Monica 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 20th anniversary in 2020 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 18th year, honors the top 100 women entrepreneurs from around the globe at a two-day event held each spring.

Monica serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW) and has been a mentor in the Peace Through Business program working with Rwandan and Afghan women entrepreneurs for the past ten years. An award-winning journalist, Smiley has more than 40 years of magazine publishing experience.

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, and Switzerland.

Monica holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism from Bradley University, Peoria, IL. She is the mother of two sons, a stepmom to three adult children, and has eight grandchildren.