Professional Bio
Winner of Excellence in Journalism Awards from the San Diego Press Club, Kathryn’s published writing career began when she was just 26 years old, when after putting herself through college to earn her B.A. degree in English and Education and moving to the tiny rural town of West Point, Nebraska, her neighbor who owned the local newspaper invited her to interview and write a feature article about the now legendary financial wizard, Warren Buffett, and his mother, Leila Stahl Buffett.
Kathryn has been hired to write for national home and garden magazines such as Small Room Decorating, Cottage Style, Country Almanac, and Country Victorian, and also for the regional wedding magazines San Diego Style Weddings and Nebraska Wedding Day, all of which can be found at retail outlets like Borders Books and large national grocery and drugstore chains. Her writing has also been published in newspapers, business journals, online, and by leading inspirational book publisher Guideposts Books.
Kathryn is a skilled interviewer whose feature article interviewees often tell her she can readily capture their unique essence in written words, and her editors have entrusted her with interviewing many highly accomplished people including the following:
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Legendary financial wizard Warren Buffett and his mother, Leila Stahl Buffet
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Bestselling home and garden/lifestyle author and speaker Alexandra Stoddard
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A celebrity wedding planner who orchestrated a $1.7 million wedding and has appeared on HGTV and been featured in multiple national wedding magazines
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A Miss United States World and her husband, former Special Counsel to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno
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An organic caterer who has cooked for celebrities and whose products are featured at Whole Foods
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A top producing realtor from an award-winning agency that is highly ranked worldwide
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New York Times bestselling author Regina Leeds
In addition to her published writing, Kathryn’s eclectic career has included founding and managing her own professional organizing and seminar firm for several years, Organized With Ease, which she began in 1992. Her pioneering company led her to speak to as many as 400 people about business and home office organizing and to give seminars at the university level. She was also invited to consult with such clients as a prominent Omaha home builder and other successful business people, and a business organizing audiotape she developed received high praise in a testimonial from a contributing author of Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work.
Self-taught at getting PR, Kathryn’s organizing company was featured repeatedly in her local media, including two full page feature stories in the Omaha World Herald newspaper, a TV spot on Omaha’s KETV Channel 7 for National Clean Off Your Desk Day, and more. A natural encourager, Kathryn now loves teaching others that no matter what their business, they too can learn to harness the positive power of the press in an ethical way. Some of Kathryn’s PR coverage can be found on her Media Room page.
After studying internet marketing intensively in 2006 and simultaneously earning her interior decorating certificate, Kathryn launched Kathryn Bechen Designs online decorating. When a veteran New York decorating magazine editor found her website and hired her to write articles, Kathryn quickly realized that lifestyle writing is her true passion, and Kathryn Bechen Designs evolved into Kathryn Bechen Ink professional writing and consulting services.
Kathryn Bechen Ink has now served many writing and phone consulting clients of all sizes from around the globe, and Kathryn receives e-mails regularly from readers saying they love her writing and that she inspires them. She also has readers who follow her lifestyle blog.
Kathryn’s business writing and PR phone consulting clients include artists, interior designers and decorators, professional organizers, and other accomplished creative entrepreneurs. Her client testimonials repeatedly reveal that her intuitively questioning, caring, and laser-like consulting style enables her to easily determine what makes them “uniquely tick” and to translate their distinctive persona and business offerings into eloquent yet truthful marketing words, especially for their online presence. As a result, Kathryn’s clients are now getting their own work featured in magazines and books.
Kathryn has also taught English and writing in public schools and for Sylvan Learning Centers, held positions in several libraries including a law library serving 135 attorneys, and has served in various administrative roles.
After moving 12 times in 29 years, and owning, remodeling, and decorating two homes and a condo, Kathryn currently lives in San Diego, CA with her college sweetheart husband and business partner, Steve Bechen, a commercial real estate banker. Consciously choosing “beautiful simplicity” as a lifestyle at home gives them time to travel to bed and breakfast inns which Kathryn considers to be her best education for writing about decorating. She and her hubby have traveled to 60+ inns all across the U.S. and she now writes about them on her bed and breakfast inn blog.
Kathryn’s recent accomplishments include having her tips article “Decorate Your Bedroom Like a Bed & Breakfast Inn” published in author Kathi Lipp’s book The Husband Project, which was chosen as a “Featured Book” by CBN, one of the world’s largest Christian websites. Kathryn is also a Guest Author for The Society of Decorating Professionals, an international association of approximately 400 members including interior designers/decorators, real estate stagers, redesigners, and professional organizers.
Let's get started on your project today!
Kathryn Bechen Ink
991-C Lomas Santa Fe Drive, #418
Solana Beach, CA 92075
PH: 619-405-8151
FAX: 610-956-2971
E-mail: kathrynbechen@yahoo.com
