Press Releases
"There Really are Cliff's Notes® for Real Life! New Resource for College Graduates Takes Two National Awards"
21 October 2009 Download
"College Grads Entering the Real World May be Heading for Disaster"
1 May 2009 Download
"Local Businesswoman Named to WE Magazine's 101 Women Bloggers to Watch, Fall 2008"
23 September 2008 Download
"Forget the Thick Books and Pointless Humor:
Today's Grads Want Savvy Advice...and They Want It Fast!"
10 July 2008 Download
Some Recent Appearances, Online Mentions, Audios, and Articles
ReclaimU Radio, approx. :35 (scroll down to Bonus Material)
Metro State Radio, LIVE, approx. :28 (audio file will be posted soon!)
The Creative Career, blog post + audio interview, 9:37 min.
College Candy, popular blog for 18- to 24-year-old students
Parker (Colorado) Christian Home Educators
GradSpot.com, guest article, "What Your Older Co-workers and Boss Think of You (and how to overcome it)"
Coming Soon! Links to the Take Charge™ interview series, including:
"Dressing the Part of a Successful Young Professional" with Milena Joy, professional image consultant
"Closing the Pay Gap" with Susan Kennedy, career coach
"Respecting Your Money" with Deborah Davenport of Tomboy Tools
"Taking the Mystery out of Credit" with Jill Russo, author and speaker
"Tackling Grad School with Confidence" with Dr. Donald C. Martin, author
Media Appearances
Kathryn Marion has appeared on many television and radio shows to discuss issues of concern to graduating college seniors, job seekers, and the self-employed. Appearances included CBS' This Morning show, WTOP radio (Washington, DC), A Woman with a View (DC-area cable), and others.
She is the College-to-Career columnist for Denver on Examiner.com and has also written articles for local newspapers as well as Circle K's national magazine.
The Reality Check Gazette® was chosen by the Discovery Channel to be featured in a Discovery-produced promotion on their educational channel.
Photos (right-click and use Save Target As...)
Kathryn Marion photo 1 (cropped)
Grads: Take Charge cover (flat)
Grads: Take Charge & Freshmen: Take Charge books
About Kathryn Marion and Real Solutions Press LLC
Kathryn Marion, founder and President of Real Solutions Press LLC, started college like many young people do, with only a vague idea of what she might want to be when she 'grew up' and a lukewarm enthusiasm for a major field of study. Four years later she graduated with Distinction (in the third major of her academic career), a terrific job offer in hand, and a wedding to plan. But she still wasn't quite sure where her grown-up life was going to take her.
Not having been trained in long-range planning, her career took on the freeform image that many people experience—beginning as a database consultant at a Big Eight accounting firm, then moving on to technical support, training, and technical writing jobs at telecommunications and software companies, and finally striking out on her own in 1989. In every job she held, Kathryn became known as the Answer Lady on everything from explaining the company's 401(k) to career development issues to personal and professional relationship counseling.
In 1991, she started a company called Education for Reality™ to publish a newsletter to help college students in making a smooth and successful transition from school to the 'real world' of work and independent living, The Reality Check Gazette®. The newsletter provided brief articles and advice on everything from careers to money to basic life skills as well as in-depth interviews of career counselors, hiring executives, grads just a year or two out of school, and anxious college seniors. It was met with great enthusiasm by career counselors at colleges around the country and was featured on many radio and television shows.
The newsletter evolved into a book in 1993, Success in the 'Real World': The Graduate's Complete Guide to Making the Most of Your Career (and your life!), which was ahead of its time by being formatted in a qwik-reading bulleted format. The book got rave reviews from counselors and parents across the US, calling it Cliff's Notes® for all of life and proclaiming it a must-have for every new graduate.
After taking a hiatus to re-marry and become mother to four beautiful daughters from China over as many years, Kathryn re-released Success in the 'Real World' in a special e-book format for its tenth anniversary. Over 1.7M copies were distributed by career centers, honor societies, and student organizations in the US and abroad.
That book has become the flagship publication of Real Solutions Press—now titled Grads: Take Charge of Your First Year After College! This book recently took two Finalist honors in the National Best Books 2009 Awards. But RSP plans to go well beyond the student/grad market, with QwikTips™ books, booklets, and cards on a tremendous variety of topics for business owners, parents and families, consumers, and seniors. Podcasts as well as audiobooks are also in the works for the same groups, to provide the information people need in a format they're most comfortable using.
Realizing that different people have different preferences for the way they take in advice, and being someone who enjoys biographies as much as how-to's, Kathryn also has created a book series to provide everyday practical advice to readers in a more casual, easy-reading style: The Smartest Thing I Ever Did...™. This series, with titles like The Smartest Thing I Ever Did...™...with My Money, ...for My Health, ...as a Parent, and ...for My Planet, has been called "the next Chicken Soup of books." A series of podcasts by the same name are also on the slate for future release.
