Katie Fleming

Business leader, Marketer, Parent, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Katie Fleming is the founder and lead organizer of TEDxRapidCity, the first independently organized TEDx event in western South Dakota. She and her team of volunteers are passionate about engaging the Black Hills area in conversations that create change and impact their community. Katie’s career is steeped in communication and public relations. She currently manages corporate communications for Black Hills Energy, a publicly traded electric and natural gas utility. Prior to her current role, she managed the marketing and communications department for the largest independent provider of internet, landline telephone and cable TV in South Dakota. In addition to volunteering for TEDxRapidCity, Katie contributes to her community through numerous collaborative and leadership positions. She is a founding board member of the Rapid City Community Engagement Coalition and serves on the Board of Directors for Black Hills Works, a non-profit that serves adults with disabilities. Katie also chairs the Kids Fair Steering Committee, a major fundraising event for Youth and Family Services, and teaches Junior Achievement to elementary school children. Katie is an active Toastmaster and a member of her local chapter of the American Advertising Federation. She holds a B.A. in Rhetoric and Communications from Drake University in Des Moines, IA and studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, UK. Katie grew up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin. While she now resides in Rapid City, SD, she hopes to teach her two daughters the work ethic she learned as a child (without shoveling cow manure!).

marketing, rural telecommunications, writing