Pam Wylie Powell

Pam Wylie grew up in Southern California, selling apricots door-to-door when she was eight years old. Her dad, a Harvard MBA bent on teaching kids solid work ethics, paid her a nickel per tree well for each tree she watered. Between the apricots and the tree wells, as well as her dad’s career as a business consultant, Pam grew to have a curiosity about business.

Writing was also an interest. Pam received a B.A. in English from the University of Southern California. Ready to apply for a graduate degree in English, Pam suddenly changed course when not one but two professors averred that “business was dog eat dog.”  She couldn’t believe that. She decided to find out first-hand what business was about. Going east to look for work, she landed a job as a systems programmer trainee at IBM. (Yes, this really happened. Do we need to add it was before there were widespread computer degrees?) After IBM came Price Waterhouse. And after Price Waterhouse, Pam became an independent consultant.

Pam’s clients included Aaron Spelling Productions, Carnation Company, Earle M. Jorgenson Company, the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Thomas & Betts, UCLA and the University of California at Riverside. Job sites ranged from Los Angeles to New York, and from Monterrey, Mexico to Juneau, Alaska.

Still, Pam’s fascination with words drew her back to USC for a MFA in Professional Writing. She was in the graduate Cinema program as well but dropped it to concentrate on writing. Oh, and her work as a consultant at UCLA helped pay her tuition at USC. Thank you to both schools!

Running The Right Way

In 2003, Pam moved to Park City, Utah, where she wrote for the Park City Follies as well as working as producer and co-host of two radio shows on NPR affiliate KPCW. Again, she mixed consulting and writing.

After years of being both a computer consultant and a writer, Pam considers herself bilingual. “I can talk fluent techie and I can also talk to regular people” she jokes. Her favorite saying about techies is “Techies don’t want to rule the world. They just want it to run the right way.”

Anything Pam can do as a writer or a techie to help the world run the right way is guaranteed to put a smile on her face.

Pam Powell is an author, playwright and radio personality living in Springfield, OR. Connect with her on Linked In.