S1E2 - Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series, with Nikki Walker

In this WBIL Podcast episode, Dr. Kelly Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyreneehall/) talks with Nikki Walker as part of the Women in Business Leadership Speaker Series. Nikki Walker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkiwalkerpr/) is a consummate public relations professional with cross category experiences in the fields of beauty, fashion,celebrity and lifestyle. Specialties include media relations and press placement, celebrity seeding and wrangling, press and red-carpet event development and activation, consumer engagement and launch strategies. Ms. Walker has carved for herself a uniqueniche in the industry with her ability to bring ethnic brands into the mass consciousness and create opportunities for mainstreambrands to authentically penetrate diverse markets. While interning with the Public Relations equivalent of a modern-day Henry Higgings, she was thrusted into that world and quicklylearned the importance of well-maintained relationships, media strategies and effective crisis management. Transitioning to andrising through the ranks at a well-known mid-sized NY beauty public relations firm, Walker created an ethnic beauty division oncehome to Black Opal, Crème of Nature, Luster hair Care and other ethnic brands seeking mainstream media coverage. The award-winning publicist (Silver Anvil/Publicist of the Year) has worked with brands like Coca Cola, SONY, Universal Record, PETA and Carol'sDaughter and secured national coverage for clients on cable and network television, morning talk shows, national radio and generalmarket magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Glamour, In Style and others. In Walker’s former role as Global Brand Awareness Director for Young Living Essential Oils, Nikki led domestic communityengagement, global media outreach, strategic brand partnerships, civic and government relationships and corporate socialresponsibility and philanthropic efforts. Her team developed and executed all consumer facing activations and regularly engaged withmedia to share Young Living’s message of whole life wellness with communities both home and abroad. As the Director of Community Engagement and DEI for Domo, Nikki works with a team of professionals to elevate and amplify thebrand by creating and driving PR programs and initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion, workplace equity and belonging,community engagement and Domo for Good. In her role as DEI Director, Walker leads Domo’s newly formed DEI leadership council,which represents multiple voices from around the organization to bring a more contextual application of DEI best practices andoutcomes across the entire business. In addition to helping advance a culture of belonging, Walker also focuses on creatingemployment pipelines and supporting student leadership programs that help build and nurture a more diverse pool of qualified talentfor the tech industry. Nikki currently serves on the board of directors for Encircle and The Children’s Center and the Utah Tech Leads PAC, the FoundationBoard and President’s Cabinet of Salt Lake Community College, the KUED Advisory Board, Utah Valley Chamber DEI Advisory Boardand is an active member of the NAACP, the Utah Black Chamber and the Junior League of Salt Lake City. She is the 2020 DiamondAward for excellence in civic engagement and business and the 2021 winner of the Women Tech Council Change Catalyst award. Learn more about the Women in Business Impact Lab at www.uvu.edu/woodbury/wbil/.