Natural Born Leader

A SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR WITH A PASSION FOR EMPOWERING WOMEN OF COLOR, LINDA SPRADLEY DUNN HAS BLAZED TRAILS BY FOLLOWING ONE SET OF RULES: HER OWN 

- Donna M. Owens

LINDA SPRADLEY DUNN ANSWERS THE PHONE SOUNDING CHEERFUL AND RELAXED WHILE VACATIONING ON MARTHA’S VINEYARD, THE PICTURESQUE NEW ENGLAND HAVEN WHERE THE ELITE SUMMER BY THE SEA. AFTER A WHIRLWIND PERIOD OF INKING NEW DEALS AND EXPANDING GLOBALLY, THE ENTREPRENEUR SPENDS PART OF AUGUST WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN OAK BLUFFS, THE ISLAND’S AFFLUENT AFRICAN- AMERICAN ENCLAVE, WHERE ONE MAY SPOT THE OBAMAS, SPIKE LEE OR GAYLE KING.

Despite a packed social calendar (“There are four parties a day,”she says,chuckling), Dunn takes time to explore the African-American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard. According to Elaine Weintraub of the Trail, enslaved Negroes lived in the maritime colony as far back as the 1700’s. “Folks can’t lose sight of the tremendous history here,” Dunn says. “Black people—doctors, lawyers and domestics—formed a community of their own. It’s a place for us to fellowship. There’s a legacy.”

Building and leaving a legacy is important to the fifty something wife, mother and CEO of Odyssey Media, a world-class marketing and communications company that aims to connect and empower women of color in America and beyond. Headquartered in South Florida, with satellite offices in Hackensack, New Jersey, and now Charlotte, North Carolina, Odyssey has a 25-member team, most of whom are Black women. Together they execute the brand’s upscale business retreats and conferences, boot camps, networking events, digital forums, travel adventures and philanthropic endeavors.