Amy McCormick Dawson, a native of Memphis, Tenn., has been writing professionally for more than 15 years ― and telling funny stories for much, much longer.
Dubbed “Amy Mac” by her sixth grade teacher, Mr. Worley, in an attempt to differentiate her from the 14 other (a guesstimate) girls named Amy in her class, the name has stuck in various forms to this day. That’s probably because there are almost always 17 other people named Amy within a five mile radius. Again, a guesstimate.
Amy was raised in Memphis with a healthy respect for Elvis, BBQ, and Southern authors like Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee. Along with her three siblings, she was raised in a traditional Southern home with a wicked sense of humor and an appreciation for a well-told funny story.
Amy continued to hone her storytelling abilities (occasionally referenced by her mother as telling tall tales) through the years, and somewhat by accident majored in journalism in college. It was in Professor Hufford’s creative writing class at the University of Tennessee that Amy was bitten by the writing bug. Or maybe that was a mosquito. But anywho, it was around that time she started noticing she liked to write, and seemed to have a knack for it.
Shortly thereafter, Amy graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor of science in journalism. She parlayed experience writing for the university newspaper and a minor in public relations into a career writing copy, news releases and marketing strategy at advertising agencies and a Fortune-500 company. Her award-winning public relations writing has been featured in publications including USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Cincinnati Business Courier and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
With writing dubbed “hysterically funny” and “like having a conversation with a really fun – and funny – friend,” Amy is a monthly columnist for Atlanta-based Northside Woman magazine, a frequent contributor to a variety web sites (including Womenetics, recently named Fortune’s 100 Top Web Sites for Women), and writes small business and work-from-home advice on her blog, amymacpr.blogspot.com, which was nominated for Best Blog by the Bloggers Choice Awards.
She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two daughters, one dog and the conviction that laughing makes life loads more fun.
