Margaret Justus is an Austin communications consultant and a former television news journalist who grew up in Kansas City and has lived in Texas for more than 34 years—20 years in Austin and 14 years in Houston.

Justus founded the Ann Richards Legacy Project in 2021, a nonprofit that created and displayed 300 Ann Richards street banners in major Texas cities across the state. The banners honored the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of Ann Richards, for whom she served as deputy press secretary.

Justus then collaborated with philanthropists Lynne Dobson and Greg Wooldridge to publish The One Ann Only: Wit and Wisdom from Texas Governor Ann Richards.

As a media relations consultant since 1994, Justus has 30-plus years of communications experience, including as news as a reporter, producer, anchor, and assignments editor. She has served as a communications director for ten statewide Texas political campaigns including President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection bid and five years with Ann Richards from 1989 to 1994.

Margaret has two adult children and she is a volunteer Eucharistic minister and lector at St. David’s Episcopal Church. She enjoys competing in 5K races, cycling, kayaking, swing dancing, cheering on the KU Jayhawks, pampering her two elderly orange cats, and singing in two local bands with her fiancé, NPR correspondent John Burnett.