Short Bio

Trenay Perry Bynum is an assistant professor of public relations at Belmont University with more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit marketing communications. She advises Belmont’s student-led agency, Tower Creative Communications, and leads youth-focused community initiatives including TEDxYouthJeffersonStreet. Her work centers on strategic communication, experiential learning and helping young people develop confidence, voice and professional readiness. 

Trenay Perry Bynum is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations and Social Media Management at Belmont University, where she teaches and advises students in strategic communication, social media and nonprofit public relations. She serves as adviser to Tower Creative Communications, Belmont’s student-run strategic communications agency and as a chartering adviser for the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Her teaching and advising emphasize experiential learning, professional preparation and the development of student voice through applied strategy and reflective practice.

Bynum brings more than 30 years of experience in marketing communications within the nonprofit sector, with professional work spanning health care, mental health, legal services, publishing and the arts. After an extensive career in nonprofit and public-sector communications, she transitioned into academia to align professional practice with teaching, scholarship and community engagement. Her work consistently centers on expanding access to opportunity for youth and emerging professionals.

She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in strategic media. Her research examines how social media shape personal branding and recruitment outcomes for student-athletes, how public speaking cultivates confidence and civic voice among youth and how experiential learning prepares students for professional practice. Additional research interests include leadership, belonging and digital citizenship, particularly as they relate to crisis and cultural communication frameworks.

Bynum holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Tennessee State University, a historically Black college and university, and a master’s degree in public service management from Cumberland University. Her commitment to HBCUs continues through her service as an advisory board member for HBCU Honors™, an NAACP Image Award-nominated program recognizing institutional excellence across HBCUs nationwide.

She is a mentor with tnAchieves and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., where she serves as co-chair of the Alpha Delta Omega Chapter’s publicity committee. She is also an associate member of Jack and Jill of America Inc., where her involvement included serving as historian for the Nashville Chapter and guiding teens in the creation of an award-winning annual scrapbook. Her past community-engaged work included serving on the board of the Roberta Baines-Wheeler Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Group and volunteering with the KYB Leadership Academy. 

In addition to her academic and service roles, Bynum is a self-published author of A Pictorial Journey of the Scarritt-Bennett Center: Celebrating Eighty Years of Cultural Diversity and Triumph! The Beautiful Face of Courage. Her community initiatives have included health and wellness programming, literary events supporting Nashville’s Black-owned bookstore Alkebu-Lan Images and women-centered gatherings focused on fellowship and service.

Her work has been recognized with honors including the Journalism Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Spirit of Women Award from the Women’s Hospital at Centennial for her contributions to Figures of Nashville Inc. Bynum began her career as a writer in the Institutional Development Office at Meharry Medical College, later serving as editor of Contempora magazine and contributing to publications including The Tennessee Tribune. Her professional impact has been featured in outlets such as The Tennessean, Nashville Business Journal, Nashville Lifestyles and Lifetime Television Network (digital).