OUR FOUNDER: MONICA SMILEY
MONICA S. SMILEY
Editor and Publisher
Enterprising Women Magazine
President and Founder
Enterprising Women Foundation
MONICA SMILEY is the editor and publisher of Enterprising Women, a national and now global magazine she and her team launched in May 2000 to provide a strong voice for women entrepreneurs. The magazine will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025 and is available in print and digital editions, supplemented by The Connector, a blog through the publication’s website at www.enterprisingwomen.com. Smiley also serves as president of the Enterprising Women Foundation, a nonprofit she founded in 2010 to encourage philanthropy among women entrepreneurs and support initiatives to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship in the U.S. and globally. The annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards, now in its 22nd year, honors the top 100 women entrepreneurs from around the globe at a two-day event held each spring.
Considered a global thought leader on women’s entrepreneurship, Monica served on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW)for 11 years and was a mentor in the Peace Through Business program working with Rwandan and Afghan women entrepreneurs for 17 years. In January 2024, the Enterprising Women Foundation assumed responsibility for the Peace Through Business program and has now expanded the initiative into Uganda, Canada and the United Kingdom. An award-winning journalist, Smiley has more than 45 years of magazine publishing experience and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2023 Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Business, the 2017 National NAWBO Gillian Rudd Business Leadership Award, the first Adrienne Hall Award presented in 2009 by the Women Presidents’ Organization in recognition of her work to build bridges and alliances within the women’s business community, and the President’s Award and Innovator of the Year Award from Women Impacting Public Policy. She received the 2013 Gold Stevie Award for “Women Helping Women” and The International Alliance for Women’s “World of Difference 100 Award” in recognition of her work to economically empower women around the globe. Folio magazine named Monica to its 2015 list of “Top Women in Media and the “FOLIO 100: Top Leaders in Magazine Media” for 2018.
In 2015, she was recognized by STEMConnector and the Million Women Mentors Program for her work with the Enterprising Women Foundation’s National Mentorship Initiative to inspire the next generation of Young Enterprising Women. STEMConnector/Million Women Mentors also named her its 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year. She received the 2016 ATHENA National Leadership Award. In May 2021 she was inducted into the North Carolina Women Business Owner Hall of Fame.
Monica serves on the National Association of Women Business Owners National Advisory Council and is Board Chair for the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Institute of Consumer Money Management which invests in research on financial literacy. She has been a speaker and a delegate at the Global Summit of Women in Morocco, Germany, China, Chile, Turkey, Greece, France, Switzerland and Spain. She is a founding partner in the Women Business Collaborative and serves as co-chair of the WBC Entrepreneurship Committee.
Monica holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism from Bradley University, Peoria, IL and resides in Apex, North Carolina. She is the mother of two sons, stepmom to three adult children, and has nine grandchildren.