Pamela Monastra is a trusted leader with more than three decades of experience in strategic communications, crisis management, community and stakeholder engagement, and business growth strategies. With deep roots in real estate, construction, public safety, and emergency management, Pamela delivers integrated strategies for the moments that matter most.

Pamela's career began as a journalist. In 1992, she moved to Atlanta to join the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), where she covered law enforcement and public safety, reporting that placed her inside the workings of high-stakes public institutions and sharpened the instincts she would later bring to crisis communications. That beat led to her recruitment by the office of then-Governor Zell Miller, where she developed and executed the crisis and media response plan for the 1996 Summer Olympics under the Governor's newly created State Olympic Law Enforcement Command (SOLEC). Remaining with the state in various communications roles, Pamela served as the Public Information Officer for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and then the Head of Public Affairs/Director of Communications for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA).

Leaving the state after five years of service, Pamela opened her own Atlanta-based consulting business where she worked with various leaders and business owners in the real estate and development industry. Collaborating closely with her clients, she built tailored strategies, navigated complex challenges, and drove successful outcomes.

An accumulation of her experience as a local journalist, state employee, and consultant to the real estate industry led to her recruitment by a major global general contractor, where she served as Senior Vice President and Head of Communications. In that role, she played a critical part on the Senior Leadership Team, specializing in high-stakes messaging, strategic communications, crisis management, and risk mitigation. She directed initiatives that included developing and implementing a nationwide rollout of the firm's five-year Business Plan, evaluating and redesigning the firm's crisis readiness plan, and collaborating with general counsel to establish new governance protocols for the communications function.

She subsequently joined a leading national general contractor as an Officer of the firm and Vice President of Acquisitions and Development, where she opened and co-led a new Atlanta office. Under her leadership, the firm was ranked among the Atlanta Business Chronicle's top general contractors in the Atlanta market for two consecutive years.

Today, Pamela is the Founder and Managing Principal of Next Step Strategic Consulting, LLC, an Atlanta-based firm serving clients in the built environment, public and private sector, public safety, and law enforcement across strategic communications, crisis readiness, community engagement, and business growth. Next Step Strategic Consulting, LLC is a certified Female Business Enterprise (FBE).

Pamela is an experienced speaker and trainer in strategic communications, crisis, and reputation management. She is deeply committed to the community in which she lives and works, serving on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Council for Quality Growth and former chair of its City of Atlanta Advisory Roundtable. She previously served on the Board of Directors for Downtown Atlanta, Inc. (formerly Central Atlanta Progress) and actively supports various nonprofit organizations. She is also a founding member of the JCM Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, established to support pancreatic cancer research and awareness.

Pamela participated in an intensive Executive Leadership and Coaching program at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Bowling Green State University. Outside of work, she is a former nationally ranked triathlete, avid yogi, and loves cooking and tending to her flower and vegetable garden.