Influential Woman · Strategic Communication and Public Relations
Fanny Madalitso Kondowe
Strategic Communicator | PR Professional | Broadcast Specialist | Mass Communication Lecturer, M.A. in Strategic Communication & Public Relations, Sacred Heart University (SCMA)
Fairfield, CT
Her Story
About Fanny
Fanny Madalitso Kondowe is a media and communications professional with over 15 years of experience across broadcasting, education, and strategic communication, most of it rooted in Malawi.
Her path started in radio, where she worked her way up from Presenter and Producer, to Head of Programs at Radio ABC. As Head of Programs, she moved from being on-air talent, to shaping it, directing operations and working with affiliate stations in Uganda and Liberia as part of stakeholder collaborations.
That production experience carried beyond the studio. Fanny served as Productions Manager for the Lake of Stars Arts Festival in Malawi. She also worked as a Production Assistant on the international Amazing Race production crew in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Alongside broadcasting, Fanny spent a decade as a lecturer in the Mass Communication Department at African Bible College, teaching courses in TV and Radio Announcing, broadcasting strategy, writing for media, introduction to journalism, radio practicum and mentoring students, especially young women, as they found their footing in the field.
Fanny has continued to invest in her professional growth through a range of certifications and programs. Her journey began with the Women in News Leadership Accelerator Programme with WAN-IFRA, which strengthened her leadership focus and deepened her commitment to mentorship for women in media, a foundation that carried into a Media Management E-Learning Course through Fray College of Communications. From there, she built on her digital capabilities with training in Digital Transformation Basics through the Learn Africa programme at Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, and put those skills into practice creating digital content with No Ordinary Life in the UK. Since relocating to the U.S., she has continued that momentum, earning a Crisis Communication Simsternship and completing Digital Strategy and Content Creation through the Associated Press, and most recently, rounding out her growth with a Video Storytelling certification.
More recently, Fanny graduated from Sacred Heart University with a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication and Public Relations, completed through an accelerated program in August 206. She also worked as a graduate assistant for the program where she built the Amplify PR podcast from the ground up, producing every episode, from concept and scripting to sourcing guests, conducting interviews, editing, and publishing on YouTube. She was also elected Vice President of the university's PRSSA chapter.
Outside of her academic and professional work, Fanny runs I Call Her a Strong Woman, where she writes and podcasts about women who've overcome hardship and come out stronger.
What ties all of it together is a belief in the power of media and mentorship to change lives, and she is passionate about women's empowerment, uplifting young people, and telling the stories that don't always get told. As her motto puts it, "Determination is the goal."
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Fanny
01What do you attribute your success to?
I believe in being intentional about who I receive advice from. Family and friends are an important part of my support system, but I have learned that not everyone needs to have a voice in every area of my life. I have specific people I turn to for professional advice, emotional support, and personal matters because I trust their wisdom and know what they bring to my life. Too many opinions can create confusion and distract you from your goals. For me success is not only about having people who believe in you, but also knowing whose advice to listen to and staying focused on the vision you have for your life.
Success for me is knowing exactly who to go to, and for what. Not everyone in your life is meant to guide you on everything, and I've come to see that treating all advice as equal is one of the fastest ways to lose sight of your own goals.
So I've built my circle with intention. For professional guidance, I go to specific people I trust in that space. For emotional support, or the moments I just need to cry, there's someone else entirely. For matters of the heart, it's a different person still. I believe that certain people are placed in your life for a specific reason, and I go to them for exactly that reason, nothing more.
My family and friends have been my constant, the ones reminding me "you can do it" when I doubt myself and that support matters. But support without discernment can be its own kind of danger. When advice comes to you from every direction, unfiltered, it doesn't guide you, it drowns out your own voice until you can't hear your dream anymore. Knowing who to listen to and who to simply thank and walk away from, has made all the difference.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received came through the WAN-IFRA Women in News Leadership Accelerator Programme. Always take care of yourself before you take care of your work, because your job can replace you, but no one can replace you in your own life.
It's a simple line, but it reshaped how I show up in my career. For years, especially working in media and classrooms, I poured everything into the work. The broadcast had to go out, the students had to be prepared, the program had to run. What I learned through WAN-IFRA is that pouring from an empty cup eventually costs you the very excellence you're chasing. So now I hold both at once, I still believe in being the best at everything I do, but taking care of myself should be a priority, not something that competes with it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I believe every woman can do it, if she has determination. What holds women back is often internal, the quiet voice that says, 'maybe I'm too old,' or maybe I've already been through too much to start now.' Coming from Malawi and from a place where I had to overcome real limitations of my own, I know that voice intimately. It isn't only shaped by what you've personally gone through, it's also shaped by watching other women struggle, and by the limits that can quietly take root in your mind because of it.
My encouragement to every young women, especially the one who feels like, "I think I can, but I don't have the resources, I don't have what I need," is simply this. Have the determination, keep pressing on, keep trying and one day you will get there.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge I'm navigating right now is standing out in a highly competitive field, whee many candidates bring similar academic backgrounds and technical skill sets. Having the right qualifications is simply no longer enough on its own. Breaking into the organizations I'm most drawn to is particularly challenging, as they receive a high volume of applications for every opening. At the same time, I'm learning how to translate years of professional experience into language that resonates with a different type of employer, a process that requires more strategic thought than it might initially appear.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that matter to me, in work and in life, are excellence, respect, and responsibility. Excellence means giving your best, being the best version of you, because no one else can be you. I learned that if you're only working for a paycheck, you won't really achieve what you're capable of, but if you bring your full self and give your all, people I work with and the people above me. When you respect others and show empathy, you're able to collaborate and communicate without friction. You can't really work with excellence if you don't know how to respect people. The last value I hold into is responsibility, taking ownership of what I do. I always ask myself, am I doing this because someone's watching, or because it's genuinely mine to do well? Excellence to me is respecting the people around you, and taking ownership even when no one's watching.
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