Leading with Purpose: Morgan Kelly ’04 on Building Networks of Impact

Morgan Kelly '04 has built a career rooted in strategy, creativity and human connection. Now the executive director of GLAM4GOOD Foundation, Ms. Kelly leads an award-winning national nonprofit focused on addressing clothing and self-care insecurity by delivering brand-new wardrobe staples and personal care essentials to women, students and families across the country.

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Ms. Kelly earned a B.A. in advertising from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, along with a B.S. in psychology and a minor in sociology. During her time at UGA, she studied abroad at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Ms. Kelly began her career in New York City, working as a producer in live entertainment. She spent several years at a boutique production company creating large-scale events and experiences for clients including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the City of New York, Nike and Frieze Art Fair. As her role expanded, she moved into business operations and eventually became co-chair of the company’s People and Culture Committee.

“While in this role, I developed a practice of leading through human connection, fostering dynamic relationships and mobilizing resources to create alignment across a rapidly scaling organization,” she said.

In 2020, Ms. Kelly joined GLAM4GOOD, a nonprofit founded by philanthropist and fashion editor Mary Alice Stephenson. Brought on during the height of the pandemic as a freelance event producer, Ms. Kelly was tasked with establishing an agile response model that would allow the organization to safely sustain and expand its giving amid rapidly shifting guidelines.  This work led to the creation of a series of GLAM4GOOD pop-up shops across New York City’s five boroughs, in partnership with the NYC Administration for Children Services, through which GLAM4GOOD donated $3.7 million in goods and services to youth and families within the City’s jurisdiction. Before stepping into her current role as executive director, she also served as chief operating officer, leading the acquisition and buildout of GLAM4GOOD’s 4,000-square-foot onsite warehouse and implementing systems to support long-term growth.

Today, Ms. Kelly focuses on scaling GLAM4GOOD’s national reach and deepening impact. The organization has expanded to support more than 180 mission-aligned community partners across the country, including Atlanta, and has extended brand partnerships to major retailers like Ulta Beauty and Zadig & Voltaire.

“I love the strategic puzzle of it all: designing networks of impact, finding solutions that chain together and return value to everyone involved,” she said.

Ms. Kelly attributes her entrepreneurial spirit to and her passion for philanthropy to her great uncle, John Cook, a visionary business leader in Atlanta and beyond and the namesake of St. Louis University's John Cook School of Business. She is passionate about GLAM4GOOD’s mission and the urgency behind it. She notes that almost 40 million people in the United States live at or below the federal poverty line, while an estimated 43% of families struggle to afford basic living essentials, including clothing and personal care, despite significant excess in the beauty and apparel industries.

“Access to clothing, toiletries, and self-care items is deeply connected to one’s sense of self-confidence, agency and in a word, opportunity,” she said.

Ms. Kelly joined Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in her freshman year and formed life-long friendships, including with her first best friend, Kate Stice Stewart '04. She loved running track and taking AP Art, and she remains grateful for the guidance of teachers including Niki Simpson, Meredith Many and John Baum. She also credits HIES for fostering a genuine sense of community and providing a rigorous curriculum that supported curiosity and exploration across academics, Fine Arts and extracurriculars.