The Idea
I’ve spent 25 years in entertainment and media: Disney, ESPN, BET Networks, VIACOM. I’ve built integrated marketing campaigns, managed massive budgets, won Emmy awards. But somewhere in all that corporate success, I realized something was missing: a space where Black teenage girls could see themselves reflected in the industries I’d worked in. Not as afterthoughts. Not as diversity checkboxes. As future leaders.
I noticed a gap in the market. There were large youth nonprofits that operated at scale but lost the personal touch. There were small mentorship programs that were authentic but couldn’t grow. There was nothing that said: “You’re ambitious. You’re smart. You’re enough. And we’re going to connect you with women who look like you and have built the careers you dream about.”
So I built it.
The Foundation: Starting Small and Intentional
Pretty Smart Cookies launched with six founding members: girls from my personal network, daughters of friends, young women I believed in. Not because I was trying to build fast. Because I was trying to build right.
But here’s what made this different: I realized I knew ambitious Black teenage girls scattered across the country. Girls in Maryland, Arkansas, New York, Louisiana, Las Vegas. Girls who didn’t have access to the same mentorship or industry connections, but who deserved them. I envisioned bringing them together, creating a national community where they could learn from each other and from speakers and topics that actually matter for their futures in entertainment and media.
Girl Scouts exists. So do dozens of youth organizations. But none of them were speaking directly to Black girls about breaking into Hollywood, understanding their power in media spaces, or connecting with women who look like them and have built the careers they dream about.
That’s what I built.
That first year, we grew to 14 members. A 233% increase. But here’s what’s more important: we maintained a 100% retention rate. Not a single girl left. That’s not luck. That’s execution.
Growing Through Relationships, Not Budgets
I didn’t hire a marketing firm. I didn’t run paid ads. I didn’t have a budget for customer acquisition.
What I did have was 25 years of relationships in entertainment, media, and culture. So I leveraged them.
The response was overwhelming. Within months, I had committed speakers and partnerships with:
- Howard University – Dr. Nicole Bao
- Beauty & Lifestyle – Misho Beauty, Kari Holmes (Influencer)
- Content Creators – Kitiya King, Tamaya Walker (Sister with Suitcases)
- Athletes – Kerri Holmes (Collegiate Volleyball)
- Healthcare & Wellness – Dr. Glo Okugo (Emergency Room Doctor)
- Industry Executives – Melanie Moore, Executive Creative Director at Fetch
These women brought credibility. They brought networks. They brought real-world insight into what it takes to build careers in entertainment and media. And they cost us $0 in acquisition expenses because they believed in the mission.
Result: 25% of our member growth came directly through partner introductions. The rest came through word-of-mouth: members telling their parents, their friends, their cousins about what we were creating.
Cost per acquisition for word-of-mouth growth? Zero dollars.
Building the Program: Consistency Over Perfection
Here’s something they don’t teach you in business school: showing up matters more than showing out.
Every month, Pretty Smart Cookies delivers programming. Every month. No cancellations. No postponements. No “we’ll reschedule.”
That consistency builds trust. Parents trust us with their daughters because we’ve proven we follow through. Girls show up because they know we will too.
Our monthly themes have included everything from hair psychology to vision boarding to conversations with established powerhouses in Hollywood. We’ve hosted speakers who would typically command $5K+ honorariums, for free, because they believed in what we’re building.
The numbers tell the story:
- Average attendance: 85%
- Average member satisfaction: 4.7 out of 5
- Program completion rate: 100%
These metrics matter because they tell a story: we built something people want to be part of.
2026: Evolving the Model
In March 2026, we launched a tiered membership structure, meeting girls where they are.
Tier 1 serves girls who want community and monthly programming.
Tier 2 adds access to industry mentors: women who can give real guidance about navigating entertainment, media, and creative careers.
Tier 3 provides full access, including travel experiences and exclusive opportunities.
This structure allows us to serve more girls while deepening relationships with those ready for intensive mentorship. It’s about both access and depth.
We also launched the Annie T. Whitmore Book Scholarship for Seniors: a $500 award for graduating members who submit an essay reflecting on their Pretty Smart Cookies journey. This honors their academic achievement and helps us track their outcomes beyond our programming.
These girls graduate and go to college. They pursue careers. We want to follow their stories and be a part of them. We want to support their next chapter.
Here’s What I Learned
✓ Relationships trump budgets. If you’ve built real relationships over 25 years, they’re worth more than a six-figure marketing budget. People invest in people. In mission. In things that matter.
✓ Consistency beats perfection. Show up. Every month. Every program. Every promise. That reliability is worth more than any single impressive event.
✓ Lean overhead is a feature, not a bug. Operating efficiently isn’t about being cheap. It’s about respecting your mission. Every dollar we’re not spending on overhead is a dollar that could go toward deeper mentorship, better experiences, stronger impact.
✓ Retention is your real growth metric. If people stay, if they’re satisfied, if they’re telling others, you’ve built something real. That’s the foundation for sustainable growth.
✓ Planning matters. Know where you’re going. Set clear goals for your organization, your members, your impact. Planning gives you direction and accountability.
✓ Keep going. There will be moments when it feels small. When you’re running an organization with 14 members instead of thousands. When the work feels invisible. Keep going anyway. That’s not just luck. That’s 25 years of showing up, delivering, and building trust. In entrepreneurship, that matters more than capital.
Looking Ahead
Pretty Smart Cookies is still in its early stages. We’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We’re building something intentional for a specific community of girls who deserve to see themselves in the industries that shape culture. That’s the work. That’s what it means to build something that lasts.
The Real Takeaway
For anyone thinking about leaving corporate to do something meaningful: you don’t have to choose between strategic rigor and mission-driven work. In fact, that’s where the real magic happens.
Apply everything you learned in the corporate world: strategic thinking, execution discipline, relationship leverage, operational efficiency. Apply it to something you actually care about. Build it intentionally. Measure what matters. Show up consistently. Trust your relationships.
Pretty Smart Cookies isn’t my exit from marketing. It’s the fullest expression of it.
Pretty Smart Cookies is a social organization founded in 2024, dedicated to empowering Black teen girls ages 12–18 through mentorship, cultural education, and transformative experiences. Learn more at prettsmartcookies.com.
Mika is a senior marketing executive with 25+ years of experience across entertainment and media. She’s also the founder and executive director of Pretty Smart Cookies.
