2026 Women in Signs: Lynsey Washington

Lynsey Washington
Senior Project Manager
Signarama Lancaster, PA

IN 2017, LYNSEY WASHINGTON needed a change, so she searched for other opportunities in her area until she stumbled upon a front-desk admin position at Signarama Lancaster, PA. Though she had no signage experience at all, she was told that she was hired for her personality, Washington recalls. “I said, ‘Alright, then let’s go!’”

From there, she quickly moved to project coordinator, then project manager, then she joined the leadership team. “Once I hit the ground running, I honestly just fell in love with the industry,” Washington says. “I feel like once you’re in the sign industry for so long, there’s no going back.”

Lynsey Washington is proud of her journey from total inexprience to current role as project manager.

The learning process was steep, but Washington received help from the former company owner as well as good coworkers. One colleague whom she remembers to this day, and whom she looked up to, was a former lead designer named Nessa. “She held her standards very high and I think that really shaped who I am today,” Washington says. She recalls once sending back some proofs of a project to Nessa. The designer set the paperwork on Washington’s desk and said, “Unacceptable. Do better.”

“Just having someone like that who is a little tough, but I think that’s what you need coming into the industry,” she adds. “Someone who’s not scared to be very direct with you and help you learn.”

For Washington, the journey from total inexperience — not even knowing what vinyl was — to her current position has been her proudest accomplishment. When she walked through Signarama Lancaster’s doors nine years ago, she was only looking for a stepping stone that would launch her into a career that could provide for herself and her family. Instead she has found something to be proud of, where she can share the work she has done with friends and family, and receive national recognition for it. “I feel so proud of myself for the career that I’ve built, and sometimes I get so wrapped up in my day-to-day that I forget how far I’ve come,” Washington says.

In addition to helping drive location-sales growth and increase average sales order size, she has led Signarama Lancaster’s full transition to a paperless project management system, played a key role in coordinating the relocation to a new facility, and launched a monthly nationwide book club for Signarama employees on leadership and professional development.

Washington and colleagues at the Starpoint Brands World Expo in Nashville, TN.

Still, the learning is ongoing. An area that Washington struggles with is permitting as the company works with many different townships across the US. Just keeping everything straight remains a challenge that she must continuously tackle.

She also sees a more personal struggle in learning to let things go, refraining from taking on everything that comes her way. “I don’t like to ask for help; I’m just kind of a go-getter,” Washington says. “I’d like to put my head down and grind it out, so something I’ve been personally working on this year has been asking for help and leaning on my team a little bit more.”

Being a woman in signs exerts its own pressure. Washington sometimes perceives judgment from construction teams, who may only focus their attention on Allen Landis, the current owner of Signarama Lancaster, PA. “They just see the man, the male figure and they’re just directing all these questions toward him. It’s a little humorous to me at this point,” Washington remarks. “I used to get it all in my feelings about wanting to prove myself, but I don’t think I need to prove myself to anybody at this point when it comes to being a female in this industry. I just kind of roll with it and it is what it is.”

That is precisely the advice that she wants to give to other women working in signs or who might be looking for a career in signage: “Be your authentic self. You know who you are, and as long as you are representing and being true to yourself, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”