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Communications Officer Kaniqua Welch

Kaniqua Welch

Communications Officer

External Affairs and Communications, Leadership and Infrastructure Funding Team

Arts & Culture, Environment

Kaniqua Welch is a communications officer at The Kresge Foundation.

She oversees internal and external communications strategies for several of Kresge’s national grantmaking programs, including Arts & Culture and Environment, and co-leads communications planning for the Detroit Program’s Marygrove P-20 Campus. Kaniqua also co-chairs the foundation’s Equity Task Force, which is a team of 13 cross-departmental members selected to steward the foundation’s diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) work.

Kaniqua joined the foundation in 2019. Previously, Kaniqua served as vice president of communications with Finn Partners and as a communications director at Weber Shandwick – both global public relations and marketing firms. At each agency, she worked with corporate, nonprofit and philanthropic clients to lead communications programs focused on integrated media strategies; executive positioning and thought leadership; corporate social responsibility; sustainability; and social issues campaigns centered on education, health, social justice and community development. At Weber Shandwick, Kaniqua also led the Detroit-based Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practice.

Kaniqua started her career as a news reporter with the Oakland Press. During her 15-year career span, she has worked with several organizations, including Detroit Public Schools, managing media relations, marketing, crisis planning, internal communications and external partnerships. She also worked with McLaren Oakland Medical Center and the POH Regional Medical Center Marketing & Foundation Office, coordinating donor relations, fundraising events, hospital publications and community engagement programs.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Kaniqua earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Oakland University and a master’s degree in public relations and organizational communication from Wayne State University. She is also a former adjunct instructor at Oakland University, having taught courses in journalism, public relations and group dynamics.

By Kaniqua Welch