Today we’d like to introduce you to Domonique Cooper.
Hi Domonique, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and Baltimore will always be an important part of my story. It is where I developed many of the values that continue to guide me today, including resilience, determination, service, and the importance of community.
In 2011, I relocated to Georgia and began building a new chapter of my life. What started as a move ultimately became an incredible journey of personal growth, professional development, and community leadership. Over the years, I have dedicated myself to human services, nonprofit leadership, advocacy, and creating opportunities for children, families, and communities.
My journey eventually led me to become a CASA volunteer, advocating for children involved in the child welfare system. That experience had a significant impact on my path and ultimately brought me full circle into nonprofit executive leadership. Today, I have the privilege of serving as CEO of Atlanta CASA, where I lead an organization committed to ensuring children experiencing foster care have strong advocates and a voice.
Along the way, I have also become an author, continued my education and leadership development, and remained actively involved in civic and community service. While Georgia has become home, I carry Baltimore with me. The city where I was born and raised helped shape the woman, leader, advocate, and community servant I am today.
My story continues to evolve, but the common thread has always been people, purpose, and service.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not always been a smooth road. My journey has included seasons of transition, uncertainty, sacrifice, and learning how to keep moving forward even when life did not go according to plan. Relocating from Baltimore to Georgia in 2011 meant leaving the familiarity of home and establishing myself in a new state, both personally and professionally.
One of the most significant challenges came a few years after that move when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Receiving a life changing diagnosis while raising a family, building my career, and establishing myself in Georgia required a different level of resilience. I had to learn how to navigate an unexpected reality without allowing a diagnosis to define who I was or what I could accomplish.
Throughout my journey, I have balanced motherhood, education, career advancement, community service, and leadership while navigating challenges that were not always visible to others. There have been setbacks, pivots, sacrifices, and moments when the path forward was unclear, but I continued moving forward.
Those experiences have shaped the woman and leader I am today. They have taught me how to adapt, advocate for myself and others, appreciate opportunities, and understand that success is rarely a straight line. Some of the most challenging chapters of my story have ultimately strengthened my commitment to living with purpose and serving others.
I am proud of where I am today, but I am equally proud of everything it took to get here.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My professional journey has always been rooted in service and a belief that leadership should create opportunities for others.
Today, I serve as CEO of Atlanta CASA, an organization dedicated to advocating for children and youth experiencing foster care. What makes leading this organization especially significant is that I did not enter the CASA movement as an executive. I began as a CASA volunteer, advocating directly for children and families. I later served on the Board of Directors before eventually being entrusted with leading the organization as CEO. That journey from volunteer to board leadership to executive leadership has given me a unique understanding of what it means to serve a mission at every level.
My work specializes in nonprofit leadership, child advocacy, community engagement, partnership development, and building innovative approaches to service. I am particularly passionate about creating initiatives that expand who sees themselves as having a role in strengthening their community. Through my leadership, I have worked to develop new programs, cultivate cross sector partnerships, strengthen volunteer engagement, and create additional pathways for people of different ages and backgrounds to become connected to advocacy and service.
But my work has never existed within the walls of one organization. Throughout my career, I have served across nonprofit, behavioral health, civic, educational, and community spaces. I am also an author and a lifelong learner who believes education becomes most powerful when we use what we learn to improve the lives of others.
What I am most proud of is not a particular title, award, or accomplishment. I am proud of the people who have been connected, encouraged, supported, or given an opportunity because I was willing to serve. I have learned that leadership is less about occupying a position and more about accepting responsibility for what becomes possible because you were in that position.
That philosophy is ultimately what sets my work apart. I do not simply want to lead successful organizations or programs. I want to build things that matter, develop people who will continue the work, strengthen communities, and create impact that remains long after my name is no longer attached to it.
For me, that is legacy. And I believe I am still writing mine.
What are your plans for the future?
When I think about the future, I do not necessarily think about the next title I want to hold. I think about the next level of impact I want to create.
I have reached a point in my journey where success means more than personal accomplishment. I want the experiences, education, relationships, and opportunities I have been fortunate enough to gain to become something that creates opportunities for other people.
Professionally, I look forward to continuing to grow as a nonprofit executive and expanding the reach and impact of Atlanta CASA. There is still tremendous work to be done for children and families, and I want to continue developing innovative programs, cultivating partnerships, strengthening advocacy, and creating pathways for more people to become involved in service.
I also see my future extending beyond any single organization. I want to continue writing, speaking, teaching, mentoring, and contributing to conversations about leadership, nonprofit management, child advocacy, community engagement, and service. Education has played an important role throughout my journey, and I hope to continue connecting what I have learned academically with what more than a decade of community work and leadership has taught me in practice.
One of the things I am most excited about is pouring into the next generation. I want young people, emerging professionals, and future leaders to understand that where you begin does not determine where you can go. As someone who began her story in Baltimore and eventually built a life and career hundreds of miles away in Georgia, I understand the power of allowing your story to evolve without forgetting where it started.
I also hope that the years ahead provide opportunities to expand my influence nationally, build initiatives that can be replicated in other communities, and contribute to institutions and causes whose work will continue long beyond my own career.
I am ambitious about the future, but my ambition looks different today. I am less interested in simply collecting accomplishments and much more interested in building a body of work that matters.
Years from now, I hope people can look at my journey and see more than positions held, degrees earned, books written, programs created, or recognition received. I hope they see evidence that I used what I had, where I was, to make life better for someone else.
Baltimore gave me my beginning. Georgia gave me room to grow. And I believe the chapters ahead will be about using both to build a legacy of service that reaches far beyond me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.atlantacasa.org
