Client
SPOTLIGHT
K
athy Izard is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and changemaker. If you’re a bookworm, perhaps you’ve enjoyed one of Izard’s titles, including The Hundred Story Home, The Last Ordinary Hour, and A Good Night For Mr. Coleman. Much of the non-fiction she writes comes directly from her experience as an advocate for people experiencing homelessness in our community. Izard’s work also served as a major source of inspiration as Vicky Mitchener founded The Homeowners Impact Fund, which creates a way for everyone involved in the process of buying or selling a home (such as the homeowners, realtors, and attorneys) to make a small donation that collectively adds up to significant aid for those experiencing homelessness.
K A T H Y I Z A R D
Now, Izard reflects on serving others effectively, using her philanthropic work as a basis for well-loved books, and banishing self-doubt. How did you get your start as a writer?
When I started writing my first book, I’d never written anything longer than an email. In college, I had the thought that maybe I wanted to write The Great American Novel, because I love reading. It took me 30 years past college to figure out something that I wanted to say! (laughs). After writing The Hundred Story Home, I realized that I loved writing, so I started taking writing classes and really learning the whole process behind taking an idea through a manuscript into a published book. When you first began writing, did you struggle with self-doubt, especially since you had no formal training in the field?
The whole time I was writing The Hundred Story Home I thought, “Who in the world is ever going to read this book? Why am I bothering?” And the more it became memoir and not just strict nonfiction, I had even more doubt, because I put so much of myself into the book. But I finally decided that there were women who were wanting to do something in the nonprofit world, and if they could read my story and see how incredibly unlikely it was that I would switch from graphic designer to serving as a homeless advocate, then that might give them courage and inspire them to dream big in their own lives. That’s what spurred me on.
