Marilyn Laurie—“a little Jewish girl from the Bronx”—rose from volunteer environmental organizer to become AT&T’s first female Chief Communications Officer and the first woman to sit on the executive committee of a Fortune10 company. After organizing New York’s first Earth Day in 1970 and producing a New York Times supplement for its second anniversary, she was hired by AT&T in 1971 to spark employee recycling—initially in HR but soon moved into PR based on her initiative.

AT&T then handled over 90% of U.S. phone calls, and Laurie believed public trust depended more on action than words. Though she had no formal PR experience, she invented high-impact programs—like training executives for TV interviews—demonstrating curiosity, courage, and a knack for identifying unmet needs. Despite systemic sexism—being hired at a lower corporate level reserved for women and often overlooked—she advanced through the ranks, ultimately becoming EVP of Public Relations and chief communications officer in the late ’80s and ’90s.

Known as a mentor and boundary-spanning advisor, she emphasized that PR professionals must fully understand the business and broader world—they bring external perspective, credibility, and “peripheral vision” to corporate leadership. She urged others: “Have the ambition to influence the future, the courage to stand up for your ideas, and the stamina to make yourself heard,” always choosing meaning over busyness.

Raised in the Bronx by second-generation immigrants, Laurie retained her directness and resilience. A Barnard College graduate of the 1950s, she embraced the notion that women could live purposeful lives beyond marriage and motherhood.

By 2010, when she passed away, she had received nearly every major award in public relations—but her journey to the top had been littered with bias, resistance, and challenges she confronted head-on. Her life is a testament to tenacity, strategic leadership, and the evolving role of PR in corporate America.