Kathy Rand (1945-)

Kathy Rand was born in Miami Beach, Florida but her family moved to the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, where she grew up, when she was two years old. She attended South Shore High School and graduated from Michigan State University in 1965. In 1970 she participated in Chicago’s “Women Strike for Equality” rally at the Daley Plaza downtown. A transformative experience for her, she became active in NOW and served as chairperson of  Chicago NOW’s public relations committee. In 1971 she was elected Midwest Regional Director of NOW and served two terms until 1974. During this time she was actively involved in national NOW actions against AT&T and Sears and she debated Phyllis Schlafly twice. In 1973 she was founding chair of Chicago’s Women Employed an organization established to combat employment discrimination and other issues. She received an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in 1980 and pursued a successful career in corporate and agency public relations in Chicago until she retired in 2002.