Her Story
About Linda
Linda Recupero brings more than three decades of experience to her work in public relations and communications. She has held roles at public relations agencies and within corporations, where she supports C-suite leaders, including CEOs, in communications, brand and reputation building, and crisis and issues management. Her education includes a bachelor's degree from St. Peter's University, complemented by a summer abroad studying global advertising and marketing. Recupero has received creativity awards and the Diversity Award at HSBC Bank. She is a longtime member of the Global Forum, a peer-to-peer group of communications professionals. In addition to her professional work, she contributes to Covenant House and served seven years on the Board of Trustees for the City Parks Foundation. She attributes her success to hard work, enjoying what she does, and the influences of her father, mother, and husband. Recupero advises saying yes to opportunities and views AI as an opportunity rather than an obstacle in her field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Linda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think just really basically working hard and enjoying what you do. Growing up my family didn't have a lot of money so I've always had to work. I started babysitting at age to earn money. And I think just really hard work but at the same time loving what you do. The three biggest influences in my life have been my father, my mother, and my husband. What I learned from my dad he was a very hard worker. What my mom always taught me was you should like what you do. My husband taught me how to work smartly.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
When you're given an opportunity even if you don't think it's what you want to do say yes. Because you don't know what you learn until you do it. That's advice that I've seen play out for a lot of the CEOs I've worked with. They always use that rule of always say yes.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Look for I don't think your first job is going to be your only job but keep your eyes and ears open and listen to everything that's going on and work hard. And have fun at what you do and be smart and speak up and just take it all in. So many young people don't say yes. It's exciting to live your work and see like where the journey takes you. Just work hard and keep your eyes and ears open and have fun.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge probably is the biggest opportunity as well which is AI. A lot of what I do in my field is writing. With the advent of things like ChatGPT a lot of people in my field are panicked that our careers are over because everything will just be done by AI. I just don't think that's the case. I think that we have to see AI as an incredible opportunity to kind of take us to the next stage of what our work is. So I think it's scary for many but you need to view it as an opportunity not as an obstacle.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being strategic certainly really trying to be creative in terms of solutions. It's really important for a team that you're leading and people that you're leading to listen to them and understand what their lives are about. Candor is one of them. Having been someone who's spent my entire career working in New York you need to be very candid with leaders in order to earn their trust. Credibility do what you say and say what you do. You need to build credibility over time for who you are so that you can be trusted.
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