CEO. Mother. Urban Designer. Manufacturer. Scientist.
Wanona Satcher is an Atlanta, Georgia native and CEO/Founder of three companies. She owns Mākhers Studio, LLC a boutique manufacturing firm, Pearl Dynamix, a R&D biotech startup, and Willow LLC, a creative agency. She is dedicated to developing what she calls "prosilient communities.” Over the course of her career she’s served as an urban designer with a focus on equitable housing policy, a landscape architect designer, city planner, and theater producer.
As a social entrepreneur Wanona worked on partnership projects with The White House and collaborated with digital media studio Plympton, Durham's premier coworking space American Underground, Research Triangle Park Headquarters, University of North Carolina Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise, Startup Weekend, Bull City Forward and Duke University Fuqua School of Business. Through her first startup CDDG (Community Design Development Group) she led grant writing (regional and federal), research, and technical assistance with livability initiatives and helped revitalize the city through transportation planning, greenway design, economic development, and urban design strategies. She consulted with municipalities and neighborhood groups on community and economic development and helped translate her findings into policies that could be adopted by local government. Wanona was a Neighborhood Development Specialist and founded the Durham Urban Innovation Center within the City of Durham, North Carolina. She also previously served as Project Manager for Chattahoochee Now, an Atlanta-based nonprofit dedicated to advocacy, convening and activating Atlanta's waterfront. Wanona holds Economic Development and Finance Professional Certification from the National Development Council in small business development and real estate development.
In 2020 Wanona was selected as Inc Magazine’s 100 Top Female Entrepreneurs, and in 2019 won two Auburn Alumni awards (Diversity & Inclusion; Sustainability). In 2018 she was chosen to participate in the LAUNCH Founder University in Silicon Valley for minority and women-owned businesses. In 2016 Wanona was a finalist for the Dell/Cosmo Magazine Women's Entrepreneur Network Award and keynote panelist for Moogfest- the world-renowned music, art and technology conference. In 2013 she was also a semi-finalist for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, attended Aspen Institute/CityLab 2.0 and was chosen as a national Next City Vanguard’s Top 40 Under 40 program. She was featured in the Huffington Post. Wanona is the first African American to receive a Master of Landscape Architecture degree as well as dual Masters degrees in community planning and landscape architecture from Auburn University. Wanona currently sits on the Advisory Council to the Landscape Architecture Program at Auburn. Her husband Kevin Hamak, a South Dakota native, is her business partner, a retired licensed landscape architect and Director of Operations for their companies. In Fall 2020 Wanona graduated in the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business Executive Education Diversity Business Program. She was also selected as a 2020 SOCAP Game-Changing Founders of Color and a 2021 SheEO Venture Finalist! Wanona is currently a Summit Fellow and a 2021 Forbes Next 1000 Honoree.
In 2024, Wanona was invited to speak at the first Power Source Summit alongside NASA officials, engineers, movie producers, and cybersecurity experts on the future of space. Her work was featured on the National Mall at the Smithsonian at the 2024 HUD Housing Innovation Event.
Wanona enjoys being a Mom!
Disclaimer
This website is an informational resource. Any statements made are of personal experience and expressions of opinion only. I make no guarantees about the information provided herein.
