Abstract
In this interview, Kimberly Wright-King, Brown University class of 1990, shares a variety of experiences she had during her time on campus that fostered her international career in the United States Foreign Service.
Wright-King begins by explaining that her father was a World War II veteran and journalist who attended Howard University and The Ohio State University. She notes that she attended Horace Mann School in New York, New York, and emphasizes the significance that this education and her father had on her life. She explains that her father would only financially support her attendance at an Ivy League institution and recalls how impactful her experience was at Brown’s Third World Weekend in making Brown her first-choice school.
In remembering her time on campus, Wright-King describes her first semester trying to participate in as many extra curricular opportunities as possible and ending up on academic probation as a result. She explains that due to Brown’s in loco parentis guidelines, her parents were notified and met her on campus to get her back on track academically. She recalls taking classes in Africana studies, psychology, anthropology, and business management, with professors including Nani da Jinyu, Patrick Henry, Rhett Jones, and Barrett Hazeltine. She notes that she still participated in extracurricular activities including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc, the Orientation Welcoming Committee, Minority Peer Counseling, all while working at the Sharpe Refectory and the Resource Center. Wright-King also mentions spending time in the Third World Center and the Sarah Doyle Center and using these spaces to discuss topics such as Apartheid.
Wright-King goes on to describe her career trajectory after graduation. She remembers moving to San Francisco with friends and talks about working for the San Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS while earning her master’s degree in social work at San Francisco State University. From there, Wright-King talks about working in clinical social work at the University of California, San Francisco, before moving back to New York in 1997. She describes joining the United States Department of State Foreign Service in 2007 as a political economic officer, moving to Addis Ababa, marrying her husband, moving to Haiti where she was the Vice Consular, and then moving to Kabul before coming back to work in Washington, DC, in 2013. She explains that she and her family decided to move to San Paulo in 2019 where she was the Deputy Chief for non-immigrant visas until 2022 when they moved to Rio de Janeiro where she served as the American Citizen Services Chief at the United States Consulate at the time of this interview.
In closing, Wright-King credits Brown University and specifically, the students, professors, administrative staff, and facilities staff for fostering her love of languages and her interest in an international career, as well as providing her with the skills to be able to follow that path.
Recorded on December 11, 2023 on Zoom
Interviewed by Bernicestine McLeod Bailey ’68 LHD ’23 hon., P’99 ’03
Suggested Chicago style citation: Kimberly Wright King. Interview. By Bernicestine McLeod Bailey ’68 LHD ’23 hon., P’99 ’03. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. December 11, 2023.
Biography
Kimberly Wright-King is the American Citizen Services Chief at the United States Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Daughter Amalia King lives with her and spouse Alton King. Since fall 2022, Alton has served the US Consulate Rio/United States State Dept as Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Advisor. He leads initiatives advancing inclusive economic and just transitions in the Rio consular district and Brazil. Prior to 2019, Wright-King relocated to Washington, DC, after three successive overseas hardship tours with the United States Department of State. She has most recently served as a diplomat/Foreign Service Officer (FSO). Prior to that, Wright-King directed, consulted, and partnered with a variety of organizations and institutions, adding curriculum development, teaching, qualitative research, workplace diversity/retention initiatives, event planning, public relations, and non-profit organizational capacity building to her tool-kit. Spending eight years as a social work case manager in crisis clinics and supportive housing sites made her no stranger to crises.
While at Brown University, early on Kim took heart and interest in cultural diversity, inclusion, and community building. She was a Minority Peer Counselor for three years, served on the Orientation Welcoming Committee for 2, and throughout her Brown tenure was active in Third World Women as Friends, Organization of United African Peoples, the Third World Center, Fusion, and the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center. She was also a member of Delta Sigma Thetory Sorority, Inc. She spent a summer as an UTRA/Odyssey Fellow under the tutelage of Professor Wanni Anderson, several semesters as the Resource Center’s Assistant to the Coordinator, an office management intern in the Africana (then Afro-Am) studies department, followed by a semester abroad in Salvador, Bahia. Wright-King graduated with her A.B. in Cultural Anthropology in 1990. Since October 2017, Wright-King has been active on the Women’s Leadership Council Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and the Women’s Leadership Council Brown DC Regional Women’s Alumnae Network.
More than anything, Wright-King values the lifelong friendships and networks she forged as an undergrad at Brown. She says, “Brown remains nearly three decades post-graduation, ‘the gift that keeps on giving.’” And she considers Brown as a cherished member of the family.