Hélène, the first biracial pageant contestant to become Wendy, the red-headed fast food icon, tells how that almost didn’t happen. But, the experience ended up having a lifelong influence on her.

The keynote speaker Helene Biandudi Hofer, the founder of HBH Enterprises, shares her path to becoming an entrepreneur with poise and grace. She is exactly what you would expect from a super successful entrepreneurial journalist. Her first lesson is a simple but poignant statement, "I am a fraud." This is so, so relatable.

Hélène Biandudi Hofer will share her powerful story of success as part of Genesee Community College's Fashion Business Program Speaker Series. In addition, she will share the details of a multi-media news project she created, The Empty Hanger.

In this highlight of Talker of the Town, we turn our attention to Hélène Biandudi Hofer, a warm hearted, passionate journalist and prominent figure within the community. Hélène is host and producer of WXXI TV’s Need to Know. I first met Hélène last year on set for a documentary project she was working on. The experience was an insightful one, I was fortunate enough to listen in on her interviews she conducted with the guest speakers within the documentary, and was thoroughly impressed by her intellect, professionalism and ability to have the guests feel at ease. I asked Hélène a series of questions. Here is what we discussed.

Hélène Biandudi Hofer was recently featured on the Roc Girl Gang blog. She was also one of the speakers for the group's Becoming Boss #2 event in April 2017. Roc Girl Gang is on a mission to spotlight and support female creatives, entrepreneurs and movers & shakers in upstate New York.

BATAVIA — What you wear can say a lot about you — even if you aren’t aware of it. “There are a lot of facets when it comes to clothing. There are a lot of people who say, ‘I really don’t care what I wear,’” said Hélène Biandudi, a journalist who works out of Rochester. “Everyone wakes up and decides what they are going to put on. So it essentially does affect them in some way, even if they don’t think about it like that. They’re making the choice to do something when it comes to dress...".

The first public screening of a WXXI documentary on an effort to build schools in South Sudan took place at The Little Theatre in Rochester. Hélène Biandudi Hofer narrated the documentary "Schools for South Sudan" that she wrote and produced after visiting that country last year. The hour-long film focuses on efforts to build a school in the village of Mayan-Abun, efforts that got a big boost from Rochesterians including the so-called 'Lost Boys' of South Sudan, now settled here, who formed non-profit organizations in an effort to bring education and health care to their native country.

Writer, Robin L. Flanigan, interviewed Hélène Biandudi Hofer for the September 2014 issue of the Democrat & Chronicle's Rochester Magazine. Flanigan covered everything from Hélène's travels to war-torn South Sudan to document the development of a primary school to the mission behind her work as a journalist.

The single most important component of a lively downtown is people: lots of people, working there, living there, shopping there, going to events and restaurants. The growth in downtown housing and employment is bringing more people downtown – and many of them say they love the center city’s energy and diversity. Host & producer of WXXI-TV's Need to Know weighs in what it will take to re-create a lively downtown Rochester.

Hélène Biandudi Hofer was featured in the Spring 2016 issue of BreakThru Magazine as one of upstate New York's "Women to Watch." The article details Hélène's work as a journalist and an entrepreneur with a passion for bringing people from all walks of life together through the power of media.

Have you been on an airplane lately? Have you noticed how some people will dress for air travel? People used to dress up for air travel, but the unwritten rules have relaxed. A lot. So if you want to make an impression, how do you dress for air travel? We asked our resident stylist, Hélène Biandudi Hofer, host of WXXI's Need To Know, creator of The Empty Hanger, and owner of JournaStyle how and why we should dress for air travel.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren invited 200 young women ages 16-24 from upstate New York to participate in a Red Carpet Affair at the Memorial Art Gallery. The event coincided with the gallery's Ebony Fashion Fair Exhibit. Hélène Biandudi Hofer was invited to join other women in the Rochester community to inspire and empower the selected participants.