Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Cox.
Hi Kat, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started writing when I was about five years old — my elementary school teachers would assign a half-hour of writing a story and by fifth grade, I was producing 12 pages at a go. I’ve just always loved words and writing, whether it was poetry, short stories, articles, or even letters to friends. I also enjoyed the spoken word and took up acting, especially in church or school plays. I lettered in drama and chorus in high school and won several awards for acting in college. I even had a main role in the first feature-length film made by a student at my university.
Fast forward to 2006, when I started a master of fine arts degree in creative writing (fiction) at a liberal arts school in Manhattan. While I was working on that, I started a full-time job as a marketing assistant for a tech company. It ends up that writing fiction and writing marketing copy dovetail quite nicely. At this particular job, I was hired because I spoke French and could help with marketing copy in English while also handling the minutiae of scheduling and other details for the U.S.-based sales team.
In 2008, I started writing erotic fiction for a former colleague who was trying to launch an erotic photography website and was looking for content to round out the site. He had liked my writing when I was working as a copywriter with him and knew I wrote fiction, so I offered to write him a story whenever I had time. He paid me for each story, and it felt good to be able to brag that I was finally earning money as a fiction writer.
I moved back to my hometown of Albuquerque, NM in 2009, where I added an advice column at the local alt weekly and a stint as the managing editor of a guidebook to local businesses to my repertoire of writing outlets while continuing to write erotic short stories and working full-time in marketing. I met a woman who was starting a digital marketing agency and needed a copywriter and added web copywriting, blogs, and other copy to my resume through her firm. My acting work has come in handy, too: at each place where I have worked, I have been asked to record the phone-tree or voicemail greeting. You can call several businesses in Albuquerque and be greeted with my voice telling you to press 0 to speak to a representative. In 2016, the friend I had been writing erotic fiction for told me we had enough stories to make a book and asked if he could be my publisher. And voila — I had a book for sale on Amazon (albeit one my mother is not allowed to read).
After about a decade of working in-house as a marketing or communications manager in New Mexico for tech firms, healthcare providers, and even a historic tourist railroad, I moved to Austin in 2018 to strike out as a freelance marketing copywriter. I had one or two major contracts that sprouted into half a dozen more thanks to word-of-mouth, and I continued to work part-time as a copywriter and business development director at the digital marketing agency in Albuquerque. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, I saw the writing on the wall and took a full-time role as a marketing copywriter at a financial services firm. In February 2022, I accepted a full-time role with a startup as a copywriter, which will allow me to rebuild my freelance and contract work as well. I have continued to write erotic fiction and other fiction and plan to have two more books of short stories published by2022. I’ve lived a charmed life career-wise and have always had wonderful people who appreciated my abilities willing to look out for me and give me meaningful, fulfilling work to do.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
From my current perspective, I feel as though my trajectory has been extremely lucky and easy, but in hindsight, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. I have never been comfortable in an office setting. Part of being a creative is needing the freedom to choose how I spend my time. Most of my “work” is intangible because it’s just my mind mulling things over. Even in high school, I would think about an essay or assignment for the full time I had and then pop out a near perfect draft in the day before it was due. I need space to go for a walk, take a nap, listen to music — all things that aren’t conducive to working 9-5 an office environment. As a freelancer, I had the freedom to work from wherever I wanted; I traveled to Scotland, South Africa, and France and was still able to meet deadlines on my own time. I’ve had a home office for several years, where I walk my dog whenever he wants it and go sit on my patio to drink my coffee and think. When I was a full-time marketing or communications manager who had to report to a desk from 8am to 5pm every day, I was absolutely miserable. COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise in that sense; I’ve been able to continue working from home, even as I took a full-time, in-house position with a conservative finance firm. My new work at a startup will allow me the freedom I crave to work from wherever I want once more while still providing me some security.
I’ve also had bad moments in positions I’ve held. I had a boss who yelled at me enough to make me cry and one who bullied me for two years; I’ve been laid off twice; I’ve had my position or expertise questioned explicitly because of my gender; I’ve struggled with high-functioning depression that made me call out sick to a job where I couldn’t explain what was wrong with me or get a doctors note. Like most millennials, I have racked up exorbitant amounts of debt in student loans for the promise of high-paying jobs that didn’t materialize for 20 years.
Personal issues have also had a big effect on my career — something I don’t think we talk about enough, especially when it comes to women who work. The month after I started the MFA program, my best friend died by suicide from schizophrenia. Somehow, I managed to get a 4.0 at grad school and still show up to work (almost) every day. The year I moved home to New Mexico, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and my sisters and I spent three months taking turns traveling to Omaha, NE to help our father take care of her. At the same time, I was able to work on several freelance gigs and start interviewing for a full-time position as a marketing manager. During the pandemic, I started a new job, bought a new house, and got divorced. I still increased output for my department by 200% that year.
For me, hardship is something that has made me stronger after it’s happened. Once the migraine has struck and the smoke has cleared, I’m able to be grateful for the experience, although it’s difficult as the hardship is happening. I’m a much more empathetic worker, which means I’m able to glean what clients need quickly; I’m able to let go of my ego and create for the client rather than my own desires; and I’m able to help colleagues take care of themselves before they even know they need to. I appreciate my life experience for helping me be better not just in my work but in my relationships as well.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a writer, through and through, and have been since I was very young. I taught myself to type when I was eight years old. I’ve always loved fiction and specifically literary fiction, but my ease with words has led me to a career in marketing. I write marketing copy and content, such as blogs, social media, newsletters, emails, articles, video scripts, and more for a living. But I also write fiction on the side — both for myself and for pay. I have a book of short erotic fiction on Amazon with another in the works, plus a book of short ghost stories. I’m most proud of my ability to write about anything — whether it’s technology security, self-help, health and medical information, travel guides, or the aforementioned fiction. I’m different from other writers in my ability to maintain depth in my writing even as I expand to such a breadth of subject matter and knowledge.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I remember very distinctly when I knew I was going to love words forever. I was sitting on my parents’ bed while my dad finished getting ready for his day — putting his coin purse, wallet, and pocket knife into the proper pockets on his pants — and he was asking me how to spell my name. It’s a bit of a long one — K A T H E R I N E — but I got it right easily. Somehow that unlocked something in my brain about how words are spelled and how they sound. And I knew I would have a love affair with words for the rest of my life.
Contact Info:
- Email: kat@katcox.com
- Website: katcox.com
- Instagram: KatCoxWriter
- Facebook: KatCoxWriter
Image Credits
Jack Collins
