Kara Brown

Only 1.7% of female founders will break $1 million in annual revenue. Kara Brown, CEO of SmithBrown Marketing did just this in less than two years with an all-female team. SmithBrown is a full-service marketing firm specializing in B2B lead conversion, empowering business leaders to scale with proven marketing strategies and measured results through demand generation, strategy, social conversion, and execution. Brown had a robust corporate career before becoming an entrepreneur including startups, enterprise and being part of an IPO.

In 2006, Brown was one of the first employees at Echo Global Logistics. Echo grew quickly in three years and her name is on the company’s 2009 IPO press release [NYSE: ECHO]. At another supply chain management company Brown weathered a major communications crisis with almost no market exposure before moving home to Chicago to start a family. Brown arrived in Atlanta in 2016 and started SmithBrown with no network. Less than two years later, she has a team of four full-time employees and a client list that includes Atlanta heavyweights. She is also an active force in cultivating Atlanta’s female economy.

Brown’s personal goal is to empower professional women. She is a founding member of Close(Her), a networking group for women in sales. She is also on the board of the Entrepreneur Organization Accelerator program, a Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative company, and a Launchpad2X alumni.