Entrepreneurial Brand Expert, Lindsey Walker Talks Life In PR & More

Publicist, Lindsey Walker Takes PR To A New Level

The sky is truly the limit for publicist and businesswoman, Lindsey Walker. Having received a bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University with no real plans for her future, Lindsey made lemonade out of her lemons and started doing freelance work. She is now the CEO and Lead Publicist of PR Mentality, a public relations firm based in Atlanta, GA. She has also been the featured speaker at events where she shares her experience and gives advice to women that are seeking to break into entrepreneurship.

In the coming months, August to be exact, Lindsey will be hosting a 3-day weekend event in Atlanta called ‘PR Girls Do It Better Weekend’, beginning on the 5th until the 7th. There will be an empowerment panel, a workshop, and a brunch to close out the festivities. Ronnika Ann, Kelli F. Kelley, Kendra Y. Hill, and Brittany Butler are the event’s key speakers. This is boasted to be a function full of positivity as well as an opportunity to network.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Walker recently, and I was so moved at how honest and humble she was. There was a genuineness about her that blessed me and I could easily see why others admire her.  If nothing else could be said, one thing is for certain, she is serious about her work and passionate about her craft. Lend a bit of your time to become familiar with Ms. Lindsey Walker as she opens up about business, her faith, and a little bit of her personal life.

Parlé Mag: I understand that you are all about female empowerment, growth, and progression. How did you get to this point? Who or what inspired you to become part of the public relations industry?
Lindsey Walker: I think that by me being a publicist, I’m able to work with so many amazing women in the industry and I’m able to see what it looks like when women are able to work together and come together as a unit, instead of competing. So, I think that that inspires me to just be a light and kind of just be an inspiration to others. I’ve had really, really great mentors, really, really amazing women who give that to me. Supportive to me just throughout my life. I’m a believer that that’s very important.

Parlé Mag:  Absolutely, absolutely. What was the main reason behind you, basically, being a blessing to others, becoming vocal on encouraging women who want to do what you do, being an entrepreneur or just being in the PR world, period?
Lindsey Walker: Because I didn’t have it. No one told me what entrepreneurship would look like. There was and is no road map. Everyone’s path to success is different and you can experience low points in entrepreneurship, and you can experience high points in entrepreneurship. So, it’s important to remember that factor and I feel like a lot of people, when they’re starting, they’ve seen so many “successful” people on Instagram and on Twitter and everybody’s doing something. But, what about the days when you’re just getting started and there are no clients coming in? What about the days when you feel like you have to do something different because it’s not working? That’s what really inspired me. I went through those things and I still go through some of those things, but I get through it. Being able to encourage other people and encourage other entrepreneurs that ‘you can still make it and you can still thrive’ is an amazing thing to be able to pour into other people because it helps me as well.

Parlé Mag:  I love how real you are; you’re real about it. It doesn’t even seem scripted and I appreciate that. It’s because of your experience that you’re able to give this to young women. To hear that it isn’t all sunshine and roses, that can help so many people because it really opened me up to hear you admit that. Now, as far as technology goes, social media, how do you think that that’s changed the game for the PR world? For better or for worse?
Lindsey Walker: I think a little bit of both. It definitely allows you the opportunity to connect with people. I often tell people that are in my workshops about this; I have connected with so many amazing people. Some of my very best friends in business are from social media—from twitter. I’ve gotten clients from Instagram. I’ve actually just picked up a new client just because they followed me on Instagram and I thought to reach out to them and they got their proposal and we were able to sign them on board. So, there is definitely power in social media and it can also be a beautiful balance when it comes to what it takes to build a brand.

Parlé Mag: Now, to go back to what you were saying about sometimes when it gets slow or when you’re stressed out. How do you stay motivated? What is it that keeps your fire burning?
Lindsey Walker: I am a Christian. I let people know that upfront. I have to pray. I always talk about faith in entrepreneurship because I don’t believe that you can have one without the other, and, for me, it took a lot of praying. It took a lot of fasting; it still takes praying. It still takes fasting. So, it’s me being like, “Okay, God, you gave me this vision. You gave me this; so how do you want me to maneuver?”  And figuring out and recognizing that it’s not about me but it’s bigger than me. It’s about the legacy that I’m trying to leave on the earth, the legacy that I’m trying to build for my children and for their children, and so on and so forth. I have to meditate; I’ll go on YouTube and I’ll search out a guided meditation, or I will sometimes get to the point where I’m just like “I’m not gonna worry about anything, but what I am gonna do is just meditate because this, right here, it’s a lot.”  I also use a journal, as well.

Parlé Mag: I agree because I’m also a Christian. So, I also believe that without God this is not us—it is all of him. He really deserves the praise because we don’t do it on our own. Now, when you do take time away from work, how do you relax? How do you just turn down?
Lindsey Walker: I read a lot of books, or I’ll go outside. I’ll just try to make it a habit to go outside. Get some fresh air because I do work from home and that can be a little frustrating as well. You know, just different things to keep my creative juices flowing and making sure that I’m keeping my mental health as it should be.

Parlé Mag: Exactly. Okay, now, let’s talk about your website, ‘Lynn PR Mentality’, and your whole ‘Know Your Purpose, Know Your Brand’ movement. How did that come about?
Lindsey Walker: ‘Lynn PR Mentality’ is actually my company’s website. ‘PR Mentality’ was taken, but my name on Instagram, Twitter—all of that is LynnPRMentality because my name is Lindsey and some people call me Lynn. So, that’s how my website came about.
‘Know Your Purpose, Know Your Brand’ is something that I just rolled out in 2015. I have two modules of the virtual course and I may bring it back in the fall. ‘Know Your purpose, Know Your brand’. I believe that before you build a successful brand, you have to know your purpose. You have to know your purpose amongst your target audience. You have to know your purpose in the market. You just have to know your overall purpose before you can even build a brand, and that’s how you figure out what your brand is, and, then, from there you can start building your brand’s potential—your target audience. So, that’s pretty much what ‘Know Your Purpose, Know Your Brand’ is all about.