We’re puffing out our chest feathers and waking the neighbors to announce and welcome the newest hen, Catherine Betz, to the roost. Catherine spent the past few years as a marketing writer at a large university where she worked her magic writing and editing SEO content, streamlining project-tracking processes and smoothing unruly content into pleasant, flowy prose. In fact, she’s so good at preventing reader headaches, her new nickname around the office is Excedrin. How about that for a week two welcoming? In addition to saving readers money on over-the-counter medications, Catherine spends time shaping the minds of young ones as a part-time English teacher at a local community college. Now that’s something to crow about!

When not at the office fielding questions about her recently acquired hens and their lifestyles, laying habits and personalities, Catherine can be found walking her dog in Tower Grove Park, biking, playing volleyball, cheering the Jayhawks on in hoops and traveling with her husband.

What is the plural of “moose?” What do you call a female egret? What do you do if you’re marooned on an island with Paris Hilton?

Moose. Shegret. Start swimming immediately.

Enter Laura Stude, copywriter and curious fact collector extraordinaire. Armed with pen and thesaurus in hand (and pearls around her neck), this self-proclaimed word nerd spends her days slaying vicious writer’s-block dragons in search of words so beautiful and poetic they bring tears to the eyes.

Laura flew from agency world to Integrity wearing an account manager’s cape, but quickly shed it after learning that “slightly cuckoo” and “silly goose” were acceptable personality traits for a copywriter—and in fact, prized by her current employers. Since hopping on the creative bus, Laura has spun generic phrases into linguistic gold for clients like VitaminWater10/Coca-Cola, the NASCAR Foundation, Gilchrist & Soames and Lovelace Healthcare.

Laura has a degree in electronic media arts & design from the University of Denver. When she isn’t weaving elaborate word tapestries, she enjoys dainty cups of tea, tending to her garden and petting her cat. Um, no. Actually, she doesn’t. She likes cycling, BBQing, watching football, cooking, quoting funny movies at inappropriate times and country music. Which she vigorously defends as appropriate at all times.

We’ve howdyed, but we ain’t shook. That’s Texas-speak for “we haven’t been formally introduced.” So let’s draw the curtains and shine the spotlight on Ed Morrissey, Integrity’s Partner and Chief Creative Officer. Ed hails from Houston, where he got an early education in all things technical and webby at Compaq. After the interactive start-up he led was acquired, he turned his attention to leading Idea Integration, which was named one of AdWeek’s Top 50 Interactive Agencies. Not too shabby-looking on a résumé, if you ask us.

After a mere five years in St. Louis, he has certainly given people reason to talk—and not because he smells funny or wears socks with sandals. He helped Global Velocity earn Governor Blunt’s Missouri Technology Company of the Year award in 2008, and in 2007, St. Louis Commerce Magazine named him a “Key Player within St. Louis Technology.” But wait, there’s more! (R.I.P. Billy Mays.) Ed’s a member of St. Louis IT Entrepreneur Networking Mentoring Committee, he acts as a strategic advisor to several area start-ups and is co-founder of a nonprofit organization called Operation Shower, which produces and coordinates baby showers for pregnant and expecting military personnel and their families. So basically what we’re saying is he’s a hard-working, creative and big-hearted guy. Lucky us.

Ed gets his kicks by employing creative, user-focused development principles to help businesses better achieve their goals, connect with target audiences and extend their brands online. That’s fancy industry speak for “he’s got mad website skills and puts our clients’ business needs ahead of any lofty design goals.” Which is why he’s been able to usher new clients into our Clayton doors week after week after week…

His experience is all over the place (in a good way), having worked in a plethora (vocab points!) of industries including technology, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, government, oil and gas, media and financial services. And not to brag—okay, a little—his brand roster includes a few familiar companies like AT&T, Bausch & Lomb, Hewlett Packard, JCPenney, Sony, Microsoft, Continental Airlines and Exxon Mobil.

In short, he’s a rock star. So far, the only drawback we’ve encountered is Ed’s love for queso, as it conflicts with our ability to fit in our pants. But we’re willing to give him a “pass” just this once. Consider yourself “shook-ed.”

The Integrity family has adopted a new member—it’s getting to be like the Jolie-Pitts around here. As our new Director of Content Strategy, veteran media guru and wordsmith Natalie Kurz will be helming the ship of website content and information architecture design, internal branding and PR, online user experiences and social media strategy. Yes, that means she’s getting paid to Tweet.

With a musical ear for language, a methodical eye for consistency and an unwavering devotion to common sense, Natalie has spent the last decade helping tongue-tied companies, both large and small, figure out exactly what they want to say and how they should go about saying it. Whether entering a company as an employee or contractor, her natural niche has been to make things better—streamline a process, create a style book, revamp an intranet, craft a marketing strategy, explicate an unspoken idea, rewrite a website or simply clean out the fridge.

Her formal training was gleaned from esteemed professors at New York University as she earned a master’s in journalism. Her informal training extends back to the third grade when she wrote her first “book.” Other notable stops along the way include work with Citysearch, Purina, Express Scripts, AOL, Home Decorators Collection, New York Post, Sauce magazine and Alive magazine.

Since 1982, Kid Stuff Marketing has played a major role in developing innovative and creative kids’ meal marketing programs for foodservice venues including restaurants, movie theaters, stadium concessions, schools and family entertainment centers.

When they decided to leverage their brand online, Kid Stuff Marketing turned to Integrity. Working closely with Kid Stuff Marketing leadership, Integrity developed a brand accurate, content managed (CMS) online presence that hit the mark and was a key driver of growth.