Kathy Sparrow is a success coach, trainer, speaker, and author. She is a student of Jack Canfield, one of the world’s leaders in the human potential field, and is training his 2011 Train the Trainer Program.
Kathy with Jack Canfield and her son, Peter Prata
Breakthrough to Success 2011
Sparrow has been enthralled with story since childhood. She spent many hours reading the Chincoteague pony series by Marguerite Henry and sitting around campfires and picnic tables listening the the yarns of the elders in her family. With no surprise, her love of the narrative has woven its way into her professional life––first as a freelance writer with a focus on writing profiles of interesting people from all walks of life to her work in academia where she explores the power of the narrative to shape lives, heal psychic and emotional wounds, and build bridges between people of diverse cultural backgrounds.
Her thesis, Stories That Heal: Building Cross-Cultural Bridges Through Literature (2008), examines the premise that narratives––whether shared in person or through the written word––establish a common ground upon which understanding is reached and relationships are enriched.
In a similar spirit, her book, On the Mother Lagoon: Fly Fishing and the Spiritual Journey (Wish Publishing, 2003), chronicles Sparrow’s development from novice saltwater fly fisher to a fully fledged, US Coast Guard Captain and saltwater fly fishing guide on the Lower Laguna Madre. In it, she shares her psychospiritual development, as well as the technical aspects, of mastering the quiet sport. Both male and female readers resonate with her ability to honestly share the struggles, setbacks, and successes of her fly fishing experiences.
Sparrow is a lecturer in the First Year Writing Program at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA), where she encourages students to become better writers and critical thinkers through coursework designed around becoming conscious citizens and discovering one’s mission in life. She is also an undergraduate academic advisor in the English Department. Currently. Sparrow is teaching all of her classes online from San Diego.
As a technical, artistic, and creative mentor for aspiring writers, Sparrow has designed several workshops including “Live Life Fully: Write Your Own Story”, “Words of the Soul: Writing as a Spiritual Practice,” and “Telling Your Story: The Art of Writing Memoirs and Personal Essays,” among others.
She is the coauthor of a Christmas novel for all ages, entitled Andrew’s Quest for the Perfect Christmas Gift. Her screenplay based on this book is under option by Miracle Productions. She also authored Symbols: Guiding Lights Along the Journey of Life (A.R.E. Press, 1997) and was a contributing writer to Indianapolis: Crossroads of the American Dream (Towery Publishing, 1996). She is revising a novel titled, The Whispered Teachings of Grandmother Trout and writing a book designed to create greater awareness of how the stories told to us by family and culture impede our ability to live life to our highest potential and to show readers that it is possible to write the story of our own lives.
In addition, Sparrow has midwifed and/or edited the creative works of former Olympic wrestler Lisa Whitsett (Beneath the Armor of an Athlete); former Olympic bobsledder Alexander Powe Alred (Entering the Mother Zone: Balancing Self, Health & Family); fitness and lifestyle guru Kris Gebhardt (Body Mastery and Training the Teenager for the Game of Their Life). She also provided editorial services for the ...For Dummies publishers, Wish Publishing, and others.
A twenty-year veteran of the publishing industry, her work has appeared in national and regional publications, such as E Magazine, American Fitness, Indiana Business Magazine, Hudson Valley Magazine, Hartford Monthly, Indiana Runner, Saltwater Fly Fishing, Rio Grande Valley Woman, and others. A former columnist, feature writer and editorial advisor for Indianapolis Woman, she has profiled nationally known personalities such as Carolyn Myss, Christiane Northrup, Larry Dossey, New Age Music Pioneer Steven Halpern, Big Bird creator Kermit Love, and The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. She was on the writing/editing team at the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach, where her duties included writing and editing ARE Press books, marketing materials, and magazine articles. She also coordinated the production of the membership magazine, Venture Inward.
Her interests include yoga and spiritual practice, personal fitness, photography, heritage birding, knitting, travel, and native landscaping. She lives in San Diego, California.