Money is Energy, with Cicley Gay

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Cicley Gay. Cicley broke one of the biggest stereotypes. She is African American and was a single mom at age 16. While the system tried to categorize her as having capped potential, Cicley was smart, observant and curious.  One teacher and one paper flyer changed the trajectory of her life forever. Today, Cicley is the single mom to three accomplished sons, and she is a successful entrepreneur. Money tales are woven throughout her life’s journey.

Cicley is the founder and CEO of the social enterprise, The Amplifiers. Standing at the intersection of cause and communications, she leads communications strategies for philanthropists and nonprofits committed to social justice.

Devoted to impacting the lives of the underserved, she spent nearly a decade at the Women’s Sports Foundation as the founding director of GoGirlGo! and later as the National Director of Education and Alliances. There, Cicley lead a philanthropic effort to increase physical activity participation for young women throughout the nation.

Cicley was also the National Program Director of the National CARES Mentoring Movement under the direct leadership of Susan L. Taylor, editor-in-chief emeritus of Essence magazine. In that role, Cicley built the grant allocations process and programmatic infrastructure of a multi-million dollar national mentoring initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Justice.

She is a two-time graduate of AmeriCorps, a civil service effort of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Cicley was also the founding director of STAND (Students Take Action for New Directions), educating students on the impact of federal budget priorities on local communities.

Cicley holds degrees in political science and communications and is a former recipient of the Catalyst Award from the Global Center for Social Change through Women’s Leadership, a member of the inaugural class of WEI, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, was recognized as one of Georgia’s 40 Under 40 in 2017 and as a recipient of the SPANX Red Backpack Fund grant in 2020. Her greatest accomplishment to-date is winning “Mom of the Year” as a stage, football and lacrosse mom to three sons.

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