICPA, and NCACPA. She holds AICPA badges in Blockchain and Cybersecurity.
Domestic violence activist
In 2019, Woodruff and husband, Dwight Ensley, started the Woodruff Ensley Foundation, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit, for the furtherance of domestic violence reform.
In the 1990s, she was active in the American Bar Association Tax Section and became the Chair of the Domestic Relations Tax Committee. She was instrumental in the revision to the way Domestic Violence is viewed by the Internal Revenue Service and was instrumental in the revisions to the Innocent Spouse Laws in Section 6015 of the Internal Revenue Code. Woodruff became a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel. She is the first woman in North Carolina who has ever been granted the status of a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel.
For more than thirty years, Woodruff has been frequent speaker and writer of continuing education for the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (NCACPA). She was on the Board of Directors for the NCACPA, followed by a term on the Executive Committee of NCACPA. She currently serves on the Symposium Committee that hosts North Carolina’s largest Continuing Education conference. She also served one term on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Family Law Council. She was instrumental in passing of the interim allocations provisions in the North Carolina General Statutes to assist a dependent spouse from being “starved out” in a divorce proceeding.
Woodruff created the Armstrong Domestic Violence Reform Bill aimed at giving Judges more latitude on granting domestic violence protection orders and granting potential victims a “right to know” when an estranged partner applies for a gun permit.
Woodruff has been a pro bono advisor to the Sherri Denise Jackson Foundation for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. She aligned with Portia Shipman pushed forward with advocacy regarding children who are left locked in hot cars.
Philanthropy
Woodruff’s philanthropic efforts have led her to major support of Family Service of the Piedmont through creating the leading source of support for the organization with Big Hair Ball, a fundraiser. She is a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Woodruff led the Operation Smile to give children a chance at a healthy life. She encouraged Boys and Girls Club unity in her Community through Dance Movement.
Author/Columnist
Since 2014, Woodruff has been a notable columnist for the Rhino Times with a bi-weekly column known as Ask Carolyn. She is the author of the following:
* Ask Carolyn…Straight Talk from the Dancing Divorce Attorney
* Ask Carolyn Two
* Financial Guide to Divorce in North Carolina
* Business Valuation Principles in North Carolina (Divorce).
She is the primary author of the Essential Guide to Your Family Law Case During COVID-19 and Essential Guide to Your Family Law Case. She is the co-author with husband Dwight of Captain Green Eyes and the Seven Nights of Santa, a holiday book for children in divided homes. She has written a number of articles and speeches for various blogs and other platforms.
Amateur ballroom dance
Woodruff is a now-retired Gold Star Amateur Ballroom Dancer, which is the highest level for an Amateur in the Fred Astaire system. She started a dance partnership with Alosha Anatoliy in April 2006. Woodruff and Anatoliy were featured in the following world shows:
* Dance Legends live appearance 2012 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City with You Lost Me.
* Dance Legends live appearance in 2013 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City with Ameno
* Dance Legends live appearance in 2015 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City with Masquerade
* Dance Legends live appearance in 2016 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City with Gypsy
* The Kremlin Palace, Moscow in Star Duo for a live audience and 100 million television viewers with Mystery of Masquerade in June 8, 2017.
* Star Duo at the Kremlin Place for a live audience and 100 million television viewers in June 2018 with Maria
* Star Duo live appearance in 2015 in Moscow, Russia at the Kremlin Palace with Tribute to Isadora Duncan
In September 2019, Woodruff and Anatoliy were invited to dance at King’s Landing, Croatia, where Game of Thrones was partially firmed. In an unfortunate dance accident, while executing a flip, Woodruff broke her arm. That, along with COVID-19, has sent Woodruff into retirement from ShowDance.
Other appearances
* 2014 - Television Show Ballroom Blitz shown in 10 countries and the United States on TLC
* 2015 - Made two appearances in Dance League American Sports network, including Tribute to Isadora Duncan
* 2016 - United States Dancesport title gold medalist in Pro-Am Classic Showdance with Gypsy
* 2016 - Las Vegas at Bellagio---World Amateur show dance title with husband, Dwight
* Three-time Fred Astaire National Champion in Pro-Am American Smooth
* Fred Astaire National Pro-Am Cabaret Champion
* Three-time Fred Astaire National Amateur Show Dance Champions with husband Ensley.
Personal life
Carolyn married William W. Woodruff, III in 1981. Both divorced in 2000. She later married Dwight Austin Ensley on March 27, 2010. She resides in Greensboro, NC.

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