Kim L. Hooper is a veteran communications professional with more than 25 years of combined experience working in traditional media and public relations.

Kim began her award-winning journalism career working for local media outlets in Nashville, (The Tennessean daily newspaper, NBC affiliate WSMV-TV 4) before moving back to Indianapolis, IN, her hometown. In Indianapolis she worked as a reporter editor at the weekly Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, and later The Indianapolis Star Daily. She covered a variety of beats, historic events and colorful local, national and international newsmakers, including former South African President Nelson Mandela, President Bill Clinton, Dr. Betty Shabazz, the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the Gaither Quintuplets, and the Nation of Islam. For six years, she wrote extensively about state-wide education trends and issues, with a primary focus on Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) and the-then nascent charter school movement in Indiana. In 2006, Kim left Indy Star to become assistant director of PR for IPS, the state’s largest urban public school district. At IPS, she directed media relations - serving as a district spokesperson – oversaw community and corporate partnerships and guided several outreach initiatives, including creating the successful template for the annual IPS Alumni Hall of Fame celebration, a major fundraiser for the district’s education foundation. She also helped lead a successful $278 million bond issue PR campaign to update aging city schools. In 2013, she launched KLH Communications Consulting, a results-driven boutique consultancy specializing in media connections, contacts and relationships and offering services to small businesses, non-profits and other PR professionals using traditional and social media platforms. She currently is Senior Infrastructure Engagement Manager, Midwest Transmission, at Duke Energy with regional headquarters in Plainfield, Ind. Kim’s work has been recognized by the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA), the Associated Press Media Editors (APME), Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the Education Writers Association (EWA), the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), United Way of Central Indiana, and the Center for Leadership Development (CLD).

She is a charter member of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and a founding organizer of the Indianapolis Association of Black Journalists (IABJ). She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications from Tennessee State University.