About
Kate Fitzsimmons
My love of language began as a child listening to my dad spin a fantastic tale about a magic golden fish…
When caught, this fish revealed himself to be not a fish at all but an enchanted prince. The stunned fisherman faced a dilemma. Believe a talking fish, or let his dinner go and face his wife’s ire. I was hooked.
I listened intently as that tale revealed the delights of magic, the infinite possibilities inherent in choice and the consequences of overpowering greed. That was a lot to pack into a bedtime story –a cautionary tale that has served me well ever since.
I graduated from fairy tales to short stories, novels, plays and poetry. Stories all. A good story can transport us to other places and times. We use them today to help others understand who we are and where we come from.
This led me to my pursuit of a BA. My degree opened doors to all kinds of writing opportunities. Book reviews, author interviews, journalism and travel pieces.
Whether I was talking to an author about a novel, finding out why someone was entering politics for the first time, or discovering the customs of an unfamiliar county, the one thread that kept me writing and ran through everything was storytelling.
Before establishing Fitzsimmons Communications in 2003, I worked in small businesses, corporations and non-profit organizations. I served as development director for two nonprofits, one with a budget of 3 million dollars.
I also loved working as a contributing editor to The San Francisco Review of Books and Maiden Voyages magazines. My freelance journalism and photography have appeared in local and national publications.
My work with nonprofits keeps me feeling deeply connected to my community, as I continually learn about the incredible, life changing work done by dedicated people, often in difficult circumstances. When I help nonprofits to raise money to do the hard work – I feel part of the good in the world that makes life worth living.
As a life-long learner, I am still captivated by stories and discovering what motivates people. That is why, early in my career, I loved interviewing authors like Alice Walker, John Updike and Joyce Carol Oats as we discussed, not only the motivation of their characters, but the motivation of the authors themselves.
Now, I work with individuals, businesses and nonprofits to discover what motivates them and makes them stand out from the crowd. Together, we develop strong brand statements that ignite meaningful connections through their stories.
I will be forever grateful to my dad for his endlessly entertaining, and by turns, dark and joyful stories, that ignited my passion for language.
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Education
San Francisco State University
BA, double major in Creative Writing and English Literature magna cum laude
Awards
E.D.I. Media Award presented by the Easter Seal’s Society of the Redwood Coast for journalistic sensitivity in a series of articles on health care issues affecting Marin County’s disabled community for the Pacific Sun newspaper – Reporting that promotes Excellence, Dignity and Independence for people with disabilities.
Regular Gigs
Uptake Culture Feed, MarinArts Magazine
Former Marin Independent Journal About Town Columnist