Kara Alaimo, PhD is author of the book Over the Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back. She is a communication professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, where she created the university’s programs in social media, and has been writing for CNN Opinion about the social impact of social media and issues affecting women and girls since 2016.
From 2012-2013, she served as Head of Communications for the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, a group of heads of state and other eminent thinkers convened to recommend the world’s next plan for eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development. In 2011, she was appointed by President Obama as Spokesperson for International Affairs in the U.S. Treasury Department, where she communicated global economic diplomacy initiatives, including America’s bilateral economic relationships; engagement in multilateral institutions including the G-20, World Bank, and IMF; and international monetary, trade, development, environmental, and energy policy. In this capacity, she also served as media adviser to Jim Yong Kim during his successful 2012 campaign for the World Bank Presidency.
She also previously served as the first Press Secretary of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Global Media Coordinator for the United Nations Millennium Campaign, and as a spokesperson for New York City economic development initiatives during the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
She earned her Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Philosophy, and Masters of Arts degrees at the City University of New York, and her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with a minor in Women’s Studies at N.Y.U.
Kara also wrote Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication, a textbook in use at universities around the world that explains how to adapt communication strategies for different countries and cultures. Her academic research on social media and international and political/advocacy communication has been published in academic journals including the International Journal of Communication, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Public Affairs, Case Studies in Strategic Communication, and Social Media & Society.
