Cheryl Contee is an American entrepreneur, CEO, blogger, and writer. She is co-founder and CEO of a

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development duri ...

agency, Do Big Things. Before founding Do Big Things, Contee co-founded Fission Strategy and Attentive.ly. In 2019, Contee released her book, “Mechanical Bull", which details her history as a non-traditional startup founder. She received her B.A. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and has an International Executive M.B.A. from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

Entrepreneurship

In May 2008, Contee co-founded Fission Strategy, a women- and minority-owned tech startup. Fission was an Internet strategy and web development firm that specialized in nonprofits and foundations. In 2006, Contee also co-founded Jack and Jill Politics, named one of the top 10 black blogs in 2008, where she wrote under the pseudonym "Jill Tubman”. In June 2012, Contee went on to co-found Attentive.ly, a tech startup specializing in influencer marketing technology, serving as their Strategic Advisor. In 2016, Attentive.ly was acquired by Blackbaud, making it the first tech startup with a black female founder on board in history to be acquired by a NASDAQ-traded company. In 2018, Fission Strategy merged with 270 Strategies, a digital consulting firm, to create Do Big Things, where she currently leads as the CEO. Do Big Things is a mission-driven

agency that specializes in working with non-profits and progressive political campaigns. In 2019, Contee released her book, “Mechanical Bull: How You Can Achieve Startup Success", which details her history as a rare Black female startup founder. In addition to her business ventures, Contee co-founded #YesWeCode, now DreamCorps Tech, which represents the movement to help over 100,000 low opportunity youth to become high quality coders.

Recognition

Contee was included in the first "The Root 100" list of established and emerging African-American leaders. Huffington Post listed her as one of the "Top 27 Female Founders in Tech to Follow on Twitter" in 2011, as did Black Enterprise. Fast Company named her one of their "2010 Most Influential Women in Tech". Contee was also named in "The Influencers 50" in Campaigns and Elections magazine. In 2019, Kate Spade NY and Conscious Company named Contee one of 2019’s “World Changing Women”.

Media appearances

Contee's work has been published or featured by media including NPR’s How I Built This Resilience Series, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

San Francisco Magazine ''San Francisco'' is an American monthly magazine devoted to the people, culture, food, politics, and arts of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published monthly by Modern Luxury publications. History There have been two separate ''San Francis ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, HuffPost Live, Social Venture Circle,

Silicon Republic Silicon Republic (domain:SiliconRepublic.com) is an Irish technology news website, founded by Ann O'Dea and Darren McAuliffe in 2001. It has been honoured at the Irish Web Awards. InspireFest Silicon Republic ran ''InspireFest'', an annual conve ...

, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Harvard Business Review, and MarketWatch/Dow Jones. She is also on several boards and advisory committees, including

Netroots Nation Netroots Nation is a political convention for American progressive political activists. Originally organized by readers and writers of Daily Kos, a liberal political blog, it was previously called YearlyKos and rebranded as Netroots Nation ...

, CovidMD.org, Hopewell Fund, Center for Cultural Power and Digital Undivided. She has been an affiliate of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

References

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''
"An Exclusive Club of Black Women Is Disrupting Silicon Valley"
by OneZero
"Advice on Launching a Tech Startup When You’re Not a White Man"
by Cheryl Contee for

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

"Winning the Internet"
by SSIR
"African American Political Blogs and Social Media"
by Cheryl Contee for

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Contee, Cheryl Living people American women bloggers American bloggers African-American women in business 21st-century African-American businesspeople American computer businesspeople American technology chief executives American technology company founders American women company founders American company founders Yale University alumni McDonough School of Business alumni American consultants American women chief executives Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople Pseudonymous women writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American writers

Entrepreneurship

Recognition

Media appearances

References

External links