Five Years Helping Underrepresented Founders and Leaders Excel

Five Years Helping Underrepresented Founders and Leaders Excel Like you, I dream big and work hard to bring my personal and professional goals to fruition. But one of my greatest passions is helping fellow business owners and corporate professionals accelerate their progress and reach their dreams.

That passion and unwavering purpose is what has enabled Monica Motivates, LLC., in just five years, to serve thousands of underrepresented entrepreneurs and to share our expertise with Fortune 500 companies and elite organizations including Microsoft, Porsche, The Coca-Cola Company, Cisco, the Atlanta Hawks, Georgia Tech and many others.

I thank God for the courage to be obedient five years ago when I realized I was ready to move on from a successful career with a Fortune 100 global brand to start my own business helping underrepresented founders and leaders reach their potential. As an entrepreneur, sometimes it’s only you and God who can see your vision for the future, but I’m so glad I trusted His guidance and my own passions to strike out on this amazing journey.

What we’ve done

Working with an incredible team and blessed with the trust of thousands of founders who have let us into their businesses (and into their hopes, fears and dreams) and the companies who have partnered with us to develop their teams, these are a few highlights from our first five years.

  • More than 6,200 founders have been empowered by Pitch University and our Global Supplier Diversity Conference. One amazing founder at a time, we have worked to close the opportunity gap for women and underrepresented founders by helping them gain the skills, experiences and connections to share their stories in compelling ways, present their businesses most effectively and drive growth.
  • Established and graduated our first cohorts from The BRIDGE business accelerator launched in partnership with Microsoft to open new avenues for success to underrepresented founders in the construction industry. The BRIDGE (specifically tailored to be a Blueprint for Commercial Real Estate Innovation, Development, Growth & Engagement) provides the strategic framework to help women and minority founders realize new business opportunities and win corporate contracts.
  • Led four highly successful Global Supplier Diversity Conferences (GSDC) in person and virtually with dynamic executive speakers who share business strategies to help underrepresented founders secure VC funding and connect with large organizations increasingly interested in forging relationships with diverse suppliers. Senior leaders from Microsoft, GSK Consumer Healthcare, Porsche, the Atlanta Hawks and BBVA, now a part of PNC, and others actively engage with founders in this full-day conference and prepare them for new vendor partnerships. Our fifth annual GSDC will be held September 22, 2022.
  • Launched our own non-profit foundation, Pivot Purposefully, with our inaugural program focused on helping formerly incarcerated women build their entrepreneurial capabilities and start or grow their own businesses.
  • Educated thousands of women across corporate America where I and the Monica Motivates team frequently serve as keynote speakers and workshop facilitators at conferences and corporate training events.

How we got here

It has been a wild ride and a highly gratifying five years. All of us at Monica Motivates look to 2022 humbled by our progress and energized to support even more underrepresented colleagues on their journeys to fulfilling their dreams. I have learned so much here in the trenches building my own career, building a business and helping others to build theirs. These are the top ten things entrepreneurship has taught me that I’m honored to share with you.

  1. Trust God always
  2. Protect your inner circle
  3. Live in gratitude during the peaks and the valleys
  4. Do good by everyone and expect nothing in return
  5. Believe in your vision more than anyone else
  6. Practice self-care (mentally and physically)
  7. Give back; it’s so much bigger than any one of us
  8. Enjoy the journey!
  9. To whom much is given, much is required
  10. The best is yet to come. . .

Keep going!  God got you and I believe in you!