Biography
An independent contractor, Lindsay J.K. Nichols is president of Lumina Link Consulting, acting as the communications director of NAPCOR, the trade association for the PET packaging industry in the US, Canada, and Mexico. A seasoned strategist, her 24-year career has spanned industries, supporting international corporations, high-impact nonprofits, and the healthcare, consumer, and government sectors. Lindsay’s work has impacted public policy, changed behavior, and helped people live healthier, more equitable lives.
Previously, Lindsay was vice president of marketing and communications at America’s Charities, where she designed their communications and marketing strategy, quadrupling revenue from marketing leads without additional sales or marketing expenditures, measurably strengthening their brand equity, and increasing client and member recruitment and retention. Before that, Lindsay led the communications and marketing team at GuideStar (now known as Candid), where she launched the Overhead Myth campaign and ghost-authored the More Money for More Good guidebook. She also worked at the high-profile public relations (PR) agencies Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Metropolitan Group, MSL, and LEVICK. She began her career at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), handling media efforts for the ASCE/FEMA report, Why the Towers Fell, and the five-part PBS series Building Big.
Lindsay has garnered front-page, high-profile coverage for thought leaders including GuideStar’s CEO on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. As a brand spokesperson and communications and marketing leader, she has been quoted in outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The NonProfit Times, St. Louis Public Radio, Dallas Morning News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nonprofit Communications Report, and the back cover of the seminal guidebook Content Marketing for Nonprofits.
Lindsay has spoken at a variety of conferences and events. She was featured on the Whole Whale podcast, the inaugural Van Eperen/Capitol Communicator Communicator Spotlight video series, and The Nonprofit Growth Show podcast, where she talked about some of her favorite things: branding, nonprofits, and data. She judged the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Corporate Citizenship Awards and the Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) Emerging Leader Awards.
Lindsay’s former notable clients include Lockheed Martin, Best Buy, Heineken, Eli Lilly and Company, National Geographic, Feeding America, Make-A-Wish Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Pre-K for All DC, School-Based Health Alliance, Land Trust Alliance, the NIH, and government departments across Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, and Philadelphia. Sher expertise includes dynamic social purpose communications, B2B inbound lead generation, conversion marketing, branding, PR, content and message development, media relations and training, social media and listening, community building, grassroots marketing, partnership development, crisis communications, public affairs, change management, and team development.
Lindsay earned a bachelor's degree in Broadcast Communications and Women’s Studies from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego. She is a frequent volunteer, helping to found three nonprofits. Lindsay firmly believes everyone will experience some form of coercive control and undue influence in their lives and is proud to serve as the Board Co-Chair of Living Cult Free. In 2006, she was president of WWPR.
Lindsay lives in a Washington, DC, suburb with her husband, daughter, two cats, and a tree frog. She aims to make the world a better place, one word at a time.