B. S. Temple University Philadelphia, PA Responsibilities and Professional Experience Ms. Kaikai serves as vice president, corporate communications and public relations for Chester Engineers. She is responsible for the company�s internal and external communications efforts. These include highlighting Chester�s professional and civic work on the local, national and international stage, keeping employees in Chester�s satellite offices connected through up-to-date information about projects and colleagues and supplying answers to questions from the media and general public. Ms. Kaikai has more than 30 years of journalism experience. She began her career as a general assignment reporter for The Pittsburgh Press. She covered everything from fires and coroner�s hearing to municipal and school board meetings to human interest features for the afternoon daily newspaper. Early on she left The Press to become an assistant editor and entertainment writer for Jet Magazine in Chicago. There she interviewed many established as well as up-and-coming artists, such as jazz musicians Herbie Hancock, Patrice Rushen and the late Grover Washington, Jr., actor LeVar Burton of the television mini-series, Roots, singer Stephanie Mills of the Broadway musical, The Wiz, and R & B recording groups such as The O�Jays and The Commodores, featuring Lionel Ritchie. She returned to The Press as a reporter and won a Golden Quill Award from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania for her work on a series about the need to desegregate the Pittsburgh Public Schools. After eight years as a reporter, she became editor of The Press� weekly east suburban edition, Press East. She and a full time staff of three, assisted by a cadre of freelance writers, gave readers news and feature stories about people, events and institutions important to the municipalities of eastern Allegheny County and western Westmoreland County. When the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette purchased The Press in 1993, it hired Ms. Kaikai as its metropolitan editor. In that position she oversaw the news and feature story coverage that appeared in the P-G�s six weekly editions as well as its daily morning editions. She held other editor positions at the P-G before joining Chester Engineers in June of 2007: assistant managing editor/Features, assistant managing editor/Suburban Living and assistant managing editor/Special Assignments. During that time, she edited many award-winning columns and articles, including a series on race relations in Western Pennsylvania that received a Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Outside of the newsroom, Ms. Kaikai has taught journalism at Carlow College, the Institute for Journalism Education in Tucson, AZ and workshops of the American Press Institution. In addition, she was co-founder and co-director of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation�s Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop for high school students. Ms. Kaikai is past president of the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors, where she also served on its diversity and journalism school committees. She also belongs to The Press Club of Western Pennsylvania. Professional Affiliation Press Club of Western Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors Pittsburgh Black Media Federation |