Beth Saidel is a writer and editor.
For over seventeen years, she served as the senior writer for executive communications at Barnard College, drafting major speeches, strategic messages, and meaningful tributes. She has coached high school students on their college essays, job seekers on their letters and resumes, and friends in search of the perfect prose — she simply has a way of finding the right words.
A former professional dancer, Beth graduated from Harvard College where she studied visual arts. Her passion for performance, color, rhythm, and style are evident in her written work. She lives in New York City with her husband, Joe, and their son, Oliver, and offers unsolicited advice to her stepkids, Catie, Matt, and John.
“Beth Saidel was, during my years at Barnard, the colleague that a college president is truly blessed to have. Among the many and varied responsibilities she carried out superbly, the one dearest to my heart was her ability to write for me. She produced pieces that were clear, informative, eloquent, based on careful research, and graced by wit – a gift that is all the more valued if the recipient is herself a language-lover and tends to take pride in her own writing.”
— Judith Shapiro, President Emerita, Barnard College
Photographs by Andrea Buman