Honoring Lacy Starling, President/CEO LINK Media

Lacy Starling is an entrepreneur, writer and speaker, educator and mentor, and a fierce advocate for women in entrepreneurship and community-centered leadership. She is a recipient of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Forty Under 40, and was named to the University of Cincinnati’s Dean’s List of Teaching Excellence five times.

Lacy began her career as a journalism major at Kent State University and launched her first business while still an undergraduate. Her previous company, Legion Logistics, grew from a one-woman startup in her basement in Union to a more than $26 million company headquartered in Newport. In 2021, she sold her stake in the company and returned to her roots in journalism.

She is now the founding President and CEO of LINK Media, the parent company of LINK nky and CityBeat—independent local news organizations serving Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. Under her leadership, LINK has grown into a regional newsroom with a staff of 19 and dozens of community contributors, building innovative models for sustainable, community-driven local journalism and serving as a trusted, independent voice for the region.

A native of Northeast Ohio, Lacy has lived in Northern Kentucky for more than 16 years and currently resides in Ludlow with her husband and daughter.