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Linda Wallace, BJ '76

What do you do?
I own Linda S. Wallace Communications, a full-service communications company that provides strategic intelligence to help companies navigate the rapid currents of diverse marketplaces. I founded the firm in 1996 to transform divisive diversity dialogues into action-oriented skill-development exercises and useful communication strategies. Our consultants draw upon reporting, writing and reasoning skills, along with their own vast cultural journeys, as they assist clients in efforts to deliver messages to broader and wider audiences. In workshops, our consultants engage employees in small comfortable dialogues that allow them to identify and manage their cultural filters and build more cohesive and trusting relationships with colleagues. Our services include cultural competency and team-building workshops; reporting and speech writing services; crisis management; and news relations. In the 1990s, I pioneered the news relations technique, a media strategy that markets news stories to help newspapers and broadcast media grow audience share and readership.

Who are some of your clients?
I have conducted cultural competency workshops for national as well as local clients, including: Community College of Philadelphia; Hearst Newspapers; National Liberty Museum; the U.S. Navy; the Anti-Defamation League; Houston Chronicle; Albany Times-Union; and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. I also write a column, the Cultural Coach, along with articles that have appeared in a number of national newspapers and publications, including the Houston Chronicle, the Columbia Journalism Review, Portland Oregonian, DiversityInc.com and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

How did you get your job?
I started my own company in 1996 after taking a buyout from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?
My journalism school experiences enabled me to develop tactics and strategies for communicating effectively across cultural boundaries. In college, I served as the first student ombudsman and was active in the Missouri Students Association and the Black Student Association. I learned how to look at issues through differing cultural perspectives.

What advice do you have for current students?
They need to develop a new set of skills to be effective in global communities. They need cultural competency and cultural literacy.

What is your favorite J-School memory?
Taking a magazine writing class with Mr. Duffy. He was the toughest instructor I ever had. His high expectations prepared me to meet many challenges over my newspaper career. He taught me where there is a will, there is a way.