Meet the passion behind our progress, the secret sauce behind our service, the minds igniting our mission
Kay Wilson, Executive Director
Kay is responsible for the vision, strategy and fundraising efforts for LeaderSpark as it expands the youth it serves in Central Ohio. A native Buckeye, Kay fell in love with nonprofits when she was only a teenager. Inspired as a Guild Girl at her church she served on a local food pantry along-side her Grandmother, Kay quickly developed a deep passion for charitable work. She has always been inspired by people and organizations doing great work in the community.
Kay decided to align her passion to help organizations advance their missions with her skill to strengthen brands through college, leading her to get her BS in Marketing Communications from The Ohio State University, as well as her MBA in Leadership & Community Development from Ohio Dominican University. This resolve stuck with her while living overseas on the continent of Africa, leading her to work on international platforms in the areas of human rights and social justice. Her career has led to some incredible opportunities to help organizations advance their missions through strategic communications. Over 16 years of nonprofit management experience, Kay will build on the strategic vision provided by Karen Dawson over the past 25 years. Learn about Kay's other SPARK here.
Account Management
Kaneeka Dalton Paul, Program Director
As Program Director, Kaneeka oversees the coordination and funding initiatives of all youth programming, ensuring the delivery of quality services to youth within the context of the evidence-based LeaderSpark curriculum.
Kaneeka is a native of Columbus and proud graduate of Columbus City Schools. She received her Bachelors in Humanities from The Ohio State University. During her studies, she began her career in the central Ohio non- profit sector, motivating and co-creating programs with youth for youth.
A big believer of empowering youth to change the world by teaching them to give and lead, Kaneeka supports the exposure of youth to new opportunities. She has made it a point to advocate for those youth who need exposure the most by introducing and running programs that expose youth to things and ideas that are not present in their day-to-day environments.
Boasting over ten years of a career in the Central Ohio non-profit sector, Kaneeka will focus on the LeaderSpark’s culture where youth activism occurs in concert with youth leadership development, to build programming that will allow those LeaderSpark serves the confidence to lead not only today, but tomorrow as well.
