Her Story
About Kate
Kate Feaster serves as Director of Operations for the residential side at Hermitage, where she oversees the showroom staff and manages sales, project management, and customer relationships. She began her career path after graduating in 2020 with a construction management degree from Tennessee, having started with a year at community college before switching from an interior design program to gain broader industry knowledge. Her professional journey includes work at a cabinet company focusing on kitchen and bath design, followed by a role at a Knoxville design firm handling ground-up projects from grout colors to roof selections, and then returning to the Middle Tennessee area. At Hermitage, she advanced from project management and sales consultant to senior project manager leading a team, and most recently to her current leadership position after three years with the company. Feaster attributes her success to her competitive drive and consistently positive attitude, and she advises women entering the construction and design industry to lead with confidence despite being in a male-dominated field. During college, she was involved with Chi Omega sorority and Make-A-Wish initiatives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kate
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say for me, I hate to say like my competitive nature, but I always want to do the best I can. I work for myself, I enjoy working, and so I want everyone to like be able to know that they can reach out to me for help. I know that I'm successful because my attitude is always positive in that regard. I want to do the best I can for myself, and to prove it to myself that I can do it.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Our CEO here always says, assume positive intent. So, like, if you go into everything with a positive mind and positive outlook on what's gonna happen, that, you know, it's not... I feel like it makes me... my attitude be a lot more positive than... you know, going in there thinking negative about everything, I feel like it's... I'm able to just brush things off easier if I'm already assuming positivity on the front end.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I feel like a lot of times in the construction world... It's very like man, there's like a ton of men in the industry... just to be able to, like, lead with confidence that You are in the industry, and sometimes it does get a little overwhelming being, you know, few women in this... in the construction world, but that you can do it and just lead with confidence.
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