Linda Morales

Principal/owner, The Planning Center

Age: 39

Community involvement: Metropolitan Pima Alliance, board member; Tucson Stormwater Advisory Committee, chair; City of Tucson Houghton Area Master Plan Community Advisory Committee; Lohse Family YMCA, board member

Best advice you could give: Take only the advice you think is good; ignore the rest. Only you can know what's right and wrong for you.

Describe yourself with one word: nonstereotypical (or is that atypical? Or maybe just abnormal?)

You attribute your success to: A strong work ethic, thanks to my Midwestern upbringing and my parents, as well as a lot of help, patience and support from my husband.

A word from the nominator: "Linda has proven that she is deeply devoted to the southern Arizona community through her professional and service-oriented endeavors. Her knowledge of the different communities . . . has helped Linda develop and cultivate a variety of relationships. This, in turn, has enabled her to bring different sides of a project together for their voices to be heard, resulting in attractive and sustainable outcomes." - Steven Eddy, planner, The Planning Center