Marybeth Edgecomb

Marybeth has specialized in corporate communications since graduating from the University of Virginia. She worked for two of the largest human resources and benefits consulting firms — Hewitt Associates and Towers Perrin — before starting her own agency in 1996. That company she started in her apartment bedroom is now Chemistry Communications with clients from coast to coast and in dozens of industries.

She has won a Gold Quill from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and several other awards from the IABC and Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). She also has served on the Board of Trustees for PAWKids, a holistic family enrichment and empowerment center on the Westside of Atlanta.

When not working, she is busy with her family — one husband, four boys from age 18 to 28, one cat, and two dogs. When she comes up for air, she can generally be found sewing, reading, powerwalking, or in front of her computer again working on her novel or blog. She and her family moved from suburbia to inner-city Atlanta in 2015 and are loving every minute of it.

Favorites: Atlanta Braves baseball, going to country concerts with her sons, The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, her mother’s macaroni and cheese, peanut m&ms, the smell of Coppertone suntan lotion, long walks while listening to a Braves game, Freakonomics podcast, or audiobook, and re-watching all seven seasons of The West Wing sequentially. 

Prides Herself On: Her banana pudding and macaroni and cheese (different from her mom’s). Finishing three half-marathons, including one when she and her husband held hands the entire time and skipped for about 1/4 of a mile. Recognizing actors in movies and telling you what other roles they’ve played before anyone else in the room. Being the loudest mom in the stands at her son’s football games.

Funniest Communication Challenge: Explaining to employees what a “hazardous hobby” is and why it’s not covered by the Medical Plan. (In case you’re wondering, mud bogging is covered. Sky diving is not.)

Theme Song to Her Life: “Riff Off” from the Pitch Perfect soundtrack. Great lines and great tunes all jumbled together in a way that totally makes sense. 

Check out Marybeth's latest adventure on her personal blog Life in Avoid.