Linda Fisher was born in the Bronx, New York in 1952. Her mom was an executive secretary who wrote Gregg and typed 120 wpm on a manual typewriter. Linda first became enchanted with shorthand at the age of 8, when she read a book about secret codes and started a spy club. In high school she trained in Pitman so her mother couldn't read her diary. Linda went on to receive a perfect score in her high school Regents Examination and was her school's Commercial Valedictorian at the age of 17. She graduated with a shorthand speed of 120 wpm and passed a stringent Civil Service examination. She began her stenographic career in a New York State psychiatric clinic, recording minutes of children's group therapy sessions and transcribing patient records. At the age of 19, Linda began working as a legal secretary; first for patent and trademark attorneys and then for the Legal Aid Society, where she was upgraded to Administrative Assistant to the Chief of the Federal Defender Unit. It was here she became introduced to court reporting and enrolled in Stenotype school. To support herself through school, she began the Abraham Lincoln Typing Service, a stenographic and tape transcription service where she cut her teeth transcribing all types of materials, both live and dictated.