Member since June 2026
Cynthia Kay founded the award-winning CK and CO Media Production and Cynthia Kay Biz which provides communication programs for organizations from Fortune Global 100 to small business. A graduate of Michigan State University, Kay holds a master’s in communications.
A former awarding-winning broadcaster, CK has spent more than 35 years speaking, teaching, and coaching business owners and executives. She is the Past Board Chair of the National Small Business Association (NSBA) and had been inducted into the American Academy of Entrepreneurs. She serves as an Entrepreneur Emeritus for the Edward Lowe Foundation,
Cynthia has authored five books which are prize-winning because of her down-in-the-trenches, no nonensense and humerous approach to business and life.
I have a passion for storytelling. As a former broadcaster and longtime business owner I have helped engineers tell stories of how they have designed everything from massive buildings to microchips. I have crawled through plants to see the manufacturing of everything from jet engines and gummi bears to pharmaceuticals and ethanol. I have interviewed countless individuals about how products and people have changed- and sometimes- saved their lives.
What makes me smile is to help inspire curiosity, share the learning, and show how we can all make a difference by connecting and communicating effectively.
I love to tell the story of how my career in broadcast journalism ended abruptly. At my last job, the station where I worked changed ownership four times in six and a half years. Despite winning more than thirty awards from United Press International, the Associated Press and numerous regional awards, I GOT FIRED. My new boss thought I was making “too much money” and did not value my work as an investigative reporter. I often say you are nobody till somebody fires you. People can relate. The story of how getting fired changed my life is one that has inspired others to reevaluate their career options.
My education business started by working in my dad’s drycleaning establishment. It was here that I learned business could be “messy.” I started working in operations- sweeping floors. Worked my way up to sales- the counter girl who checked in the clothes. And finally, management-I opened and closed the store. When I got fired from my job in broadcasting, I knew it was time for a change. I wanted to have more control over my life and work. That’s when I started the business and put the lessons I learned as a child to work.
The biggest ‘aha’ moment came when I decided to take the company from a small local firm to one that served corporations from the Global Fortune 100 to smaller entities and nonprofits. Making that happen led to growing a top-tier award-winning company, becoming a national advocate for small business and the author of a number of prize-winning books.
It’s a fact. Everyone is selling something. Ideas. Products. Services. But today communication is harder than ever before even though we have a plethora of technology tools. It’s time to throw out everything you thought about communication and embrace the new reality.
It is obvious. Good communication is critical to business results. CK Cynthia Kay is a former broadcaster, the founder of two award-winning companies and a celebrated author. For over three decades she has been helping businesses from the Global Fortune 100 to smaller entities amp up their communication. CK will share down-in-the-trenches examples and techniques to help you learn how to:
· Think like a reporter and ask better questions
· Take conversations beyond the superficial to unlock information that helps win business and improve your organization
· Brag effectively to build trust and credibility
· Be bold and be a communication superstar- no matter how good you are now
Corporate America isn't going to. "lean in"—but women can get ahead on their own!Today’s companies need people who are focused, creative, and entrepreneurial. Those who are become invaluable and achieve career and personal success.
It may not be politically correct to say but it is true. When women don’t achieve the success they desire, there are often legitimate reasons why they don’t progress. It is frequently because of the unseen barriers they themselves create.
Cynthia Kay was one of the first women to serve as an executive for a West Michigan ABC affiliate. She started a business in a male-dominated industry and successfully ran it for almost 40 years. She was often the only female at the board of director’s table for nonprofit organizations.
As the owner of a media and communications company, CK worked with women at many of the large companies she served. As result, she has developed strategies and tools to help break through and become leaders.She helps women understand:
· the mind-set that successful leaders share
· the unseen barriers and how to overcome them
· how to think strategically over the course of your career-you don’t have to wait in line
· why you can have it all… just not all at the same time
· definite do's and don'ts when it comes to the business world
· how to be authentic instead of mimicking management styles
· how to be a leader that men follow
· how to lead with style and quit being boring
Every woman’s journey is unique.CK adds to the conversation and provokes women to think deeply about their own leadership and to make moves that fully utilize their talents and passions.
Today many executives and business professionals are stressed out, burned out, or simply wondering what happened to the passion they once had for work.They arestill showing up, meeting expectations, and getting things done. But the work that once energized them now leaves them exhausted—or simply disinterested.
Cynthia Kay (CK) understands. She navigated leaving the broadcast industry to start her own business when she felt stuck. She pivoted numerous times to remain relevant in the fast-changing business world. She exited her business and reinvented her career to focus on writing, teaching and coaching.
In Career Crossroads, CK shares her lessons and those of business professionals she has interviewed to help others take a candid look at the struggle to stay relevant, find fulfillment, and recognize when it’s time for something different.
While business professionals have been taught to take emotion out of decisions, CK argues that this is one area where we should balance emotion with good decision-making so we can do what is profitable for the business but also make sure to feed our souls. She goes beyond job titles and career milestones to explore what makes the stay-or-go decision so difficult: identity, loyalty, fear, and the uncertainty of what comes next.
