ABOUT
F&C'S STORY
Front & Center began the way many good businesses do — building the plane after takeoff with bubblegum, paperclips, a hope and a prayer.
I started the firm in 2016 after stiletto-sprinting for an international litigation firm, a mid-market tech company, and an early-stage startup — giving me a front row seat to decisions, deadlines and consequences. I didn’t come up through an agency. I learned by getting my hands on the work as both an intrapreneur and entrepreneur.
For all its unknowns, unforeseens and “unprecedenteds,” I found one constant in small business. Owners didn’t need more strategy decks, repackaged problems or blue-sky planning. They needed help making the hard calls. What to move on, when to wait and where to pivot.
As I worked with founders across industries and stages over the years, that through line held. Business owners were asking me to be a different kind of partner. Someone who actually saw and heard them, could bring it all together and create momentum without contributing to the chaos.
I’ve always said, your ideal clients will tell you exactly what they want, your job is to listen. So that’s what I did.
In 2022, I co-founded The Cohort Collab, Front & Center’s full-service sister firm, to support execution across brand, content, and marketing initiatives. Together, the two allow me to stay focused on strategy and leadership, while ensuring my clients have access to capable and creative implementation when needed.
Today, Front & Center operates as a fractional CMO and personal brand advisory firm, taking on select special projects by fit.
Success, to me, looks like leaving you calm, steady and confident. Think of me as another adult in the room — helping you make better decisions when the stakes are high and the widgets are gone.
Long short, I am the how to meet your why.
VISION
This is about creating a business you love on your time and your terms.
MEET MARY BETH
Let’s get to know each other. I’ll go first.
I’ve been at this brand and marketing thing for a hot minute. Fifteen-plus years and counting.
The early days looked like stiletto-sprinting as part of a 10-person PR team at an international litigation firm. From there, I introduced marketing automation at a mid-market tech company and eventually rolled up my sleeves as employee #5 at a startup that taught me how to build the plane mid-air.
Will trade war stories for wine.
I’ve seen things. I’ve done things. I’ve started two businesses of my own.
I founded Front & Center in 2016 after getting a late-night curtain-call on that startup. No severance plan. No safety net. Just rent due and fur babies to feed. So I sent 10 emails offering to write blogs, design social posts, draft site copy — basically whatever would move the needle for them and get me through the next month.
By December, I was in the black and filing my LLC.
What I thought would be a short-term bridge turned into the best work of my life.
Front & Center has since supported 50+ small businesses, from lawyers to designers to service providers and retailers, helping founders turn big ideas, eye sparkles and glimmers into something that actually works in the real world.
In 2022, I co-founded The Cohort Collab, a full-service brand and marketing firm built to execute the strategies we design. It became the engine behind the plans.
Across both ventures, my role has stayed the same.
I see the board.
I calm the room.
I help leaders make decisions when the stakes are high and the widgets are gone.
As a Fractional CMO and Brand Advisor, I work with founders and professionals navigating growth, transition or visibility. I’m a how person by nature. I connect vision to reality and give good ideas the structure they need to stand on their own.
When I’m not doing that, you’ll probably find me under a barbell, bopping around Park Circle with my three rescue pups, or connecting the beeps and boops with my DevOps husband over a glass of red.
