Andrea Cook serves as Senior Director at NC IDEA Foundation and manages the organization’s marketing activities and operations. She has been with NC IDEA since 2010 and has been actively involved in North Carolina’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for over 25 years, serving in various marketing roles within well-known and respected entrepreneurial support organizations (Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)), investment partnerships (Intersouth Partners), and professional services firms (Hutchison PLLC).
Andrea received a B.A. in Journalism and a Minor in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has served on the boards of the Visual Art Exchange, EntreDot, and Carolina Dance Foundation. She is currently President-Elect for Broughton High School Dance Boosters.
1. What is in your pockets?
During the work week, I keep my office access badge handy. You’ll more than likely also find me carrying lipstick and my phone whenever I am wearing something with pockets. Otherwise, my husband sometimes gets the lucky task of carrying these things for me.
2. What exciting thing has happened recently for you or your organization?
For me, I just celebrated my 15-year anniversary with NC IDEA earlier this month. Time flies when you’re having fun! At NC IDEA, we are celebrating our 20th year in 2025!
NC IDEA is an independent private foundation committed to equitably empowering North Carolinians to achieve their entrepreneurial potential. We do this through a combination of grants and programs and a network of strategic partners across the state. To kick off this milestone year, we just launched a Where Are They Now? video series where our President and CEO, Thom Ruhe, sits down with early grant recipients to revisit the highs and lows of some of North Carolina’s most successful startups. A new video will be launched on the last Thursday of [each] month throughout the year.
For our first conversations, it has been fun catching up with these early founders. We have more celebratory activities planned throughout the year, so follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook and tune in to our podcast for the latest updates on the Foundation.
3. What is your favorite coffee spot?
NC IDEA is located in the Provident1898 space in the NC Mutual Building in downtown Durham. Recently, Fare & Fellow opened in the building’s lobby. It’s so nice and convenient to walk upstairs for some sunlight and a good cup of coffee or latte while at the office.
When working from home, I love taking my laptop and enjoying a latte at Jubala Coffee, typically the location in North Hills (I live in Raleigh). And it’s hard to resist ordering a sweet biscuit with apple butter on the side whenever I’m there.
4. What keeps you up at night?
This is such a loaded question. So much going on in our country right now has me worried. But what weighs heavy on my mind and heart, particularly these days, is being in that continuum between focusing on myself and my immediate family and caring for aging parents.
There are blessings that come with spending more time with our parents—my parents recently moved to Cary from Florida and my mother-in-law moved to Raleigh this past year after the passing of my father-in-law—but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times. My daughter is a rising junior in high school, and I think about the fact that my husband and I will be empty nesters in a little over two years, and I want to pour as much time as I can into enjoying her/us before she’s off to college.
5. What is your favorite restaurant or happy hour?
My all-time favorite hangout is MoJoe’s Burger Joint at the corner of Peace and Glenwood in Downtown Raleigh. The food is delicious and consistent, and the staff is super friendly. My husband and I have been going here for 20-plus years since our pre-kid days of late nights when they used to have $1 burgers at midnight. Now it’s our choice spot for a pre-game meal before we go watch our daughter perform on the dance team at Broughton High School just down the street. It’s also the perfect spot for taking the dog and eating outside on the patio when the weather is nice.
6. What is next for you or your organization?
We have some exciting grant announcements coming in the months ahead. In March, we will be announcing our newest cohort of ECOSYSTEM partners, grants awarded to organizations throughout the state strengthening the infrastructure for our entrepreneurs. Applications just closed for our MICRO ($10K) and SEED ($50K) grant programs, which support growth-oriented companies throughout North Carolina. Our team will be busy reviewing applications in the coming months, with announcements planned for April and May. And we are looking forward to our family reunion in November as we prepare for our annual Ecosystem Summit right here in the Triangle.
While we are celebrating this year, we remain focused on our mission to empower ALL North Carolinians to achieve their entrepreneurial potential. In these uncertain times, we are grateful for the opportunity to do this work and support our founders. We feel privileged to be part of the ecosystem and we are excited to keep contributing for years to come.
See past installments of The Download here, and stay tuned for a new edition soon.
