Phebe Szatmari, MFA
Public Speaking & Strategic Communication Consultant
Phebe Szatmari is a public speaking and strategic communication consultant who works with professionals and organizations to build confidence, clarity, and influence in high-stakes communication. Her work focuses on helping people speak effectively across power dynamics—whether presenting to leadership, persuading decision-makers, or communicating complex ideas with authority and credibility.
She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College & The New York City College of Technology where she teaches public speaking, business communication, interpersonal communication, visual communication, argumentation and related courses within the Communication Arts, Sciences, and Disorders and Humanities departments. Since 2019, she has taught dozens of sections in public speaking and professional communication, coaching speakers to manage anxiety, structure messages clearly, and deliver with confidence in real-world contexts.
Phebe brings over a decade of senior-level corporate experience from Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and McGraw-Hill Education, where she managed cross-functional teams, oversaw multi-million-dollar programs, and chaired training and editorial standards committees. This background grounds her communication training in organizational realities, decision-maker priorities, and performance accountability—not abstract theory.
Her approach is further shaped by extensive experience as a writer, director, and producer of original and branded media. She has directed, written, produced, or performed content for organizations including CollegeHumor, UCB Comedy, Scary Mommy, and Sports Illustrated. Her feature-length directorial debut, Bruce, was acquired for distribution by Comedy Dynamics. She directed Period Piece, an award-winning comedic web series that explores women in different periods of history... having their periods. Seasons one and two have over 1.6 million views on YouTube, and were featured on Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Women's Health, Marie Claire France, India Today, and many more. Period Piece won Best Original Comedy Web Series on Elizabeth Banks' comedy site WhoHaHa. She also directed, Room for One, which was an official selection of the 2020 Los Angeles Short Film Festival.
This creative and performance background informs her signature training style: practical, engaging, and grounded in audience awareness, narrative clarity, and communication under pressure. Clients value her ability to create psychologically safe learning environments while holding speakers to high standards of preparation, professionalism, and impact.
Phebe holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook Southampton and a BA in English from Queens College (CUNY). Earlier in her career, she also taught writing and grammar immersion courses to ESL students, work that continues to inform her commitment to empowerment through communication.
She is based in Brooklyn, New York, and works with organizations locally and remotely. She is also available for on-site engagements nationwide and internationally.