Karen Lindsey, assistant professor of strategic communications, is connecting with students one conversation at a time.
Inclusive excellence often emerges in surprising ways, leading individuals to personal fulfillment and benefiting others. This was true for Assistant Professor of Strategic Communications Karen Lindsey, who, despite not initially planning to teach, felt compelled to mentor the next generation of professional communicators.
As she progressed in her career in corporate marketing and public relations, Lindsey realized not many people looked like her in executive roles.
“The invisibility and hypervisibility as a Black woman working in public relations leadership was palpable,” she said. “I vowed to be a guiding light for young women, especially Black and brown women aspiring to leadership.”
Through her volunteer and mentoring work with Girl Scouts of the USA and other organizations, Lindsey realized a calling for teaching, which would allow her to expand perspectives and help create a more diverse pipeline of PR professionals. She pivoted from a PR agency vice president to an administrator in higher education. While doing the latter, she taught evening classes. Aware of the prerequisites to teach at the university level, Lindsey completed her doctorate and began teaching full-time in 2017.
Lindsey came to Elon in 2021, and when the School of Communications adopted an Inclusive Communications course as a requirement for the curriculum, she quickly stepped up to ensure the course design and description were clear that students learned about misinformation, disinformation and inclusive excellence terminology; and that the course promoted critical thinking about how brands and the media influence the perceptions of marginalized identities.
“It’s been deeply fulfilling for my mentoring efforts and research to be recognized at Elon,” said Lindsey. “More importantly, I hope that young women are encouraged by what is possible in their career journey.”
Outside the classroom, she emphasizes building community on campus and mentoring relationships with students, especially those from underrepresented and historically marginalized communities, as they navigate academic relationships with professors and make career decisions.
“I want to be an example of what’s possible for a generation of students who need to see someone who looks like me in academia,” Lindsey said.
This commitment is reflected in her research, which focuses on leadership identity development among Black women and amplifying their lived experiences in corporate and PR agency environments. Lindsey recently co-authored an academic textbook to guide Strategic Communications students in thinking and learning about communicating in a global, diverse society.
“I often say diversity and inclusion are not problems to be solved but opportunities waiting to be realized,” she said.
Lindsey is part of Huemanity of People, a series by the Division of Inclusive Excellence that celebrates the diversity of Elon’s community. Nominate a member of the Elon community for this series.