Kathy Rooks Was Kind & Creative

For International Women’s Day, I want to talk about my mom. I’ve been thinking about how there isn’t much written online about her, and it would be nice to change that.

Kathy Rooks was kind and creative. She used virtually all of her free time to make things for others -- and it's because of the examples she set that I do that, too.

One of my earliest memories of making things with her was sitting at the kitchen table while she put together my first elementary school's newsletter by hand. Scissors, paste, the whole thing.

Because of her influence on me:

• At my second elementary school (which was just grades 3 through 5) I was the only student to write for the school newspaper all three years.

• In middle school, I worked on our yearbook, drew comics, and got all of my friends to draw them with me too.

• In high school, I became the first dedicated editor of our school paper in who knows how many years.

I just decided to do these things, and did them… all because my mom made that so normal for me.

She never made me feel weird about the things I loved or wanted to make or do. She encouraged me no matter how I wanted to spend my time as long as I was doing something creative with it. If I wanted to build something, she was right there helping me figure out how to make it happen. If I just wanted to be alone in my own little world to tell stories to myself, she let me.

How she treated me growing up was the foundation for everything I do now. I tell stories because of her. I make things because of her. And I feel great about it.

The world would be a much darker place without people like her enabling creativity, opening doors to new possibilities, setting examples of self-expression, and building community through making things.

So, my gratitude goes out to all the women out there who, like my mom, set an example of how to be creative and kind. I’m incredibly thankful for you and the wonderful people I often get to meet because of you.

Happy International Women’s Day.