Kate Gardiner

1. Founder and CEO, Last Word Communications (formerly Grey Horse)

   2008 – present

   Crisis, litigation and strategic communications for family offices, founders and public figures. Clients include the Miss Universe Organization (agency of record, 2023-24), UNICEF, Amnesty International USA, the Wikimedia Foundation, MIT Technology Review, Newsweek, Voice of America, New York Public Radio and Al Jazeera English, plus 92 family offices. The agency donates twenty percent of its time to public-interest work.

2. Director, Audience Engagement, IBT Media / Newsweek

   2014 – 2015

   Built the audience team for the magazine's second life.

3. Executive Director, TheLi.st

   2013 – 2017

   Network and media platform for accomplished women.

4. Social Media Analyst, Al Jazeera English

   2010 – 2011

   Trained newsroom staff in Doha and Washington, D.C. on using social media in their beats, an essential part of the Arab Spring coverage.

5. Associate Producer, Social Media, PBS NewsHour

   2009 – 2010

   The program's first social media producer. Online coverage of the BP oil crisis broke all existing traffic records and was nominated for an Emmy.

6. Reporter and contributor, Molokai Times, WBEZ, Chicagoist, Newcity Art

   2008 – 2009

   Early reporting and criticism; most of these clips are offline now.

Awards and honors won by campaigns and newsrooms Kate worked on.

• Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016), for audience and digital strategy work with Al Jazeera, New York Public Radio and Newsweek
• Peabody Award - Al Jazeera English, “Coverage of the Arab Awakening” (newsroom award)
• Emmy nomination - PBS NewsHour online coverage of the BP oil crisis (newsroom award)
• Online Journalism Awards: 2011 Breaking News (Al Jazeera, Egypt uprisings), 2012 Topical Reporting (Voice of America, Middle East Voices), 2013 (WNYC, Superstorm Sandy) - newsrooms she worked in or trained
• Shorty Impact Award, Best Multi-Platform Campaign (2022) - Clean Creatives “F-List”
• Fast Company World Changing Ideas honoree (2022) - Clean Creatives “F-List”
• Wisconsin Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest, Local Column, third place (2020) - Lake Geneva Regional News
• Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Emmys Committee; Young Leader, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations; #NextJ fellow

• M.S.J., Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University

  2009

  Media Management certificate, Kellogg School of Management.

• B.A., American Studies, Brandeis University

  Minors in environmental studies, journalism, English and philosophy.

Fifteen verified quotations, each checked against the article text, from The Washington Post, The New York Times, Shondaland, Marketing Brew, Columbia Journalism Review, Poynter, Voice of America and more, plus interviews, profiles and podcasts.

Contributing writer at At the Lake Magazine, covering conservation, community and women's leadership around Geneva Lake. Earlier bylines include Lake Geneva News, Knight Foundation, MediaShift, PBS NewsHour, Chicagoist, Newcity Art and Molokai Times.

Talks, panels and conversations from SXSW and Startupfest Montreal to GRC PR 360 and Elite Entrepreneurs. Adjunct faculty at New York University School of Professional Studies; guest lecturer at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism; advisor to The New School's Journalism+Design program.

An archive of 35,000+ public photos, licensed Creative Commons and used in print, books, textbooks and press, including a Michigan Country Lines cover, WBEZ, Michigan Radio, The Conversation and an Ohio State open textbook.

• Board member, Geneva Lake Conservancy (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin)
• Board, Check My Ads
• Advisory board, Armah Institute of Emotional Justice
• Advisor, Built By Girls Wave
• Member, The Explorers Club and the Manhattan Riding Club
• Founder, Women Who Whiskey
• Expert profile, Women's Media Center SheSource