Lydia Sermons on Learning, Leading and Lifting Others

As an award-winning strategic communications executive, Lydia Sermons has built a remarkable career that spans public radio, network television, healthcare, Capitol Hill and the White House. Her list of achievements is no doubt a reflection of her tenacious drive and a keen ability to seize opportunities at pivotal moments.

But according to Sermons, her story was shaped by something even more powerful: the investment of others.

“My very first internship as a Temple undergraduate was at Channel 10 in Philadelphia, the same place where I’d later build my career,” recalls Sermons, who would go on to pay it forward by endowing a scholarship at her alma mater. “Years earlier, Channel 10 had sponsored a mentorship program for children in at-risk communities—one that I directly benefited from. They believed in me before I even knew what I was capable of. I never forgot that.”

A native of rural Georgia who relocated to Philadelphia in elementary school, Sermons enrolled at Temple after graduating early from the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. She began as a theater major but later switched to radio, television, and film, drawn by the chance to learn from faculty members who were actively working in the industry.

“Many of my professors were professionals working right in Philadelphia,” Sermons says. “The real-world experience they shared, paired with academic rigor—that fascinated me.”

Encouraged by her mentor and faculty advisor, Betsey Leebron Tutelman, Sermons sought hands-on experience in radio and television. She applied for a work-study position at WRTI, Temple’s public radio station, where she started providing technical support. Ambitious and eager to learn, she petitioned to fill in as a DJ—and eventually secured her own morning jazz show.

It was during her time at WRTI that she met a cameraman from Channel 10, an encounter that led to an internship and, ultimately, a full-time position working under the station’s community affairs director. She quickly rose through the ranks and was offered a permanent role before even finishing her degree.

By the time she graduated in 1987, Sermons was already an associate producer in a major television market. By 1990, when she left Channel 10 for News Channel 8 in New Haven, Connecticut, she had become the lead producer on the very show she started on as a production assistant.

In 1991, feeling the early signs of burnout from her years in television, Sermons pivoted to the then-emerging field of public relations, starting at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She led a major brand transformation campaign for the American Psychiatric Association and developed the communications strategy for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).

Her path next led to Washington, D.C., where she worked several years for then Congressman Chaka Fattah and went on to serve in President Bill Clinton’s administration, directing White House press efforts for One America, the President’s Initiative on Race. Later, as a senior communications advisor under President Barack Obama, she led national healthcare and health equity campaigns, crisis communications, and public engagement initiatives for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration.

“Early in my career, someone told me, ‘Learn how to do more than one thing,’” Sermons says. “At the time, I didn’t quite understand it—but I tucked it away. Looking back, I’d say I took that advice to heart.”

Today, Sermons serves as vice president of communications and chief communications officer at Howard University. And through every twist and turn in her journey, she traces her foundation back to Temple.

“I can say, unequivocally, the academic training I received at Temple wasn’t just theoretical—it was practical, relevant, and deeply connected to a real network I could tap into,” she says.

“Mentorship made all the difference,” she continues. “Faculty members, advisors, producers—they saw something in me and gave me a shot. I’ve never forgotten those investments. Now, it’s my turn to do the same.”

In 2025, Sermons created the Lydia Sermons First-Gen Communications Trailblazer Scholarship at the Klein College of Media and Communication to support incoming and first-generation students. Just as others believed in her, she’s proud to invest in the next generation of driven and deserving Owls.

“I was born in rural Georgia, on a farm off a dirt road—and I’ve risen to places I never imagined,” she says with a smile. “If it can happen to me, I want to help make it happen for someone else.”