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Time Is On Her Side
Linda Selig works to Make It Happen.
by Lucy Soto
May 30, 2008
I
t's no exaggeration to say that Linda Selig thrives on relationships. In fact, she's made
them her life's work and passion. Now, in her latest business venture, decades of networking and
volunteering are paying off – and paying back.
The 60-something
ultra-volunteer has been a stalwart in the Jewish community, raising money and awareness on a
multitude of issues, from camps for kids to fighting prejudice. She spent four years as development
director for the Anti-Defamation League's Southeast region; five years as co-director of the
much-lauded Leadership Atlanta program; and she recently finished a tour as president of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Atlanta. As the first woman to lead that group's primary fundraising
campaign, she raised $17 million to support 17 local agencies and more than 300 social programs
across the world.
So, it's clear this lady knows how to raise money and how to make connections. About a year
and a half ago, she decided to put those skills together in a leap into the for-profit world with a
company fittingly named the Make It Happen Team.
The two-person power team takes on projects as consultants and "doers."
"We probably turn down more projects than we take," Selig says. "You get to a certain age
where you realize that time is the greatest treasure you have. Not wealth. It's time."
One of the company's most recent labors of love was creating Project JAC, Jewish Autism
Connections, to help families with autistic children connect to services and others in the
community. As part of that effort, the Marcus Foundation hired MIH to create a prototype for a camp
that could be replicated across the country.
The company also just finished a $1.3 million campaign for The People V. Leo Frank, a PBS
documentary about the Jewish pencil company manager charged in 1915 with raping and killing a young
employee. Shortly after his conviction, new evidence shed doubt on his guilt. The governor commuted
his death sentence to life imprisonment, and an angry Marietta mob, which included prominent
citizens, kidnapped him from prison and lynched him. The case is credited with the creation of the
Anti-Defamation League and the resurgence at the time of the Ku Klux Klan.
PBS has been filming in Atlanta, and Selig's company, which is associate producer, is
beginning to work on the premiere next year, possibly in Cobb County.
These and other projects meld together community service, relationships, fundraising and
good old-fashioned people power – the qualities Selig has been developing throughout her career.
Selig and her partner in the MIH Team, Lynda Walker, met more than 20 years ago while
the two were volunteering at the Jewish Federation. Their first real encounter would be an inspired
one.
"We were on a bus in Washington and happened to be sitting next to each other, and we
started talking about our lives, and getting to know each other," Walker says. "We had so many
things in common."
Beyond their same first names, spelled differently, they grew up in Miami, had
attended Ohio State University and had two children.
"We talked about how important it was to give back to the community. We both had similar
values. We'd both been so fortunate in our lives, and we both thought God wanted us to give back to
the community."
Walker was chairwoman of the women's philanthropy division for the federation and
asked its nominating committee to consider her new friend as a co-chairwoman, a position that would
evolve into chairwoman. They agreed.
"We worked together beautifully," Walker remembers. "There was synchronicity between us that
was amazing. We talked off and on through the years about how we should do something in the
for-profit world as well as the nonprofit world."
Soon after Selig completed her presidency of the Jewish Federation, she asked Walker to join
her in creating the MIH Team. Walker had already been through three careers – teaching, real estate
property management and a project director for a camp in Clayton, Ga. Still, she was ready for
more.
The two Lindas began talking to movers and shakers from all corners of Atlanta's agencies
and businesses, to get feedback on their new venture. "People were so helpful and encouraging,"
Walker says.
"As we talked to people, we decided we were going to do project management and take on only
projects we could feel passionate about, and those we know we can make happen."
"We're at a stage of life we can do that," she says. "We are working because we want to
work, not because we have to. We love being together."
For Selig, the thread that runs through most of her personal and professional experiences
has been community service. She learned it through her father's "quiet way."
"He did personal acts," says Selig, who has an older sister and two younger brothers. Her
father turned 90 this past summer. (Her mother is 87.) "He helped people. He modeled that behavior
and value for us. He was very involved in our synagogue and organizations. But I felt his personal
relationships in a quiet way."
She sees some of the same give-back qualities in her husband, Steve Selig, president and
chairman of Selig Enterprises, an Atlanta-based real estate company that owns and develops
warehouse, office and retail space throughout the Southeast. The Atlanta Jewish Federation is
headquartered at the Selig Center, which was dedicated in 1995 in memory of his parents.
"I'm so thrilled and proud of everything he does and vice versa," Linda Selig says. Between
the two of them, the Seligs have five children and 13 grandchildren. "Whatever I do, he's proud and
supportive. Usually, our values so line up. It's a good dynamic. It works well."
When she reflects on where she's been and summons up the experiences that changed her life,
she looks to one of the lowest points. It was more than 20 years ago, and she was 38 years old and
divorced. Yet, moving through that pain gave her the confidence that she could make her own way.
"It was difficult but it helped me grow. I thought, ‘As a woman, I can do this,'" she says.
"I didn't think of myself that way. ... When I met Steve, I understood what was important in a
marriage and what kind of support I needed and he needed."
All of that, she says, makes her feel compelled to give back – and hopefully along the way
inspire other women to do the same.
"I feel like a very lucky person," she says. "What I learned from my parents is to try to do
as much as you can for as long as you can. That's what keeps you young. Enjoy the whole ride, the
whole dance.
"After 60, you can start a business, and do great things and meaningful things. We're just
getting started. We're just getting started."
