She Didn't Wait for a Publisher. She Became One.
A former inner-city elementary school teacher from Richmond, Virginia, she built an award-winning publishing company one book at a time - running it at night while teaching during the day - and grew it into a national literacy platform that has helped more than 200 elementary schools and produced a 10th-annual event with the National Football League.
There is a version of the educator the world expects: someone who stays in the classroom, follows the curriculum and measures success by test scores. Kathryn Starke arrived from a different direction entirely. She came through the experience of teaching at inner-city elementary schools in Richmond, Virginia, through the late nights of running a publishing company while holding down a full-time teaching job, and through the kind of quiet persistence that turns a single children's book into a national literacy movement. The work she does today as founder and CEO of Creative Minds Publications is where all of those threads come together.
The foundation of that work is deceptively simple: she wrote her first children's book, "Amy's Travels," as a classroom resource to teach the seven continents. Based on a true story of a college suitemate, the book required a publisher - and when none appeared on her terms, she founded Creative Minds Publications to print, publish, market and sell it herself. For years she ran the company at night while teaching elementary school during the day, She had already earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Longwood University, and she earned her Master of Science in Literacy and Culture while teaching as well.
Her path from classroom to national platform unfolded in deliberate steps. She moved from classroom teacher to elementary school reading specialist, then to district literacy coach, and finally to national literacy consultant - each transition driven by speaking and sharing her work at literacy and educational conferences around the country. Today, Creative Minds Publications is an award-winning independent publishing company that has partnered with organizations including the National Football League, NFL Alumni, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the University of Chicago. The company's mission - publishing quality, engaging and educational books that motivate, support and inspire readers of all ages - is the same mission that sent Starke home after school each night to build something that did not yet exist.
Ten years with the NFL - and a milestone worth celebrating
The accomplishment that perhaps best captures the scale of what Starke has built is the Tackle Reading event, now celebrating its 10th annual year with the National Football League. The initiative grew from a book she wrote with the help of 45 contributing writers and became an annual philanthropic event connecting the NFL's reach with her mission of teaching the world to read. It is the kind of partnership that does not happen by accident - it is the product of years of credibility built one school, one speaking engagement and one book at a time.
The recognition that has followed reflects the breadth of that work. Starke has been featured on Fox and Friends, in Women's Quarterly Magazine, Richmond Magazine, HuffPost and SUCCESS Magazine. She has been named to the Who's Who Among Professional Women list, selected by The Author's Show as one of 50 Writers You Should Be Reading, and recognized among Educators You Should Be Following. Her first book, "Amy's Travels," holds 2026 Teacher's Favorite and Librarian's Favorite Awards from the Children's Book Council - and was adapted into a musical by the Latin Ballet of Virginia.
In 2025, she was selected as a speaker for the World Literacy Summit at Oxford University. That invitation places her work alongside the highest levels of global literacy leadership - a long way from the second-grade classroom in Richmond where it all started. As she approaches the 20th anniversary of her first book and publishing company in 2026, she has described this moment not as an ending but as a beginning: "I feel like this is a turning point, and yet we are just beginning."
The challenges that shaped the work
Starke's path was not without resistance. Early in her career, she was not taken seriously as an educational speaker or consultant because some perceived her as too young. In publishing, she faced skepticism because she was a woman. Her response was consistent: keep her head down and let the results speak. Book reviews, speaking engagements and awards accumulated. The skeptics did not disappear, but their weight diminished as the evidence of her work grew.
She has also navigated the more personal dimension of professional growth - the recognition that not everyone in a career is cheering for you. Her answer has been to build circles of people who are mission-driven, goal-oriented and supportive of others, and to follow her instincts even when they are not universally endorsed. She has described her business decisions as grounded in feelings and instincts - and noted that those are the decisions that have worked out.
The most recent and most personal challenge came in May of this year, when her father died of pancreatic cancer just seven weeks after his diagnosis. He was the first supporter of Creative Minds Publications and, in her words, its greatest fan. She has said that she is now working extra hard to continue the mission and complete the goals she and her father set for the business together - carrying forward not just a company, but a shared vision.
A catalogue built book by book
Starke is the author of six books across multiple genres. Her titles include "Amy's Travels," the children's book that started everything; "Tackle Reading," the collaborative volume that became an NFL partnership; and "The Alternate World," a YA fantasy title that earned first place in The Halloween Festival, an honorable mention in The Hollywood Festival and a spot on a 2025 YA Fantasy Book List from BookLife, a Publishers Weekly imprint.
Creative Minds Publications is now expanding its catalogue with a particular focus on children's books and faith-based titles. The company is also exploring opportunities for its books to become educational, inspirational and entertaining television programs and films - a natural extension of a publishing mission that has always been about reaching readers wherever they are.
Starke has also launched Starke's Remarks, a YouTube program in which she speaks with independent authors from the Creative Minds Publications imprint and beyond. The program reflects a conviction she has stated directly: independent books deserve to be celebrated and championed. It is the same conviction that drove her to found her own publishing company rather than wait for the industry to make room for her.
What success looks like from the inside
Starke defines success as being able to make an impact in the lives of others while fulfilling your own personal vision of what success means. It is a definition that holds together the two sides of her career: the national literacy consultant who has helped more than 200 elementary schools strengthen their reading and writing instruction, and the entrepreneur who built an award-winning publishing company from a single classroom resource.
Her leadership philosophy centers on assembling teams of people who are passionate about the mission - creative self-starters who can work independently and in collaboration, in ways that highlight their individual strengths. She has said that great leaders are not afraid of others' opinions or of being the first to do something. Her own career is evidence of that principle in practice.
The advice she offers to aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals is brief and direct: believe in yourself before anyone else believes in you. To her younger self, she would add: you are important and special exactly as you are. Do not be discouraged when you are misunderstood. Do not dim your light to make other people more comfortable. It is the kind of counsel that could only come from someone who spent years proving, one result at a time, that the light was worth keeping on.
This profile is reported from publicly available information and materials provided by Kathryn Starke. Nothing in this article is presented as a quotation unless it appears in quotation marks with attribution.