Spartan Profiles: Wanda Herndon
STARBUCKS SUCCESS
Since its founding in 1971, the Starbucks Coffee Co. of Seattle, WA, has become the world’s leading coffee brand with some 6,000 worldwide stores—most of them company-owned. Through September 2002, Starbucks’ annual sales rose 29 percent to $3.3 billion, while net earnings reached $251.1 million—the highest ever. A key person behind that performance is Wanda Herndon, ’74, M.A. ’79, senior vice president of Worldwide Public Affairs, recently named by PR Week magazine as one of the nation’s 12 leading African-Americans in public relations.
“This position is a dream come true,” says Herndon, who received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the MSU Alumni Association in October. "Each day is new and exciting. There is always a new opportunity to focus on.”
One example is the Urban Coffee Opportunities, a joint venture with Magic Johnson to open stores in under-served communities. Of the 38 stores operating under this agreement, says Wanda, the most memorable opening was in East Lansing on Sept. 29, 1999. “Even in the rain, you knew that something wonderful was happening for the city,” she recalls. “This particular opening was very emotional for Earvin.”
A native of Flint, Wanda visited MSU while in 8th grade. “The campus was beautiful and at age 13 I decided to attend MSU!” she recalls. Three years later, she met George Hough, then chairman of MSU’s School of Journalism at the time. “He and I began a relationship where I would send him my high school newspaper and he would critique my work,” she recalls. “I applied only to MSU and declared journalism as my major. I was very lucky and I knew I’d be able to obtain the quality education I wanted at MSU.”
Wanda currently serves as a member of both the MSU School of Journalism’s Advisory Committee and Minority Affairs Committee. Her advice to minority students? “Don’t let anyone detract you from your goals. Always tell yourself that ‘you can and you will.’”