{"485981":{"#nid":"485981","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Alumni Spotlight: Wonya Lucas: Dreaming Big","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering (ISyE) alumna Wonya Lucas (BSIE 1983) is a woman guided by vision. Now the Public Broadcasting Atlanta (PBA) president \u2013 an appointment that means overseeing WABE, Atlanta\u2019s local NPR station, PBA, Atlanta\u2019s PBS station, and several associated online properties \u2013 Lucas has had a wide-ranging career in both engineering and the media and entertainment industries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELucas spoke at the Women in Engineering Banquet in 2015 at Georgia Tech and communicated her belief in the power of dreaming big to the young women assembled there. She says, \u201cI spoke of the influence that my mother and father had on me, as I watched them pursue their dreams and break barriers along the way. But, to pursue your dreams, you have to overcome obstacles.\u0026nbsp; You may even have to defy stereotypes to ensure that you remain authentic to your dreams and yourself. Be brave.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom early on, Lucas\u2019s parents were her biggest role models. Lucas\u2019s mother was a teacher and \u2013 perhaps pointing the way toward Lucas\u2019s powerhouse media career \u2013 a board member at Turner Broadcasting. Her father was a groundbreaker: the first African-American general manager in baseball with the Braves. Both were first-generation college graduates who, Lucas says warmly, \u201cunderstood the power of education, hard work, tenacity, and grace.\u0026nbsp; I think of them every day.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs an Atlanta native, Lucas often found herself on Georgia Tech\u2019s campus even before matriculating as a freshman. She participated in science fairs at Tech and says that she \u201cloved the energy on campus.\u201d Plus, Tech\u2019s solid reputation was a draw. As a student, Lucas chose ISyE for her major because \u201cthe IE degree was the most versatile engineering degree. I loved the broad opportunities that IEs could pursue upon graduation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUltimately, Lucas was involved in manufacturing and consulting post-graduation, starting out as a product engineer for Westinghouse Electric. She eventually applied to both MBA and law schools and earned her MBA at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Wharton, she found that her dreams and interests were moving her away from applied engineering into a combination of her \u201cnewfound love for marketing\u201d with an involvement in the entertainment industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat said, Lucas\u2019s move into the media industry was something of a surprise. She explains, \u201cNever in a million years, did I imagine that I would be in the media and entertainment world.\u0026nbsp; Surprisingly, I have found many senior leaders in the media world who started with a foundation in ISyE.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELucas brings a breadth of media and entertainment branding experience to her PBA role. She was president and CEO of TV One, and prior to that, held several high-level positions at Discovery Communications, The Weather Channel Networks, and Turner Broadcasting, including CNN Networks Worldwide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe even had the chance to meet and work with Oprah as the Global CMO at Discovery Communications, working on the launch of OWN, Winfrey\u2019s network \u2013 an experience many would consider a dream opportunity. As Lucas tells it, she participated in small group meetings with Oprah and her team, which were \u201clike a master class on not only branding but humility, self-awareness, and insight. At one point, everyone was asked to share a life-altering moment, and I found myself literally thinking, \u2018Why am I baring my soul in front of people I don\u2019t know well?\u2019\u201d But as Lucas notes, \u201cThat is the power of Oprah!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite her heavy media involvement, Lucas hasn\u2019t left her industrial engineering skills behind; in fact, she uses them every day. She explains that explains that \u201cstrong analytical skills are necessary to help develop short-term and long-term business strategies. The essence of engineering is the ability to question and seek answers. Creative problem solving enables me to identify changes in the media landscape, including technology disruptors, and consumer adoption. My skills also enable me to create experiential content that may begin with seeking an answer to a fundamental question.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELucas has big plans for PBA and her role there. Public Broadcasting Atlanta is already a group of successful media outlets, and she wants to grow and continue PBA\u2019s success by focusing on the wide-ranging community it serves, \u201ctouching as many people as possible through our media vehicles, technology, and community engagement.\u201d Like Lucas, who is pretty inspirational herself, PBA \u201cis to be a trustworthy conduit for lifelong knowledge and a source of inspiration.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPBA president and ISyE alum Wonya Lucas has always been a woman of vision.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"PBA president and ISyE alum Wonya Lucas has always been a woman of vision."}],"uid":"28766","created_gmt":"2016-01-14 11:40:51","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:24","author":"Shelley Wunder-Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-01-14T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-01-14T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"485971":{"id":"485971","type":"image","title":"Wonya Lucas, Public Broadcasting Atlanta President","body":null,"created":"1452902401","gmt_created":"2016-01-16 00:00:01","changed":"1475895239","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:59","alt":"Wonya Lucas, Public Broadcasting Atlanta President","file":{"fid":"204323","name":"140609-wonyalucas-2-1_1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/140609-wonyalucas-2-1_1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/140609-wonyalucas-2-1_1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2147355,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/140609-wonyalucas-2-1_1_0.jpg?itok=wbFx-uVz"}}},"media_ids":["485971"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"30681","name":"PBA"},{"id":"18071","name":"WABE"},{"id":"169817","name":"Wonya Lucas"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404.385.4745\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["shelley.wunder-smith@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}