MARIEL M. KANENE
💻 9+ years business development, partnerships, product marketing, content, go-to-market strategy experience on global scale.
🌎 bicycles, photography, discovering Paris, travel, learning French, & the family group chat.
🏋🏾 Owner & Head Coach - PAMOJAFIT*
📍 recently relocated from Washington, DC to Paris, FR
Product Marketer. Partnership Strategist. Collaborator.
Let’s talk about:
Go-to-market (product roadmap, branding, marketing, promotion)
Resource mobilization (fundraising, grants, philanthropy, corporations)
Content strategy (channel, media)
Digital production (photo, video, podcast)
Web (Blog, E-commerce)
I live in Paris, FR and I like working on creative projects. Sometimes these projects are for my day job — sometimes just for fun.
When I'm not behind my computer or iPhone camera, I'm likely riding my bike in the 18e, eating carbs, or relearning to love running again by joining another Run Club.
I’m currently on a mission to bridge culture and tech by collaborating with those shaping the future of AI and open source community.
$40M+
secured in proposals (USAID, World Bank, FCDO)
$1.5M+
raised in multi-year philanthropic funding
70+
open-source projects supported via new partnerships
9+
years driving global philanthropic & public sector revenue
My Work
RESOURCE MOBILIZATION · OPEN SCIENCE
Building NumFOCUS's Partnership Engagement Pathways
Client: NumFOCUS · 2024–Present
NumFOCUS supports 70+ open-source scientific computing projects — but lacked a structured pipeline for multi-sector partnerships. I was brought in to build the resource mobilization function from the ground up, targeting U.S. Government agencies, philanthropic foundations, and corporate partners.
RESULT
Secured multi-year support from NASA and Sovereign Tech Fund. Grew the qualified lead pipeline by 30% through donor segmentation and tailored pitch materials. Rolled out a new partnership engagement process identifying co-investment opportunities across academic, corporate, and philanthropic actors.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT · INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT · PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT
$40M in Winning GRANT Proposals Across 3 Continents
Client: Catholic Relief Services · 2022–2023
CRS needed surge business development support across 15+ simultaneous proposal efforts in Africa, EMECA, and Asia — including high-value USAID, World Bank, and FCDO bids. I embedded with country teams on the ground in Ghana, DRC, and Lesotho to co-create locally grounded project designs under tight deadlines.
RESULT
Contributed to $40M+ in successful awards. Delivered cost and risk assessments, compliance reviews, and value-for-money narratives. Produced knowledge products on locally-led partnerships and BD best practices adopted across the agency's country-level BD teams in Ghana, DRC, and Lesotho.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS · PHILANTHROPY · MASS MEDIA
$1.5M for Africa's Largest Kids' Edutainment NetworK
Client: Ubongo International · 2019–2020
Ubongo reaches 32M+ families across Africa with educational kids' content. As U.S. Strategic Partnerships Lead during a high-growth phase, I built the donor pipeline, represented the brand at global convenings, and led the fundraising communications strategy to diversify away from single-funder dependency.
RESULT
Secured $1.5M in multi-year funding from LEGO Foundation and Mulago Foundation. Built subgrant partnerships capturing DFID (FCDO) Tanzania Shule Bora ($3M), USDA Senegal Food for Education ($400K), and USAID Nigeria NEI+ follow-on ($400K). Represented Ubongo at UNGA and World Bank Youth Summit.
GO-TO-MARKET · BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT · DATA PRODUCTS
$2.5M in New Business for a Geospatial Data Firm
Client: Fraym.io · 2018–2019
Fraym provides geospatial population data to development agencies and governments across Africa. I owned the go-to-market strategy for USAID/USG customers — qualifying new business opportunities, building the inbound pipeline via Salesforce, and executing product-level GTM for dataFraym.
RESULT
Closed $2.5M in new business, contracting with international development implementers and institutional funders across Africa. Generated $400K/month in qualified pipeline through outreach and proposals. Promoted and conducted demos of dataFraym through a B2B inbound lead strategy.
GLOBAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT · PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT · USG/USAID CONTRACTING
Full-Cycle Proposal Development for $70M+ USG/USAID Bids
Client: Abt Associates · 2016–2018
Abt is one of the largest global development contractors in the U.S. — and this is where I learned the full architecture of USG business development. I managed end-to-end proposal development for USAID, MCC, and NOAA opportunities up to $100M+, including IDIQs, working across technical, cost, and compliance workstreams simultaneously under strict government deadlines.
RESULT
Supported winning bids valued at over $70M across sectors including health, environment, and economic growth. Developed deep fluency in FAR/AIDAR compliance, cost-volume coordination, teaming agreements, and color-team review processes. Built the proposal management muscle — coordinating subject matter experts, local partners, and home-office leadership across time zones — that has anchored every BD role since.
DIGITAL MARKETING · CONTENT · BRANDING
Launching a Global Fundraising Campaign for #Learning4All
Client: Ubongo International · 2019–2020
Project managed the full launch of Ubongo's Network for Good fundraising webpage and multi-channel digital marketing campaign. Led a cross-functional team of graphic designers, social media managers, and strategic communications staff to bring the #Learning4All campaign to life.
RESULT
Delivered social media copy, website content, and email marketing campaigns on time and on brand. Successfully managed the full launch, including team coordination across design, social, and comms — driving meaningful audience engagement and growing online giving 2x from previous campaigns.
SOCIAL MEDIA · COMMUNITY · NONPROFIT
3x Social Media Growth for a DC Literacy Nonprofit
Client: Turning the Page DC · 2013–2014
As AmeriCorps VISTA Coordinator for Digital Marketing & Outreach, I built and managed Turning the Page's social media presence from scratch — developing the brand style guide and day-to-day content strategy across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the next cohort of VISTAs.
RESULT
Grew Twitter & Facebook followers 3x from baseline. Launched Instagram from zero and organically built a follower community. Created a replicable digital playbook that outlasted the engagement — still in use by the following VISTA cohort.
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Amsterdam 2025 (NumFOCUS - PyData Amsterdam Meetup + Xomnia)
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Boston 2024 (NumFOCUS Project Summit 2024)
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Accra, Ghana 2023 (Catholic Relief Services - CRS Ghana)
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Kinshasa, DRC 2023 (Catholic Relief Services - CRS DRC)
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Maseru, Lesotho 2023 (Catholic Relief Services - CRS Lesotho)
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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 2020 (ubongo - Building Brains Conference 2020)
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New York City 2019 (Ubongo - IRC - Lego Foundation)
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Washington, DC 2019 (World Bank Youth Summit 2019)
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New York City 2019 (Ubongo - UNGA74)
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Amsterdam 2018 (Fraym - AIDS2018 Conference)
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Washington, Dc 2018 (Abt Global - SID-W Conference 2018)
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Kigali, Rwanda 2017 (Abt Global)
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Washington, DC 2017 (Society for International Development - SID-W)
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Washington, DC 2016 (ICMA Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative - YSEALI)
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Washington, DC 2015 (SIT Graduate Institute)
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Washington, DC 2015 (SIT Graduate Institute Social Innovation Management Cohort)
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Dili, Timor-Leste 2015 (g7+ Secretariat)
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Amman, Jordan 2015 (World Learning Social Entrepreneurship Field Study)
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Washington, DC 2014 (Turning the Page DC x Literacy Through Photography Exhibit)
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Austin, TX 2013 (83rd Texas State Legislature)
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Huntsville, Texas 2012 (Sam Houston State University)
