Jemia Kinsey Singleton, the founder and president of Kinsey Communications, was named as the next president of the Public Relations Society of America New Jersey, the nonprofit chapter announced Tuesday.
Singleton, who lives in Kenilworth, said she will focus on membership engagement and retention, mentoring for young professionals and enhancing communications to members.
“We have some amazing and talented PR professionals in our state, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know them and learning how we can best serve them,” she said. “I really want to show the amazing value of being a member of PRSA NJ.”
Singleton plans to launch a member volunteer push in the first quarter of 2021 to get more members engaged and involved with the chapter’s committees, programs and events, and provide networking and professional development opportunities. She also wants the chapter to continue efforts on diversity and inclusion.
“As an African American woman, diversity and inclusion in the field is very important to me, so I would love to continue seeing D&I as a focus area for 2021,” Singleton said. “I would like to continue the ‘courageous conversations’ the chapter had in 2020 around D&I topics such as cultural competency, implicit bias and microaggressions.”
Singleton brings nearly 20 years of communications experience at Kinsey Communications, where she serves as president. She has worked on successful communications campaigns for large organizations such as Coca-Cola, Walmart, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Voya Financial and Elizabethtown Gas.
Singleton is co-chair of the Women of Purpose Leadership Team at her church. She serves on the board of the YWCA Union County and the Hope Chest Scholarship Foundation and she also volunteers with various local organizations.
She earned her bachelor’s degree at Emory University.
Singleton was just one of a host of new officers and board members named by the chapter, including:
- Deirdre Lopian, president-elect;
- Stephanie K. Reed, director (Programming Committee Chair);
- Meghan Gross, director (Growth & Engagement Committee);
- Carrie Cristello, director (Communications Committee & Engagement Committee);
- Shana Walther, director (Communications Committee & Programming Committee).
Lopian, who is creative director of DLPR, has been chosen as president-elect. She will shadow Singleton before becoming president in January 2022.
She also will oversee a growing communications committee, managing chapter newsletters, social media marketing, public relations and publicity.
In 2021, Lopian said, she plans to use the chapter’s marketing channels strategically to coordinate the distribution of internal and external information to help PRSA NJ reach new audiences and engage its members, as well as the community at-large.
