In 2011, Cara Hicks was on Chatter Magazine’s original “20 under 40” list. Then a 26-year-old account manager at EPB, Hicks shared pieces of her life story with the magazine, including the fact that she navigated the University of Georgia as a single mom.
Now, more than a decade later, she is the founder and CEO of MOMentum, a Chattanooga nonprofit that coordinates housing and other services for single mothers enrolled in college. In the past 10 months, MOMentum has served 83 women, Hicks said.
“Any mom who is motivated to complete college, we can work with them,” Hicks said in a recent interview at MOMentum’s office and housing complex on Lincoln Park Lane near Erlanger hospital.
We asked Hicks, whose family grew to five children (her oldest child, Jax, died at age 17 last year), to reflect on the “20 under 40” experience. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.