Our Team

While the BSG all live in Brookline, MA, our "real-life" tower is actually a third floor walk-up in downtown historic Lexington. Yes, it’s crowded, hot in the summer, icy in the winter but a great place to plot out the BSG’s next adventure, think up nifty games for the website and sigh over the latest cool stuff destined for Think Pink’s store window.

Addie Swartz, Founder, CEO, creator of the Beacon Street Girls, and our full-time fearless cheerleader, is responsible for overall company direction (usually South by South-West but occasionally North by North-East). She is the person we depend on to tell our story and remind us why we're here. (The pictures on her desk of her 12- and 16-year-old daughters help with that too.)

A longtime entrepreneur, Addie founded the educational software company BrightIdeas in 1992. (Addison Wesley acquired BrightIdeas in 1996.) Addie gets her picture in lots of newspapers and magazines, including the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Working Woman Magazine, Child Magazine, and Working Mother Magazine, and she’s been on Good Morning America and MSNBC. Addie worked for two very different companies that made her spend a lot of time with a mouse. She worked for another big company that makes sneakers. Addie sees a lot of herself in BSGers Maeve and Katani. She combines Maeve's enthusiasm and zest for life with Katani's business sense.

Addie is a graduate of Stanford University and received her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.


Roberta Macphee, Editorial Director, is a world-famous media producer, writer, educator, and sprinkler of fairy dust who is responsible for all BSG literary content, both in books and online. Roberta will often stay up very late at night to think about how one sentence should be phrased. Roberta also plays the role of "brand steward," making sure that everything the characters say and do rings true, especially her favorite creations, Marty (the BSG’s adopted mutt), Ms. Razzberry Pink (proprietress of "Think Pink"), and La Fanny (the très chic pink poodle.)   

Roberta has won numerous awards for her educational literature and programs, including recognition from the American Medical Association, the National Educational Media Network, and the Chicago International Film Festival. She’s also received a "Cindy" award for "Cinema in Industry," and a Parents' Choice Award. For someone who works so much in black and white, Roberta’s interests are varied and colorful -- her daughter, her dog, green trees, and blue waters. She loves all of the BSG.




Sandy Balin, Sales Director, works on the Left Coast (insider-speak for sunny California) in her own office, which is an homage to "Think Pink," complete with Zoë the chocolate Lab as the La Fanny stand-in. (Yes, she’s explained to BSG buddy Maeve several times that California is a very big state and she’s actually a plane ride away from Hollywood, the star-capital of the world.) Sandy works with our more than 125 sales people to help stores carry BSG books and gifts, much like she has done for over 17 years with other book companies such as Intervisual Books, Klutz, Inc. and Piggy Toes Press. Sandy went to college in Vermont, grew up in New England and went to summer camp every year as a camper and then a counselor -- an experience she channels every time we talk about Lake Rescue.

Bobbie Carlton, Director of Marketing, is responsible for BSG media relations, marketing programs, and other kooky stuff. A twenty-year veteran of explaining esoteric* technology, Bobbie changed industries and joined the Beacon Street Girls in 2006.  She hoped she'd be able to at last get a manicure without creating an uproar at home. (Her deep, dark professional secret is that she's the mom to two BOYS.) Bobbie has been busy trying to remember all the crazy klutzy things she did in seventh grade so she can trade notes with Charlotte. She also wishes she had just a little of Avery's athletic prowess.

          *Word Nerd – strange, weird, and unusual



The mysterious Dina Barsky, Art Director/Designer often flits around the Tower garbed in one of her signature Japanese kimonos. She is responsible for the design and production of the books, website, and products. It is her job to make the BSG world more beautiful.

Katie Barron, with the very Betsy Fitzgerald-ish title of Business Analyst, is our super-cool tween trend reporter as well as the proprietor* of the BSG Shop and our resident sports nut.

          *Word Nerd – manager of a business

Beth Newman, Editorial Assistant, is a born-and-bred Southern girl learning to make it in chilly New England. A self-proclaimed grammar geek, Beth loves learning new rules about capitalization and comma usage. She comes to the BSG from a background in theater that thrills Maeve, but here in the Tower she is happy to let her inner Charlotte shine.

Sarah Corrigan, Assistant Web Editor, sees to all things web-related (except the technical stuff!), which includes updating each girl's web pages, plotting new online adventures, and managing Club BSG. Sarah comes to us from the fun world of teen magazines, so she's super excited that reading teen mags is now a part of her job! Sarah sees a little of herself in each of the BSG characters, but relates mostly to Charlotte—minus the klutziness (or so she likes to think).