Kanika is an Associate in the Center for Rising Generations (CRG). Kanika was born and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park. There, she received a degree in Government and Politics and studied abroad at the University of Oxford. Her background is in journalism and entertainment, most recently working as a Segment Researcher for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Before that, she worked for several news teams at NBCUniversal, including The Rachel Maddow Show, Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, and the @NBCNews and @MSNBC social media desk. She’s also held internships at The Wilson Center and The Bipartisan Policy Center and fellowships with DC’s Folger Shakespeare Library and The Paley Center for Media in New York.
Kanika has also volunteered at the Reuters Institute for Journalism and serves as a NextGen advisor for the Sustainable Media Center, where she has moderated talks with journalists Richard Stengel and Kurt Andersen. She is passionate about media criticism, believing that reforming our media ecosystem towards a healthier, more productive discourse is one of the most critical challenges of our time. As technology continues to become more pervasive in daily life, she is also dedicated to helping her generation reclaim their attention, engaging with organizations like All Tech is Human and The Strother School of Radical Attention in Brooklyn.
In her free time, she enjoys journaling, philosophy, political comedy, and the stained glass exhibits at the National Portrait Gallery.