Invest Atlanta names Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative director

Monica Hooks has been named Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative Executive Director of Invest Atlanta. CONTRIBUTED

Monica Hooks has been named Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative Executive Director of Invest Atlanta. CONTRIBUTED

Invest Atlanta recently announced the hiring of Monica Hooks as the Executive Director of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, a business incubator for early-stage, female-led startup companies. According to a press release, Hooks brings more than 20 years of marketing and business development experience to the position with deep expertise in new media, entertainment, and technology.

As WEI Executive Director, she will lead the WEI program, including the strategic direction, administration, and day-to-day activities of the organization with oversight from Invest Atlanta’s CEO and the WEI board of directors. Hooks will develop, manage, and execute programs and initiatives that support the development and promotion of female entrepreneurship with a keen focus on launching the program’s third cohort.

She will also be responsible for key areas such as innovation policy, entrepreneur workforce programs, women entrepreneurship, financial capacity building, and entrepreneur retention and entrepreneur development throughout the City of Atlanta.

“In Atlanta, roughly 40 percent of businesses are women-owned, yet female entrepreneurs must still overcome social and economic barriers many of their male peers do not face,” said Grace Fricks, President and CEO of Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs. “Atlanta is a city committed to supporting all its entrepreneurs, and I look forward to working closely with Monica to help more women launch successful businesses and grow our economy.”

Before joining Invest Atlanta, Hooks was CEO of m-oracle LLC d/b/a The Marketing Oracle, a marketing innovation agency offering strategy and market research. The firm has leveraged marketing data to garner partnerships with companies like Reservoir Media, Epic Records, I Am Other, Grand Hustle and William Morris Endeavor, and placements with brands like NBA.TV, Samsung, Playstation, and Disney Interactive. m-oracle LLC is a graduate of the WEI inaugural class and winner of the 2017 Microsoft Innovation Bots and Cognitive Services award.

WEI will begin accepting applications in November 2019 for its next cohort of women entrepreneurs.

Information: www.weiatlanta.com.