The Circle of Influence 

A monthly gathering of the taste makers  & the rain makers to forge a strong cross pollination within their circle of influence. Every month a set of movers and shakers are selected to share and exchange ideas on different topics.

Auta Lopes. Managing Member. 1 Ignite Capital, LLC

Interviewed by : Maryan Aiken. Publisher. PaperGlass Media

Auta A. Lopes, Managing Member, is the Head of Business Development for 1 Ignite Capital LLC, an Atlanta-based WBE and MBE financial services consulting firm. 1 Ignite Capital, LLC works with institutional and high-net-worth investors, and other financial partners, to address the financing and risk management needs of real estate developers and start-up companies. Auta holds a Series 65 license.

Auta closed financial advisory transactions, ranging from $18M to $225M, with colleges and universities, while serving as the senior vice president and director of marketing for a boutique financial advisory firm in Atlanta. She developed key contacts with university presidents, public fund trustees, investment consultants, chief financial officers, county commissioners, investment bankers and other financial intermediaries in the United States and abroad to win financial advisory opportunities

She spent 13 years at State Street Bank & Trust Co. serving as client relationship officer for a large public fund with assets of $22 billion in assets. She graduated from Boston University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management, with a concentration in Finance. She formerly held board positions at the Cowart Family-Ashford Dunwoody YMCA and Caring For Others. Currently, she is the Executive Director of AWLO.ORG

Auta is fluent in English and proficient in Portuguese, Cape Verdean Creole and Spanish.

dr. iyabo ojikutu. pediatrician. author. permanent happiness. circle of influence honoree, auta lopes with onyinye akujuo.

I have an absolutely amazing life and look at the brighter side of things. I am a “glass is half full” person due to my upbringing. I hail from the most beautiful place on Earth, the Cape Verde Islands. It is an amazing place that is populated with the best and most peaceful people on earth.

My permanent happiness stems from knowing that I am living through a “Heaven on Earth” experience. I am the FULL expression of God and embody that in every atom in my body. I am truly blessed to be on Earth at this point in time in humanity’s evolution and am humbled with every breath of life that I have been given by HIM, the most."

----Auta Lopes

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All images are shot with Samsung S7 Edge.