EJ's Story
Elizabeth Johnson Phillips, known to friends and family simply as "EJ", wears many hats. She's a writer, artist, marketer, mom, bourbon drinker, and general mischief maker. She likes to say that at her core, she is a story teller. Sometimes she uses words. Sometimes a paintbrush. And sometimes pitch decks and meta descriptions. Mostly, she asks why a lot.
EJ is obsessed with a good story. Whether it's a whopper from one of her kids about why there's no more ice cream or witty banter from Aaron Sorkin's pen, she believes that stories are what bind us together. They are essential to humanity--to our ability to learn from the past, to share in another's experience, to the life of faith, to love. The stories we choose to tell speak volumes and illuminate our next steps.
The spoiled baby of three overachieving kids, EJ grew up in Greensboro, NC. From a young age, she dreamed of being either a writer or an artist. Her childhood was full of short stories, collages, dancing, and redecorating her room. Her first published poem was in the first grade: an ode to her teddy bear. She is fairly certain that it was the greatest piece of poetry ever written on par with the works of Lin-Manuel Miranda, if only she could find her school literary magazine from 1983.
EJ graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina in 2000 with a BA in Communications, specific to Screenwriting & Media Production. She also minored in Creative Writing. She took every writing course UNC offered at the time, earning prose contests in their literary magazine, The Cellar Door. She won the prestigious Ruben Creative Writing Award in 2000, and was nominated for the Steele Creative Writing award. Twice. She presented an Honors Thesis titled, "In Therapy" that was published by the UNC library system. While there, she studied under Ruth Moose, Marianne Gingher, Bland Simpson, Russell Banks, and the late Doris Betts. Most days she remembers to thank God for Betts's voice in her head reminding her to show it, not tell it. As she has matured, she is also grateful for the beautiful life lessons she learned from Betts--that there is no division between the sacred and the ordinary and that adulthood means learning to carry your own pain and helping others carry theirs.
After graduating from Carolina, in the spirit of Manifest Destiny, she set off to Denver, Colorado to "find herself." There may or may not have been a boy involved. Briefly. While in Denver, she took art and multimedia design classes at The Art Institute of Colorado. Eventually, she she longed for the East Coast and moved to Richmond, VA to be close to family.
Wanting another degree that made just as much sense as a degree in screenwriting, she went to seminary at Union Theological Seminary. She graduated in 2005 with her master's in Christian education, concentrating in children's, youth and recreational ministries. In each of her seminary classes, she sought to bring art and poetry into the life of faith. She once turned in a painting in lieu of a paper on the book of Revelation. (She totally got an A.) Creativity continues to deepen her life of faith. Creating for her is like prayer: an invitation to listen, be present, and reflect God's goodness.
While in seminary, she met a boy, fell in love, and grew a family. A family knit together in an unusual way, which is the only way that makes sense for EJ. While parenting 4 kids, she did copyediting, was an assistant to the author Sarah Byrd, was the editor for the Bethany Christian Services Greater Virginia newsletter, "Between the Lines", served on the Board of Directors for the Greater Virginia Branch of Bethany Christian Services, and founded the art studio EJ Creates Studio. Her acrylic paintings, which reflect her love of storytelling, have been included in shows at Crossroads Art Center, Art Works Gallery, Uptown Gallery, For Art's Sake Gallery, and the gallery of Stony Point Presbyterian Church, all of which are in Richmond, VA.
When EJ suddenly became a single mom, she found herself wondering what in the world she would do. After all, she was just a stay-at-home mom who was pretty good at writing and making pictures. Enter the brilliant Tiffany Joy Greene, MBA, who called her one day and said, "So I like your writing. I'm starting a marketing agency, wanna come work for me?" While at MPWRSource, she learned all things HubSpot, marketing, data analytics (yawn), SEO, and that her unique gift of asking why and saying, "What I think you mean to say is …" had value. She blogged, managed social media accounts, wrote eBooks, led website production, video production, developed growth and content strategies, and fell further in love with the power of a story well told. She quickly rose from humble Content Developer to the Inbound Lead. In 2022, despite her ardent belief in and love for MPWRSource and its mission, she left there to be the marketing manager for ProActive Information Management (pim). pim helps businesses keep data safe and running smoothly through technology, so she gets to distil IT jargon into understandable stories a lot. She once listened to tech geniuses wax on about deception technology for hours only for her to say, "Soooo...it's a door chime?" And the brand story for Dragnet was born. While at pim, she has added art direction, audio production, and sales and business development skills to her arsenal of "guy in the chair" tools.
She is an active member of the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce on behalf of ProActive Information Management, and serves on their Women's Business Council and Membership committees. She also serves on the advisory council for MPWRPeople, a non-profit that educates leaders to empower the people, organizations, and communities they serve. She is a member of James River Writers.
The stories she is most proud of shaping are that of her 4 children: Henry, Grace, Charlie, and Mollie. They live, make messes, and say "That's What She Said" too much in Midlothian, VA.
