"So I graduated Washington State University at 2 o'clock on a Saturday and I started my first job 48 hours later at KEPR in Pasco, Washington, at 2 o'clock on a Monday," Kathy recalled.
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Kathy was on the air at the station she grew up watching. Several months later she hit the big time, landing an anchor job in Boise, Idaho. Her next stop was KUTV in Salt Lake City.
She honed her skills there for six years. The experience was pivotal, and Kathy won national awards for her documentary on an aid project in West Africa.
That body of work resulted in a number of job offers, including at WLS-TV in Chicago.
Kathy joined Alan Krashesky as co-anchor of ABC 7 News This Morning in 1990.
"Alan tells a great story about-- he thought he was getting a promotion when in fact he actually got me," Kathy recalled with a laugh. "Which was not what he thought was in the cards."
But their morning show union only lasted three years before Kathy moved up to the 6 p.m. show to sit alongside longtime anchor Floyd Kalber. That pairing, seen as a bold move, proved successful.
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"Working with Floyd I learned the importance of being a good partner. And it wasn't his choice to have me sit next to him but over time we became a team," she said.
Then in 2003 she got the top spot at ABC7, joining the 10 p.m. show to co-anchor with Ron Magers. Her opportunity helped make a path for others.
"She said listen, let me put my foot in the door, OK, let me prop the door open let me push the ceiling up, OK, so that people that are like me, meaning gender, whose, you know, other women, whether they look like me or not, have the opportunity to come here and have their voice heard," ABC7 Eyewitness News Reporter Evelyn Holmes said.
Kathy and Alan were reunited on the 6 p.m. in 1998 and, to bookend their careers, were teamed up again on the 10 p.m. news in 2016.
"Alan likes to say the reason we've gotten along so well all these years is because we only spend less than an hour a day together. I like to think it's more than that," Kathy said.