Kiki Manders grew up in Venlo, a small town in the south of the Netherlands. She graduated from the jazz singing program at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she earned a Bachelor and Masters of Music Degree under the tutelage of Sylvi Lane, Lydia van Dam and Annett Andriessen. After graduation, Manders moved to New York City to study Poetry and Improvisation. She also started writing songs in the dialect from her hometown Venlo while living in New York which can be heard, amongst other compositions, to be on her debut album "Love is yours is mine" (Unit Records).

A finalist in the Voicingers International Singers Competition and a semi-finalist in the Brussels Young Jazz Singers Vocal Competition, Manders’ “irrepressible style” makes her an “in demand musician both as a bandleader and as a sideman.” She lent her voice to Amsterdam-based saxophonist Maarten Ornsteins’ DASH!, which featured artists such as Oene van Geel and Morris Kliphuis. She performed with DASH! throughout Europe, in the Music Theatre production “Spica”, multi-disciplinary theatre performance “Brilliant Limbs" and toured China with the band.

Manders performed and/or collaborated with The Metropole Orchestra, Maarten Ornstein, Oene van Geel, Morris Kliphuis, Grammy nominee Vince Mendosa, Yuriy Yaremchuk, Jeffrey Bruinsma, Bodek Janke, Phil Donkin. She performed at world known venues and festivals such as The Bimhuis, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Paradiso, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Concert Hall Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the Unterfahrt in Germany, the Sziget Festival in Hungary, the Brussels Jazz Club in Belgium, Jazzclub Jazz Dock in the Czech Republik, Jazz Club Dzyga in Ukraine, the Jazz Gallerie in Canada and at the Nanjijng Jazz Festival and the Chengdou Jazz Festival in China.