Fearless Fundraising for Small Business Owners

Moderator
Donna Lowry is an award-winning journalist who combines a passion for storytelling and a desire to empower others with communication and critical thinking skills surrounding political, educational, and financial  issues.

Through her firm, Donna Lowry Communications, she provides consulting, writing, and producing services for educational, media, professional, and business outlets.

Donna serves as host/producer for several programs, including Lawmakers on Georgia Public Broadcasting. 

Donna is an eight-time Emmy award winner, a three-time national Gabriel Award recipient, and has garnered honors from countless organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, Georgia Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). 

Her media peers inducted Donna into the prestigious NATAS Southeast Silver Circle to recognize her lasting contributions to the broadcast industry.  

Donna has a master's in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Bachelor's in Mass Communications and Administration and Management from Chatham University. 

Her professional affiliations include the Atlanta Press Club, the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Southeastern Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS SE).    

In her 15th year as a Girl Scout Leader, Donna has led girls ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her community service affiliations also include Magnolia (GA) Chapter of Links, Inc., and Nu Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.     

Donna and her husband, Army Major (Ret) Bennet W. Reid, Jr., are the parents of three daughters. 

President and Chief Funding Matchmaker, Praxis Strategic Solutions

Anita Davis is the President, Lead Strategist, and Chief Funding Matchmaker at Praxis Strategic Solutions. For more than twenty years, she has successfully helped clients acquire millions of dollars in capital that becomes the catalyst and fuel for small business sustainability, growth, and scalability.  

Ms. Davis founded Praxis Strategic Solutions in 2016. Her 20-year tenure as a Vice President and loan officer with SunTrust and BB&T Banks (Now Truist Bank), and Chase Bank equipped her with broad and deep commercial lending analysis expertise.

The Praxis firm specializes in assisting small business owners navigate the lending process and drives clients to the loan closing table. She has also curated a consortium of tenured subject matter experts that provide cohort training solutions to 501c3 advocacy organizations and corporate procurement teams.

Ms. Davis maintains the following credentials; Cornell University Women’s Business Entrepreneurship Certificate, Goldman Sachs 10KSB Alumni, Greater Women’s Business Council (GWBC) Board of Directors, Gwinnett Chamber Foundation Board of Directors, Women’s Business Enterprise Certification (WBE), Women Owned Small Business Certification (WOSB), and the Minority Business Enterprise Certification (MBE). 

Founder & CEO, Finance Savvy CEO™ and creator of Your Profit Playbook™

Marguerite, a former Wall Street financial analyst, business strategist, and top ranked business money expert, was named Atlanta’s 40 Under 40 by Atlanta Business Chronicle, co-authored “Girl Power Uncensored” with her chapter “From Wall Street To Helping Main Street”, is an accredited angel investor, host of the podcast “Finance Savvy CEO”, the creator of Your Profit Playbook® - the leading business financial planning training program for small business owners, and Founder & CEO of financesavvyceo.com. 

Marguerite spent the early stages of her career as a senior analyst at Goldman Sachs, controlling an over $2 billion portfolio of private equity, alternative energy, and commercial real estate investments. She transitioned after business school at the NYU Stern School of Business into a successful career in Mergers & Acquisitions as a Manager at Deloitte Consulting, advising fortune 500 companies through the full deal cycle from target screening, deal structuring, valuations and due diligence, all the way through day 1 readiness and post-merger implementations.

Marguerite continued to push the ceiling when she sought to make wedding planning less stressful and more fun for brides by creating Tulle la la, a global retail technology company that combines technology with a project management-based approach to wedding planning. In 2018, Tulle la la won the modern luxury diamond award for Best Wedding Technology. Marguerite had a successful exit from the company within 5 years, and today, Tulle la la continues to serve thousands of brides across the globe each year.

Marguerite now focuses her attention on her EdTech FinTech platform, Finance Savvy CEO, created to help close the gender & racial wealth gap through focusing on profitable entrepreneurship. Finance Savvy CEO supports business owners on an ongoing basis, through programming and members only access, to increase the financial health of their business and intentionally create long term organic financial sustainability.

Marguerite is passionate about building generational wealth through entrepreneurship, and is always excited to help entrepreneurs navigate their pathway to profitability.

Engineer, Founder CEO, Nead Werx, Inc.

Nickolas (Nick) Downey is founder and CEO of MerchLogix, Inc., an Atlanta-based software company. Nick graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002 with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Nick is a former member of the Atlanta Technology Angels and sits on the Board of Directors of several Atlanta organizations. Nick has served as a coach for the Georgia Tech Business Plan competition, and the Startup Runway Foundation.

Chief Growth Officer, Corps Team

Jane McCracken is the Chief Growth Officer at Corps Team, a women-owned nationwide, professional, search and staffing firm that works with startups to the Fortune 500.

Most recently, Jane served as the Assistant Director and an Entrepreneur in Residence of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the state of Georgia’s technology business incubator that helps entrepreneurs launch and scale technology companies.

Jane has had an extensive career as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. She founded and served in the C-suite of a number of technology companies including those in healthcare, software and e-commerce.  She raised more than $100 million in funding for those companies and achieved a successful exit in each.

Prior to her career as an entrepreneur, Jane managed two venture capital organizations in the U.K. as well as established a 50-person business angel network, all of which focused on investments in early-stage technology companies.

Jane serves on boards for public and private companies, as well as non-profit organizations. She is an active volunteer in her community.  She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and her master’s degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Manager, Experience Team, BBB Atlanta & NE GA

Crystal McPherson joined Better Business Bureau in 2014 and became the Customer Experience Team Manager in 2019. With over 25 years of relationship building experience, she has learned it all comes down to listening and understanding. At the same time, interactions must be natural, so they are effective. Problem solving is one of the skills that has brought Crystal so far in her career and given the results she desires to help others on her team.

CEO of TPM Focus

Monique Mills is a degreed electrical engineer turned serial entrepreneur. With an emphasis on business innovation, she currently serves as the CEO of her strategy consulting firm, TPM Focus, which provides revenue-focused strategies to companies that are starting up or expanding. And she serves as President of her family-owned small-business acquisition company, Focused Innovation Group. She serves as Mentor, Advisor, Consultant, and Strategic Partner to several entrepreneurial and innovation organizations as well as economic development agencies.

Monique serves as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Georgia State University to share knowledge about entrepreneurship and innovation.  With an electrical engineering degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MBA from Georgia Institute of Technology, she is an advocate for the diversification of STEM careers, expanded leadership, and equitable entrepreneurial opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities.