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Kate Angelo · Speaking

Book Kate to Speak

Kate Angelo brings hard‑won honesty to the microphone — on marriage, forgiveness, foster care, and the redemption that’s possible on the other side of a hard story. She’s also a bestselling novelist, so yes, she’ll talk about writing too — just don’t expect that to be the whole conversation.

About Your Speaker

Meet Kate

Kate Angelo has sold a lion to a circus, trained horses, groomed dogs, hustled a mean game of pool as a teenager, and aged out of foster care with more grit than guidance. None of that sounds like the résumé of a keynote speaker — and that’s exactly the point. Kate doesn’t talk at audiences from a place of polish. She talks with them from a place of having actually lived it.

After foster care, Kate leaned into her analytical side and built a career as a web programmer — a corporate life that looked, on paper, like the ending. Then a trip to Australia and an unexpected encounter with Jesus rewrote the whole story. That shift moved her out of the corporate world and into ministry, marriage counseling, and eventually the stage.

Today Kate is a Licensed Minister, Board‑certified Life Coach, and Certified Marriage Counselor. She’s the Publishers Weekly bestselling author of Hunting the Witness, a Selah Award winner for Deadly Holiday Hijack, and an Amazon Top 100 bestselling author for Driving Force. Alongside her husband, Jerry, she cofounded and serves as Vice President of Vanguard Marriage and Family Advocates, a nonprofit devoted to helping marriages and families get — and stay — strong.

What audiences remember most, though, isn’t the award list. It’s that Kate will stand on a stage and say the true, uncomfortable things about abuse, forgiveness, and foster care that most speakers soften or skip — and then hand the room a real, usable path forward. She and Jerry can present solo or together, and she tailors every talk to the room in front of her: a church, a writers’ conference, a marriage retreat, a classroom of foster youth who need to hear that their story isn’t over.

Signature Talks

Talks That Meet People Where They Are

01

Fighting for Forever: The Heart of a Resilient Marriage

Marriage & Family — available as a solo talk from Kate or a joint session with her husband, Jerry.

Marriages don’t fall apart in one dramatic moment — they erode in a hundred small, unaddressed ones. Drawing on their own marriage and their work through Vanguard Marriage and Family Advocates, Kate and Jerry unpack what actually strengthens a marriage under pressure, including blended‑family dynamics, emotional intelligence, and the communication habits most couples never learned.

Takeaways
  • The three communication patterns that quietly predict divorce — and how to interrupt them
  • A practical framework for navigating conflict without keeping score
  • Tools specific to blended‑family and remarriage dynamics
  • How to rebuild emotional safety after a season of disconnection
02

The Anatomy of Forgiveness: What It Is, and What It Isn’t

Forgiveness

Kate has forgiven what most people would call unforgivable — abuse, abandonment, and loss that touched her family in the most devastating ways. This talk isn’t theory. It’s the actual steps she walked, delivered plainly, so audiences leave with something they can use the next time forgiveness feels impossible.

Takeaways
  • A clear definition of what forgiveness is (and the two myths about what it isn’t)
  • The step‑by‑step process Kate used to forgive people who never apologized
  • Why forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same thing — and why that distinction matters
  • Permission to grieve and forgive at the same time
03

Beyond the System: What Foster Kids Need Us to Know

Foster Care Advocacy

Kate aged out of foster care and later became a foster mom herself — she’s stood on both sides of the system. This talk speaks directly to churches, ministries, and organizations who want to move from good intentions to real, sustained support for foster youth and the families who show up for them.

Takeaways
  • What foster kids actually need from a church or community (it’s rarely what people assume)
  • The gap between “aging out” and being ready for adulthood — and how communities can close it
  • Practical, low‑barrier ways congregations and organizations can support foster and adoptive families
  • How to see a struggling kid’s present circumstances as separate from their future
04

Written in the Broken Places: A Testimony of Faith and Redemption

Faith & Redemption

Kate’s full story — abuse, neglect, a chaotic path through foster care, and a life‑altering encounter with Jesus on a trip to Australia that rerouted everything. This is her most personal talk: a testimony‑style message about how redemption doesn’t erase a hard past, it repurposes it.

Takeaways
  • A raw, honest account of hitting bottom and what actually turned things around
  • Why “God works all things together for good” isn’t a platitude when you’ve lived it
  • How to find purpose in a story you didn’t choose
  • An invitation for audience members carrying their own hidden chapters
05

Finding Your Story: A Writer’s Path from Idea to Published Author

Author & Writing Craft

For writers’ conferences, libraries, and writing groups: Kate walks through the real, unglamorous path from first draft to bestseller list, including building an author platform, social media that doesn’t feel gross, and the newsletter strategy that actually retains readers.

Takeaways
  • How to structure an author website that sells books instead of just describing them
  • A realistic framework for social media and newsletter marketing that fits a real schedule
  • What separates a manuscript that gets published from one that doesn’t
  • Practical organizational tools (including Scrivener basics) for finishing the book
06

Your Co‑Writer, Not Your Ghostwriter: AI Tools for Working Authors

Author & Tech Track

A practical, no‑hype session for writers’ groups and conferences on using AI tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm, develop characters, and troubleshoot plot problems — without losing your voice or your story to the machine.

Takeaways
  • Where AI genuinely helps (brainstorming, character development, beating writer’s block)
  • Where it doesn’t — and how to protect your authentic voice
  • Specific prompts Kate uses in her own drafting process
  • Ethical and craft guardrails for using AI as a working novelist

Also available: prayer and devotional sessions — Kate and Jerry have led prayer initiatives at Missouri Prayerfest and National Day of Prayer events and can bring a practical, teachable approach to prayer to your church or ministry gathering.

Every event Kate speaks at does double duty. Proceeds from her speaking engagements benefit Vanguard Marriage and Family Advocates, the nonprofit she and her husband, Jerry, cofounded to strengthen marriages and families — which means booking Kate doesn’t just bring a powerful message to your stage, it directly funds the work of helping real couples and families stay together. You get a speaker who’s lived what she teaches; the mission gets fuel to keep going.

Let’s Bring Her Story to Your Stage

Whether you’re planning a marriage retreat, a church service, a writers’ conference, or a foster‑care ministry event, Kate will tailor her message to your room — and every booking helps fund Vanguard Marriage and Family Advocates’ work for stronger marriages and families.

Invite Kate to Speak → Download Speaker One‑Sheet →