Alumna Finds the Vertical to Her Horizontal

New York City was the goal in 2003 for NC State graduate Lindsay Singler. With a dream and a degree, Singler made the move to the Big Apple with hopes to work for a communication agency in the city.

She turned that dream into a reality when she landed a job at Fusion Public Relations, a boutique consumer technology public relations firm in Manhattan.

At Fusion, Singler’s main client was Panasonic. She worked on promotions for Panasonic products including plasma televisions, DVD players and batteries. Her specialty became pitching media. Singler pitched top-tier media – The New York Times, USA Today, TIME Magazine and The Wall Street Journal among others – for all of Fusion’s clients.

While she fell in love with the agency world, she fell out of love with life in the city after year three and wanted something new. She set her sights on practicing PR abroad.

She focused her international job search on Australia and the United Kingdom – both English-speaking countries. She landed a job with Howorth Communications, part of Ogilvy Public Relations, and made the nearly 10,000-mile move from New York City to Sydney, Australia.

Singler’s background in the technology industry proved to be a perfect fit for the accounts she worked on at Ogilvy. She managed public relations and marketing initiatives for clients including Toshiba, Intel and Microsoft. But after working in B2B technology for years, Singler was ready for a change.

“I did not feel great fulfillment in my job,” said Singler. “I wanted my work to better society.”

So she made a full circle back home. She returned to the Triangle and took a position in corporate communications at Quintiles, a Fortune 500 company and the world’s largest provider of product development and integrated health services to bring new medicines to patients. She now serves as the Content Development Director for Health Engagement and Communication and manages a global team, which she loves.

“Communication is a great horizontal,” said Singler. “But you need a vertical.”

Singler has found her vertical in healthcare, where she finds fulfillment in knowing that the work of her company makes a difference in the lives of patients.

Even outside of her day-to-day office environment, Singler works to make a difference in the community. She is the founder of Women for Success, a giving network for Dress for Success of the Triangle that has raised more than $50,000 to support the economic independence of underprivileged women.

“The idea is if you can empower a woman, you can empower a family,” said Singler.

Additionally, Singler is pursuing her Master of Public Health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina. She also remains active at her alma mater, speaking to classes as often as she can with aspirations of becoming an adjunct professor.

From working in B2B consumer technology across the globe to finding a niche in the healthcare and biopharmaceutical industry back at home, Singler has crafted a vibrant career in communication where she can put her passions to work.

She has found the vertical to her horizontal.