Gwen McKinney

Gwen McKinney Bio

Gwen McKinney is a communications strategist who has honed her craft into a unique blend of talents – advocacy, narrative development and content creation – telling stories on behalf of the people and the causes she embraces. Each chapter in her storied career has drawn on interests and voices of leaders in the public square championing change and access for communities otherwise denied. Gwen’s origin story unfolded during her first “real job” as a reporter with the Philadelphia Tribune, the oldest continuously published Black newspaper. It’s foundational brand of advocacy journalism forged the path to strategic communications, media relations and progressive public policy. Currently, creator and campaign director of the nonprofit public engagement initiative Unerased | Black Women Speak (launched in 2020), Gwen leads a multi-generational team of comms professionals and creatives to showcase Black women’s often untold achievements and stories through narratives and content curation that unerase – shining light – on our ancestral and contemporary women warriors. Unerased unapologetically promotes the power in Black women's voices, exposing community, history and systems that affirm or challenge us. President of McKinney & Associates (launched in 1990), the first Black woman-owned full-service communications agency in the nation’s capital dedicated exclusively to progressive public policy, Gwen translated the vision of "public relations with a conscience" into a tested suite of communications services for the racial justice community. Over three plus decades, she designed models to assist change agents effectively transform institutional visions into public engagement plans. From her perch at the thriving K Street firm, Gwen devoted mentoring and support to a unique craft of communications counsel with a racial justice lens for leaders of domestic and global organizations ranging from environmental justice to international human rights campaigns.

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