Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Design Assets
Websites
Training
Languages
Timeline
Generic

Cynthia Kanagui

Delano,CA

Summary

Accomplished professional with 12+ years of experience scaling solutions for startup organizations. Adept at event planning, media relations and social media management. Passionate about centering community voice to accelerate public engagement, long term investments, and systemic change for high-need families.

Overview

15
15
years of professional experience

Work History

Director of Advocacy & Communications

The Children's Movement Of Fresno
07.2023 - Current
  • Lead strategy and implementation efforts for advocacy, policy, and communications divisions
  • Manage a housing coalition with diverse stakeholders and lead public campaigns to improve equitable housing opportunities in Fresno
  • Accelerate public awareness efforts on housing, digital equity, and other resident-led issues through well-designed communication strategies, including media outreach, social media campaigns, and public speaking engagements.
  • Cultivate positive relationships with elected officials, government agencies, community partners, donors, volunteers, staff members by maintaining regular communication channels.
  • Oversee Jeffrey Scott Agency (PR Firm), Our Children This Month writer, two advocacy teams, and an outreach coordinator

Founder

MommyZest
05.2023 - Current
  • Launched a new Etsy business focused on digital image production
  • Sold items internationally and to over 10 countries since launching in May 2023
  • Create all content and brand management
  • Implemented efficient operational processes to optimize productivity and resource allocation.

Founder/CEO

The Kana Group
06.2022 - 07.2023
  • Established a successful education consulting business serving clients nationally
  • Supported Reading Reimagined in their creation of a beta version of a literacy app by creating engaging video and audio content for young children to
    pronounce phonemes.
  • Supported The Children's Movement of Fresno in managing their social media calendar, monthly coalition call of 100+ organizations, and major annual fundraiser
  • Supported Diversity in Leadership in identifying grants management solutions for their organization

Senior Manager of Grants and Programs

GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW
01.2016 - 06.2022
  • Managed 60+ grant cycles for our $4M policy, advocacy, and communications portfolios
  • Reviewed grant proposals and drafted 15 board investment recommendations for Collective Action Initiative annually
  • Created grants management systems for tracking grantee impact, including interim and final report structures
  • Co-led social media expansion strategies resulting in the doubling of Twitter followers from 1,261 to 2,416 and the growth of our Facebook page's total reach from single digits to 400,000 over a two-year period
  • Served on special projects including the creation of inaugural Los Angeles family poll, creation of end of year grantee survey instrument, acceleration of organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion audit.

Manager of Community Outreach

GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW
01.2016 - 01.2019
  • Accelerated a multi-year strategy resulting in 5,000 new supporters annually for quality public schools in L.A
  • Led GPSN's Parent Council programming including monthly trainings, parent leader development, organizing efforts, mobilization strategies, policy-driven actions, and community-based partner collaborations
  • Organized five town halls across the city averaging 150 parents each, executed a 250-person mobilization with LAUSD Superintendent and led all planning efforts for our 1,250-person One City, All Kids 2019 action
  • Supported the community engagement portfolio which included building a citywide advocacy agenda and coordinating coalition building activities, quarterly convenings, monthly calls, and retreats
  • Supported our two-million-dollar community engagement program, vetted incoming grant proposals, proposed investment strategies, tracked grant agreement evaluation metrics, and conducted in-the-field partner observations.

Schools Team Manager

IDEA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
01.2015 - 01.2016
  • Chief of staff to IDEA's Superintendent, oversaw special projects, provided communications and conflict support
  • Coordinated the Superintendent's 12-person senior leadership team overseeing 44 school sites and 22,000 students
  • Executed cross collaborative projects, created district presentations, developed network calendars
  • Organized large scale events and trainings for 150+ school leaders, coordinated district-wide operations.

Founding College Counselor

IDEA EDINBURG COLLEGE PREP
01.2014 - 01.2015
  • Established a new high school counseling program focused on the holistic development of high-need students
  • Fundraised $60,000 to fly the entire 9th grade class to visit 10+ top tier universities on the East Coast
  • Responsible for creating the academic calendar for students across all academic grade levels
  • Created and conducted college access workshops for middle school and high school families.

College Counselor & Advancement Via Individual Determination (A.V.I.D) Teacher

IDEA ALAMO COLLEGE PREP
01.2012 - 01.2014
  • Ensured 100% of seniors applied to six colleges or more, resulting in 100% college acceptance for the cohort
  • Taught A.V.I.D
  • Courses to 11th graders, preparing them for college eligibility and success
  • 100% of first ever graduating class matriculated to college and 96.1% persisted into spring semester of college
  • Created and monitored the Academic Support Program for at-risk students failing two or more classes
  • Created and facilitated a broad spectrum of financial literacy and FAFSA workshops for seniors and their families.

Graduate Assistant

MULTICULTURAL CENTER-UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
01.2011 - 01.2012
  • Directed campus-wide multicultural programs, such as Celebrations of Culture and Religious Discovery Series
  • Supervised 15 undergraduate students to provide peer-to-peer multicultural trainings.

Research Assistant

DEPT. OF ED. LEADERSIHP & POLICY ANALYSIS-UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
01.2010 - 01.2011
  • Assisted advisor, Dr
  • Jeni Hart, with various STEM projects, including one focused on female faculty in STEM
  • Transcribed interview and focus group data in preparation for major publication.

College Advisor for Dallas independent School District

ACADEMIC SUCCESS PROGRAM - HILLCREST HIGH SCHOOL
01.2009 - 01.2010
  • Worked collaboratively with counseling department, administrators and staff to ensure 100% college attendance
  • Provided students with the tools and guidance to successfully complete 100% of their college applications, résumés, essays, scholarship applications, and financial aid documents
  • Conducted 1-1 meetings with 100% of senior class members to ensure college matriculation
  • Organized and implemented SAT camps, college application workshops, FAFSA parent sessions, and bilingual (Spanish/English) presentations.

Education

Master of Education in Higher Education -

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a certificate in Urban Studies -

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Skills

  • Brand management
  • Social media strategy
  • Content creation
  • Community relations

Design Assets

  • Advanced proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe InDesign, Canva
  • Intermediate proficiency in website management and content creation

Training

  • Suficiente: New Latina Leader Development Cohort, 2024
  • Southern California Grantmakers - Fundamentals of Grantmaking, 2020
  • Innovate Community Organizer Training Program, 2017

Languages

Spanish
Native or Bilingual
Japanese
Elementary

Timeline

Director of Advocacy & Communications

The Children's Movement Of Fresno
07.2023 - Current

Founder

MommyZest
05.2023 - Current

Founder/CEO

The Kana Group
06.2022 - 07.2023

Senior Manager of Grants and Programs

GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW
01.2016 - 06.2022

Manager of Community Outreach

GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW
01.2016 - 01.2019

Schools Team Manager

IDEA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
01.2015 - 01.2016

Founding College Counselor

IDEA EDINBURG COLLEGE PREP
01.2014 - 01.2015

College Counselor & Advancement Via Individual Determination (A.V.I.D) Teacher

IDEA ALAMO COLLEGE PREP
01.2012 - 01.2014

Graduate Assistant

MULTICULTURAL CENTER-UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
01.2011 - 01.2012

Research Assistant

DEPT. OF ED. LEADERSIHP & POLICY ANALYSIS-UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
01.2010 - 01.2011

College Advisor for Dallas independent School District

ACADEMIC SUCCESS PROGRAM - HILLCREST HIGH SCHOOL
01.2009 - 01.2010

Master of Education in Higher Education -

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a certificate in Urban Studies -

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

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Cynthia Kanagui