“Easy reading is damned hard writing.”
Specialties
Brand storytelling
Content strategy
Market intelligence
B2B digital marketing
Copywriting and editing
Emily L. Phelps
Speaker | Storyteller | Jargon Slayer
Emily has made a career out of transforming insincere, self-congratulatory marketing content into straightforward, authentic stories. She believes if it isn’t trust-based, it isn’t marketing. Emily brings more than 18 years experience to her work including successes that contributed to revenue growth and community engagement — and failures that have been justifiably trolled by audiences with keen jargon detectors.
Emily is currently Head of Brand and Communications at Netcraft, where she leads brand strategy, messaging, and external communications. In short: she helps security companies sound human, credible, and useful in an industry that doesn’t always make that easy.
Previously, Emily led marketing communications and content strategy at Cyware, helped shape voice and position at ZeroFox, and did a little bit of everything (and by everything, we mean everything) as Campaign Marketing Director at DisruptOps. Earlier in her career, she built Secureworks’ first social and blog programs and later expanded into content strategy. Before cybersecurity, she wrote and planned campaigns for brands and organizations including UPS, the Atlanta BeltLine, Park Pride, and Weber Shandwick.
Emily received her M.A. in Public Administration (2011) and her B.A. in Journalism (2004) from Georgia State University.
Since 2016, Emily has served on leadership development committees for the Anti-Defamation League–Southeast and joined the region’s Board of Directors in 2021. She was also an inaugural member of the nonprofit’s Glass Leadership Institute Alumni Advisory Board, collaborating with regional leaders to create programs that mobilize alumni in the fight against hate.
Emily spends her free time with friends and family, exploring the outdoors, and writing about context and critical thinking in the Digital Age on her personal blog, Ranty Em. She lives in Georgia with her husband, Mark, their son, Lucas, and their mini goldendoodle, Penny.