Alumni Profile
Kathy Bernson
BA'82, Business
Vice president of communications, Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors
Bureau
Louisville, Ky.
"At Indiana University I learned to write, to express ideas clearly, and to question everything. All of those have helped me a great deal personally and professionally."
Kathy Bernson
If you live in the greater Louisville, Ky., area, you probably already know or have heard of Kathy Bernson, BA'82. She is frequently in the public eye going about her professional duties as host to local visitors, and she is well respected and in demand as a public-relations professional.
Bernson, vice president of communications at the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau since 2001, started out as a journalist. She wrote her first front-page story at the age of 15 in the Bloomington (Ind.) Herald-Times. She worked as a reporter and in the circulation department of the newspaper while she attended Bloomington High School South and Indiana University.
"I chose IU because of its journalism program," says Bernson, who received an Indiana Daily Student scholarship and worked for the IDS all four years of college.
"At Indiana University I learned to write, to express ideas clearly, and to question everything," she says. "All of those have helped me a great deal personally and professionally."
One of her first journalistic experiences was interviewing John Laskowski, BS'75, an IU basketball standout, as a student reporter.
"I was so awestruck," says Bernson, a die-hard IU basketball fan. She barely remembers asking her carefully prepared questions as Laskowski amiably answered. Perhaps that early experience fueled her passion for IU basketball.
To prospective IU students, Bernson gives this advice: "Have as many experiences in college as possible. Take in an opera, attend a football game, and try different kinds of food. Learn to respect the differences in people.
"And on a practical note, do some kind of internship. Learn by doing."
Bernson also has a heartfelt passion for animals in need. Her daily routine frequently involves rescuing one or more cats or dogs, finding a temporary home for them, and then following up with impassioned messages to her friends and colleagues to help find them a permanent home.
Bernson makes her home in southern Indiana where she lives with her best friends: husband, Barry, and cats Gracie Allen, Maliki (which means "Little King" in Arabic), Calbert Cheaney, Tillie Campbell, Miles Davis, and Stray Kitty, who suffers from feline AIDS and diabetes.
"I'm doing exactly what I want to do right now, although my fantasy is to someday own and operate a small-town newspaper," she says. "No matter what I do or where I go, I will always love to write."