Kimberly’s professional experience includes:
- Serving as the Director of Foundation Relations and Grants at the Greater Chicago Food Depository from 2021 until 2025, Director of Development at the Safer Foundation from 2013 until 2021
- Cultivating relationships with foundation program officers
- Authoring articles on mentoring, diversity, and bar communications for local and national association publications
- Joining the AFP Chicago Fellows Program in 2017 and serving as a member of the organization’s board of directors from 2019 until 2023
- Producing and moderating workshops for the Philanthropy Club of Chicago, AFP Chicago, and the Imagining America National Gathering
- Achieving the Certified Fund Raising Executive credential in June 2023
- Serving as an Instructor for AFP Chicago ‘s Fundamentals of Fundraising Course from 2022 through 2024
Kimberly also served as Associate Director of Communications and Education at the Illinois Nurses Association and as Communications Coordinator at the American Bar Association.
Before becoming a fundraiser, Kimberly created and executed publicity campaigns for The Man in the Silo, a feature film starring Ernie Hudson that premiered at Chicago’s Black Harvest Film Festival in 2013 and Gospel’s Jubilee Showcase, a 2013 television special which aired on national PBS affiliates, including WTTW-Channel 11 in Chicago. Hosted by actor/singer/songwriter/minister Clifton Davis, the special celebrated the 50th anniversary of Jubilee Showcase, an Emmy-Award winning, Sunday morning program that featured performances by Staple Singers, Andrae Crouch, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, the Soul Stirrers, Albertina Walker, the Caravans, Jessy Dixon, the Barrett Sisters, and other gospel legends.
A native Chicagoan, Kimberly grew up on the city’s South Side. She developed a passion for R&B/Soul music while listening to her parents’ records and WVON, WBMX and WGCI radio stations. Among Kimberly’s favorite artists are Sam Cooke, Al Green, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder and The Hawkins Family.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Communications from Columbia College Chicago. Kimberly is a member of New Life Covenant Church-Southeast. Her lifelong love for music inspired her to create Soulful Sights and Sounds in 2025.