Marty Argo Kemp (born May 4) is the first lady of Georgia as the wife of the 83rd

governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...

, Brian Kemp. She leads initiatives and advocates for the passing of legislation to combat

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

and support youth victims of

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...

Early life

Kemp was born to state representative

Bob Argo Robert Eugene Argo (November 18, 1923 – July 7, 2016) was an American politician in the state of Georgia. He was an alumnus of the University of Georgia and an insurance executive. Argo served in the Civil Air Patrol and later in the United ...

. Her hometown is

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

. Her childhood best friend was Julie Kemp, the sister of her future husband, Brian Kemp. She graduated from Clarke Central High School. Kemp earned a bachelor's degree in

consumer economics Consumer economics is a branch of economics. It is a broad field, principally concerned with microeconomic analysis behavior in units of consumers, families, or individuals (in contrast to traditional economics, which primarily government or b ...

at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in 1989. She was a cheerleader in college.

Career

After college, Kemp managed her parents travel agency and worked as the bookkeeper for her husband's construction company. She was also a

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

teacher and substitute. Kemp became a full-time parent when her children were young. During the

2018 Georgia gubernatorial election The 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, concurrently with other statewide and local elections to elect the next governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp won the election ...

, she campaigned on her husband's behalf. She used a softer tone than her husband. Kemp had legislative experience as the daughter of state representative. She began a public initiative to raise awareness and combat

after her husband took office in 2019. In 2019, she co-chairs the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion, and Education (GRACE) commission that her husband established. In January 2020, Kemp collaborated with filmmaker Tyler Perry to create a public service announcement about human trafficking awareness in partnership with the Georgia Department of Administrative Services. In 2020, she expedited the plans for the establishment of the Receiving Hope Center, a youth

victims recovery center, in

northwest Georgia Northwest Georgia is a region of the state of Georgia in the United States. It includes 12 counties (listed in the section below), which at the 2010 census had a combined population of 753,032. Northwest Georgia includes some of the southernmos ...

. Kemp worked with lawmakers to write and promote human trafficking legislation. By February 2022, the state had unanimously passed six pieces of related legislation. In 2021, Kemp advocated for pet adoption. In April 2022, former football player

Malcolm Mitchell Malcolm Jarod Mitchell (born July 20, 1993) is an author, poet, and former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of ...

published a children's book, ''Hey Georgia'', in collaboration with Kemp.

Personal life

Kemp is

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

. She began dating Brian Kemp after college. They have three daughters. The family resides on a 41-acre lot in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Clarke Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin . Variants include Clerk and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name. Irish surname origin Clarke is a popular surname i ...

counties purchased by her father the day she was born.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Marty First Ladies and Gentlemen of Georgia (U.S. state) Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People from Athens, Georgia University of Georgia alumni