MICHELLE KINNEY is an award-winning creative director, political strategist, and media entrepreneur whose work has redefined how modern political stories are told across digital platforms. With a career rooted in creative persuasion and cultural storytelling, Kinney has emerged as a leading voice in women-led political media and narrative strategy.

Kinney is the co-founder and served as Chief Creative Officer of The Seneca Project, a national women-led Super PAC dedicated to defending democracy and women’s rights. She built the organization’s brand, creative messaging architecture and identity, producing rapid-response content and national ad campaigns that reached millions of voters. Her most notable work includes “American Girl,” the viral 2024 Webby Award–winning ad that became a cultural and political milestone — celebrating generations of trailblazing women and earning national recognition for its innovation, emotional resonance, and impact.

Before co-founding The Seneca Project, Kinney spent four years at The Lincoln Project, first joining the communications team during the historic 2020 presidential election and later serving as Creative Director and Executive Producer of Streaming Content. From 2021 to mid-2024, she helped shape the organization’s post–2020 creative direction, producing high-profile digital and rapid-response campaigns that contributed to winning multiple Pollie Awards and Webby Awards.

Kinney’s political work began in New York City’s Democratic organizing community in 2016, first through Manhattan Young Democrats and New York Young Democrats, and later as Vice President of Communications for Community Free Democrats, an historic upper west side Democratic club founded in 1968 by Rep. Nadler, which ultimately merged with other local Democratic organizations in 2019 to become the West Side Democrats.

Her earlier career as a professional portrait photographer and photojournalist — with work appearing in Vice News, NowThis, Mic, OUT Magazine, The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, The Advocate, and others — sharpened her instinct for capturing raw, emotional narratives. Combined with more than a decade in the performing arts after graduating from Syracuse University’s prestigious Musical Theater program, her multidisciplinary background informs her ability to direct talent, shape story, think outside the box and craft persuasive visual content.

Kinney’s work is grounded in a belief that storytelling is a tool of service — to truth, to democracy, and to the communities most affected by political power and abuses.

Today, she is the Co-Founder of The Mayday Network, where she is helping build a new independent media platform for audiences seeking truth, authenticity, and voices that cut through the noise.