Zina Pierre

Zina C. Pierre is the founding President and CEO of the Washington Linkage Group, Inc. (WLG). Established in 2001 in Washington, DC - WLG is a full service governmental relations and strategic consulting firm specializing in: lobbying, advocacy, public relations, grant writing and international trade. Ms. Pierre was born in Annapolis, Maryland on December 29, 1964 to Florence Weems and Darrel Pierre. She attended Adams Park, Eastport and Georgetown East Elementary Schools. She later attended Annapolis Junior High School and Annapolis Senior High School. Upon graduation from Annapolis High School, Ms. Pierre received her Associates degree from Anne Arundel Community College, followed by her Bachelors Degree from Catholic University. For more than fifteen years, Pierre has provided political consulting, advocacy and message development counsel to Presidential candidates, the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Mayors Association, National Faith leaders, International leaders, Governments, stake holder organizations and non-profit entities. Prior to that, Ms. Pierre worked for more than ten years in the television broadcasting industry as a writer, field producer and production assistant. She has worked with networks such as the USA Today Television Show, Fox Channel 5 News, "America's Most Wanted", Sports News Network and News Channel 8.

Public Service

Ms. Pierre received her first political appointment (schedule C) with the Clinton Administration as special assistant to the Director of Communications at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In this capacity she produced and moderated a nationally televised Federal government talk show and assisted in writing speeches for the Director and Deputy Director of OPM. Ms. Pierre then became the Director of Communications for the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau. There she developed public relations strategies for working women, organized multi-city summits to educate women on their workplace rights and co-authored several publications on workplace rights. Ms. Pierre later served as Director for the President's Welfare to Work Initiative for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). At the SBA, Pierre worked in the newly created Office of Economic Development where she spearheaded a successful effort in creating public-private partnerships with state and local governments, social agencies, non-profits, corporations and the small business community to hire more than 200,000 former welfare recipients. Following the Small Business Administration, Ms. Pierre served as special assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House Executive Office of the President. In this commissioned officer position, Pierre served asBill Clinton's liaison to America's mayors and county officials. As a former aide to President Clinton, Ms. Pierre's policy portfolio included: New Markets and Digital Divide, Welfare Reform, Healthcare, International Trade, Census 2000, the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community initiative, highway/transportation (TEA-21), environmental safety, urban parks/recreation and the lower Mississippi Delta initiative. She also served on the Presidential appointed council of advisors for the restoration of Princeville, North Carolina (the oldest black town in the country destroyed by hurricane Isabel)

Academic/Female Rights Advocacy

In the educational field, Ms. Pierre has guest lectured on political advocacy, public policy and women's issues at the following institutions: Georgetown University, Florida A & M University, George Washington University, University of St. Louis, Howard University, University of Maryland, Frostburg State University and the Georgia state Juvenile Justice Department. She has also guest lectured abroad to female elected officials in Africa, in addition to conducting several workshops on economic empowerment with motivational speakers Les Brown and Willie Jolley. Her commitment to women's empowerment has afforded her opportunities to speak to diverse audiences globally, including: the United Nations Women's Empowerment Conference, National Women's Political Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus and for Bishop T.D. Jakes' "Woman Thou Art Loosed" conference. Over the years, Pierre has provided message development and legislative training to State Legislators on behalf of the Center for Policy Alternatives; conducted lobby and communications training for the national members of the ACLU; the National Conference of Black Mayors; Children's Defense Fund, Catholic Charities; National Council of Churches and provided media training to the Maryland Democratic Party. Pierre introduced Senator Barbara Mikulski during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Awards and recognition

Ms. Pierre has been inducted into the Black History Makers Hall of Fame, listed in "Who's Who in the World", "Who's Who in Business" and the Council for Excellence in Government. She is the recipient of the following awards: Citation for "Exemplary Public Service," Ron Brown Economic Development Award by Minority Business Magazine, "Outstanding Government Official of the Year" by the Minority Business Suppliers, the NAACP "National Service Award", Delta Sigma Theta "Woman of Fortitude" Award for Political Involvement, Federally Employed Women "Leadership" Award, three-time recipient of former United States Vice President Albert Gore's "Heroes of Reinvention" Award and the National Conference of Black Mayors "Outstanding Service" recognition. She was honored by the Secretary of the State of Georgia as a "Good Will Ambassador" and recognized by the Governor of Kentucky as an official "Kentucky Colonel." Ms. Pierre has been cited in numerous print media publications and has been the recipient of several awards, including: Essence Magazine as one of the countries "Powerhouse, Political Black Women", Black Enterprise, Marie Claire, Sister to Sister, JET, Influence Magazine, Washington Post, New York Post, Hill News, Hill Rag, National Public Radio, Precious Times, Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, CSPAN, BET and others.

Community/Economic Development

Ms. Pierre has served on several national and local boards including: Executive Board of The White House Project (New York), Vice Chair of "The Future PAC", National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Women's Round Table, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Women's Vote Center, Washington Dance Theatre, Annapolis Children and Family Services, Annapolis Democratic Central Committee, Anne Arundel County Black Chamber of Commerce( founding member), Annapolis Ministerial, African American Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. Ms. Pierre formerly served on the executive boards of the National Council of Negro Women, the Greater Washington Urban League and Chair of the Board for the National Youth Connection (Atlanta). [www.washingtonlinkagegroup.com]

Personal

On February 11, 1999, Pierre was the first woman licensed to preach in the history of her childhood church at the First Baptist of Annapolis. On November 4, 2007 Zina was ordained at the Temple of Praise Church in Washington D.C. where she serves as an associate minister.

In 2001, Ms. Pierre formed The Washington Linkage Group (WLG), which is one of only a handful of minority owned Government Affairs firms in Washington, D.C. WLG provides lobbying, advocacy, public affairs, grant writing and international trade to cities, counties and NGO's throughout the country.

References

External links

* http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=589&category=politicalMakers
* http://www.shesource.org/shesource/expert.php?source_id=234
* http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/us_mayor_newspaper/documents/03_20_00/presidential_washington.html
* http://lnshhq05w.hud.gov/NN/contacts.nsf/43e23fcba14f601b852567540055708f/5291aef7edf2e8b6852566b3004e3a42?OpenDocument