Host of the Pressing Beyond Podcast> 

Linda Santavicca is a Principal Consultant – Practice Advisor at Advanced Management Services, Inc. (AMS), a Global Management Consulting firm, practicing in the areas of Organizational Development Consulting, Professional Development Training, and Performance Coaching. AMS has been serving Fortune 100/500, Middle-Market, Emerging High-Growth, and Government clients since 1994.

As a Principal Consultant – Practice Advisor, Linda focuses her efforts on improving organizational and employee performance, management and leadership development, team building, writing skills, and empowering women in leadership. Her work centers around harnessing potential and developing the necessary skills to become an empowered leader. She has a strong track record of success in transforming the capabilities of people to support a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island and having lived in Manhattan for 34 years, Linda is the quintessential native New Yorker. Yet, between her time on Long Island and moving into Manhattan, she lived in far-off remote places such as Madagascar (before the movie, “Madagascar” came out), Hawaii (where bodysurfing was her daily exercise) and Switzerland (where she fell in love with skiing and fondue). After her time abroad, Linda moved into Manhattan to pursue a career as an actress in the performing arts. In time, the industry went from local to global, which revamped the playing field and Linda swapped out the stage for an office in the corporate world.

While in the financial sector, she took on the responsibilities as a writer in marketing and communications as well as an events marketing coordinator. She remained in finance till the seismic market crash in 2008 when the job market bottomed out. During this aspect of her journey, she also spent seven years at First Republic Wealth Management prior to the JPMC merger.

From her job search, she found that standard job-seeking skills were no longer applicable due to the rapid growth of technology and globalization and thus, built a clientele in need of professional documents (business plans, proposals, resumes, online profiles, web content and ghost writing).

From her years working in theatre, Linda parlayed her stage skills (voice and movement) into a platform to coach professionals on effective communications: public speaking, engaging with, and holding the audience, giving concise presentations, and negotiating with grace. Her all-encompassing skills in events marketing has enabled her to produce conferences and top-tier events for private and corporate clients, and the non-profit space. Linda remains a contributing editor to the SAG-AFTRA Industry Magazine.

In addition to her professional background, Linda launched the podcast, Pressing Beyond in 2020. The premise of the podcast is about how people have pressed beyond unyielding obstacles to reach their calling and live out their true purpose. The guests interviewed vary from all “walks of life.” CEOs, business owners, consultants, entrepreneurs, award-winning musicians, actors, authors, a former NFL Super Bowl athlete, pastors as well as several non-profit organizations. Whatever the profession, organization, or product, Pressing Beyond has bolstered the brand.

The podcast has been nominated for the best female podcast by the People’s Choice Awards in 2021. It has been uploaded 7,000 times across time zones and in far-off destinations never anticipated and continues to expand. Linda has worked for Warburg Pincus Funds, JP Morgan, Robert Isabell, Inc., and McKinsey & Co. Of her numerous acting credits, she has appeared in SNL, New Jack City, and a plethora of commercials. Her book, We Will Count Stars: Following Abraham is soon to be published in 2023. She earned her BA in Theatre from Hunter College and her MA in Corporate Communications from Fordham University. She now resides in Western Pennsylvania.