With her direct, practical approach, CK challenges individuals to ask the questions they have been avoiding. She provides the “signs” indicate you should be thinking about and developing a plan to “GO” or should “STAY” and further define your legacy. She offers tools and strategies to remain relevant, reinvent yourself or retire gracefully.
It is a simple fact; small business is not just a scaled down version of a large business. In fact, what works well for a large company may be counterproductive for smaller entities. CK offers down-in-the-trenches strategies to connect and win.
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A candid look at the business owners’ struggles to stay relevant at work or decide when, and how, to exit. Cynthia’s journey, along with the stories of other successful business owners, explores how to ask difficult questions, get clarity, find peace
Buy NowI love to tell the story of how my career in broadcast journalism ended abruptly. At my last job, the station where I worked changed ownership four times in six and a half years. Despite winning more than thirty awards from United Press International, the Associated Press and numerous regional awards, I GOT FIRED. My new boss thought I was making “too much money” and did not value my work as an investigative reporter. I often say you are nobody till somebody fires you. People can relate. The story of how getting fired changed my life is one that has inspired others to reevaluate their career options.
My education business started by working in my dad’s drycleaning establishment. It was here that I learned business could be “messy.” I started working in operations- sweeping floors. Worked my way up to sales- the counter girl who checked in the clothes. And finally, management-I opened and closed the store. When I got fired from my job in broadcasting, I knew it was time for a change. I wanted to have more control over my life and work. That’s when I started the business and put the lessons I learned as a child to work.
The biggest ‘aha’ moment came when I decided to take the company from a small local firm to one that served corporations from the Global Fortune 100 to smaller entities and nonprofits. Making that happen led to growing a top-tier award-winning company, becoming a national advocate for small business and the author of a number of prize-winning books.
It’s a fact. Everyone is selling something. Ideas. Products. Services. But today communication is harder than ever before even though we have a plethora of technology tools. It’s time to throw out everything you thought about communication and embrace the new reality.
It is obvious. Good communication is critical to business results. CK Cynthia Kay is a former broadcaster, the founder of two award-winning companies and a celebrated author. For over three decades she has been helping businesses from the Global Fortune 100 to smaller entities amp up their communication. CK will share down-in-the-trenches examples and techniques to help you learn how to:
· Think like a reporter and ask better questions
· Take conversations beyond the superficial to unlock information that helps win business and improve your organization
· Brag effectively to build trust and credibility
· Be bold and be a communication superstar- no matter how good you are now
Corporate America isn't going to. "lean in"—but women can get ahead on their own!Today’s companies need people who are focused, creative, and entrepreneurial. Those who are become invaluable and achieve career and personal success.
It may not be politically correct to say but it is true. When women don’t achieve the success they desire, there are often legitimate reasons why they don’t progress. It is frequently because of the unseen barriers they themselves create.
Cynthia Kay was one of the first women to serve as an executive for a West Michigan ABC affiliate. She started a business in a male-dominated industry and successfully ran it for almost 40 years. She was often the only female at the board of director’s table for nonprofit organizations.
As the owner of a media and communications company, CK worked with women at many of the large companies she served. As result, she has developed strategies and tools to help break through and become leaders.She helps women understand:
· the mind-set that successful leaders share
· the unseen barriers and how to overcome them
· how to think strategically over the course of your career-you don’t have to wait in line
· why you can have it all… just not all at the same time
· definite do's and don'ts when it comes to the business world
· how to be authentic instead of mimicking management styles
· how to be a leader that men follow
· how to lead with style and quit being boring
Every woman’s journey is unique.CK adds to the conversation and provokes women to think deeply about their own leadership and to make moves that fully utilize their talents and passions.
Today many executives and business professionals are stressed out, burned out, or simply wondering what happened to the passion they once had for work.They arestill showing up, meeting expectations, and getting things done. But the work that once energized them now leaves them exhausted—or simply disinterested.
Cynthia Kay (CK) understands. She navigated leaving the broadcast industry to start her own business when she felt stuck. She pivoted numerous times to remain relevant in the fast-changing business world. She exited her business and reinvented her career to focus on writing, teaching and coaching.
In Career Crossroads, CK shares her lessons and those of business professionals she has interviewed to help others take a candid look at the struggle to stay relevant, find fulfillment, and recognize when it’s time for something different.
While business professionals have been taught to take emotion out of decisions, CK argues that this is one area where we should balance emotion with good decision-making so we can do what is profitable for the business but also make sure to feed our souls. She goes beyond job titles and career milestones to explore what makes the stay-or-go decision so difficult: identity, loyalty, fear, and the uncertainty of what comes next.
With her direct, practical approach, CK challenges individuals to ask the questions they have been avoiding. She provides the “signs” indicate you should be thinking about and developing a plan to “GO” or should “STAY” and further define your legacy. She offers tools and strategies to remain relevant, reinvent yourself or retire gracefully.