When native Detroiter Kim Trent graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1987, she earned a full scholarship to Wayne State University through the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation. Trent was in the third class of the university's innovative Journalism Institute for Minorities, earning a bachelor's degree in journalism and Africana studies in 1991. Trent also holds a master's degree in communication from Wayne State University.
Trent began her career as a city hall reporter for The Detroit News in 1991, covering the city's housing department, Detroit City Council and the mayoral administrations of Coleman A. Young and Dennis W. Archer. She left The Detroit News in 1995 and moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where she earned a graduate degree in African studies from the University of Cape Town.
Trent joined the Washington staff of former Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in 1997. She has also served as Detroit Regional Manager for United States Senator Debbie Stabenow and director of former Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm's southeast Michigan office, a cabinet-level position in state government. She currently serves as Senior Vice President, Corporate and Civic Engagement for Compass Strategies LLC., a Detroit-based communications, government relations and community relations firm.
She has completed fellowships with the American Political Science Association in Washington D.C. and the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University. She is also a graduate of the Leadership Detroit program. She continues to write for local and national publications and is a frequent guest and panelist on local radio and television programs.
Trent's current community leadership includes her service as president of the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation and vice president of Connect Detroit. She is a past president of Wayne State's Organization of Black Alumni. As a Wayne State University undergraduate, Kim became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. at the sorority's Tau Chapter. She now serves on the sorority's National Social Action Commission. She is an active member of Detroit's Hartford Memorial Baptist Church.
She has received many awards, including the State Bar of Michigan's Liberty Bell award and the Women of Wayne State University's Headliner award. She lives in Detroit with her husband, writer and historian Ken Coleman, and their son.