One year in: Ch@tterbox Communications surviving cancer, ready for growth

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It didn’t, and the co-owner of Derry Township-basd Ch@tterbox Communications said she is poised to build on the company’s first year.

“I just couldn’t roll over and die,” she said of the August diagnosis, which ended in a double mastectomy in November.

Geller Myers has been told she is cancer free.

Both she and her business partner, Heather Zell, said the focus now is on adding clients and potentially hiring someone to serve as an associate public relations staffer or as an administrative assistant.

“We’ve been lucky to have all these things happen,” Zell said of the first year, which included work for 10 clients.

Ch@tterbox was founded a year ago with a focus on public and media relations, event planning and outreach campaigns. The partners started the business after working in various public relations capacities, where they served corporate and nonprofit clients, including health care systems.

They leveraged those relationships and have been working with organizations such as the American Jewish Historical Society in New York, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, Select Medical Holdings Corp. and the Carrom Co., a Michigan-based board game manufacturer.

They’ve also worked with consumer products companies and area law firms.

“It’s awesome to think where we are in a year,” Geller Myers said.

The duo hopes to add at least five new accounts this year. They could foresee growth in consumer products, entertainment and the mommy blogger community. Ch@tterbox also would like to work with more clients in the areas of media training and crisis communications.

“(Central Pennsylvania) is a great place to start a business,” Zell said, citing the close proximity to other major metropolitan areas that they have or want to work in, including Philadelphia, New York City and the Lehigh Valley.

Geller Myers said “you never know what might happen, but anything is possible.”

After surviving cancer, she said she hasn’t put any limits on the business.

“Say ‘yes’ when doors open,” she said.

We’ve all read the statistics about businesses surviving their first year.

Here’s to small public relations firms and small companies across the midstate who are opening their doors and taking a chance.