Writers Rotation

Kathie Stamps

Kathie Stamps interviews people in various professions about words and writing.

  1. 43 Katie Fussenegger: connector, memory maker

    APR 13

    43 Katie Fussenegger: connector, memory maker

    Send us a text message about this episode! Katie Fussenegger serves as Executive Vice President of the Kentucky Derby Museum, where she helps lead one of Kentucky’s most iconic cultural attractions with vision, creativity, and a deep love for the stories of the horse. Before joining the museum, Katie spent more than a decade as President & CEO of ShelbyKY Tourism, where she built a reputation for innovation, collaboration, and community impact. She’s a proud University of Louisville graduate and holds her CTIS certification through Indiana and Purdue Universities. Katie has held leadership roles across the state and beyond, serving as chair of the Kentucky Tourism Industry Association & KY Bourbon Horses & History Region, President of the Kentucky Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, and twice as President on the international stage of Skal International Louisville. She’s also a graduate of Leadership Kentucky, Leadership Louisville, and Leadership Shelby. Her work has earned her recognition as one of the Lane Report’s Top Women in Business, Louisville Business First’s 20 People to Know in Tourism & Hospitality, recipient of the Way to Go Woman in Leadership Award by Today’s Woman Magazine, and a 2024 Forty Under 40 honoree by Business First, chosen from over 600 applications. A passionate advocate for tourism, hospitality, and community growth, Katie brings both strategy and heart to everything she does.    Kentucky Derby Museum https://www.derbymuseum.org/ https://www.instagram.com/derbymuseum/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/kentucky-derby-museum Connect with Katie on Instagram @CocktailsandTeacups Kathie’s note: You know how some people just remind you of sunshine? That’s Katie Fussenegger. Always happy, always smiling. I met her on a fam trip (which stands for familiarization, not family) with three other freelance writers in the fall of 2019. We toured a Saddlebred farm in Shelby County, a pumpkin patch and several other tourist attractions, and had some fabulous meals and camaraderie. I still think about those people and places! Writers Rotation intro/outro recorded at Dynamix Productions in Lexington, Kentucky. Support the show

    22 min
  2. 42 Patty Pell: actor, playwright

    MAR 17

    42 Patty Pell: actor, playwright

    Send us a text message about this episode! Patty Pell is an 80-year-old new playwright. She has written snippets all her life, including poems, short stories, two children’s theatre programs, sales training videos, radio spots, and the finest, most talked about obituary tribute that the P-burg Sentinel ever published. Patty and her daughter, Laurie, wrote Momma Won’t Die based on the last weeks they spent with Gigi in the summer of 2021. Those days of living with three generations of Southern women became the most important time in Patty’s life. Everything else seemed a footnote. Like the characters in her favorite plays, Steel Magnolias and Crimes of the Heart, Patty hopes audiences will see the characters in Momma Won’t Die and say, “I know these people.” Patty gives special thanks to the Del Shores Writers Workshop for their suggestions and support. She brought in a revised scene every week for two years. She could not have finished this play without them. Momma Won’t Die became a true collaboration of love! Follow Patty and “Momma Won’t Die” on FB and IG. https://www.facebook.com/mommawontdie https://www.instagram.com/mommawontdie Join the Kickstarter campaign (March 17 to April 16, 2026) to fund the stage premiere of the play in June in Dallas. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pattypell/momma-wont-die-a-world-premiere-play Kathie’s note: Patty and I were roommates and workmates a thousand years ago! She is quite entertaining, and always gracious. Support the show

    21 min
  3. 37 Brian Powers: marketing director, bassist, podcast host

    08/04/2025

    37 Brian Powers: marketing director, bassist, podcast host

    Send us a text message about this episode! Brian Powers is a legal marketer, a recovering attorney, a musician, and a podcaster. He is the Marketing Director of the McBrayer law firm, and he has been a freelance writer for such publications as Business Lexington and ACE Weekly in Lexington, Kentucky, earning a third-place Kentucky Press Association award somehow.  He lives with his wife, his three youngest kids, and the devil's own pug in a haunted house in Versailles, Kentucky. When he isn't writing for or recording his dad-joke-filled podcast on odd and obscure American history, American Esoterica, he is the bassist and a singer of the band Witness Protection, a band made up almost entirely of lawyers. He enjoys long walks on anywhere but the beach because he grew up in Florida and would be thrilled to never see sand again. Kathie's note: I met Brian in the 2010s through a loose network of nonfiction writers in Lexington, Kentucky. He's been a great resource for legal questions (thanks for the free advice, Brian!) and general shoptalk.  Oh, in this episode, I learned what comes after primary, secondary, tertiary. Yep, today years old when I heard the word "quaternary" for the first time. A quick dive into a shallow rabbit hole produced the next adjectives in the sequence: quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary, denary. Stop it! (Meaning, don't ever stop using cool words.) Writers Rotation intro/outro recorded at Dynamix Productions in Lexington, Kentucky. Support the show

    22 min

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Kathie Stamps interviews people in various professions about words and writing.