Former radio personality Catherine Howell is a storyteller at heart

One of Catherine Howell’s favorite hobbies in her spare time is reading books from a variety of genres, including fantasy, and being involved in a book club.

In her job with MoxCar marketing and communications firm, the Bearden resident likes storytelling as well, but the real-life stories of well-known Knoxville clients with whom her firm works in various realms of publicity and marketing.

“It’s all about telling stories as if they are your friend,” she said of her work during a recent interview. “You want to get to the essence of it. It’s just being able to connect with other people you care about. It really is about storytelling.”

Howell began working with MoxCar in March as a senior account executive, but many Knoxville area residents have been familiar with her name, and certainly her voice, since long before that. From 2005-17, she worked on the other side of media and communications as an independent on-air radio journalist for what is now the local Cumulus Media radio stations.

The work included such duties as serving as a news director and on-air news announcer for WIVK, WOKI and WNML. She also became the program director for NewsTalk 98.7 and was the on-air host in 2016-17 for a talk show with Bob Yarbrough on 98.7.

For her, the work did not seem that much different from what she does now in that she told stories there as well about the Knoxville community she loves.

Arriving in the area as an elementary school youngster, she attended Oak Ridge schools before graduating from Oak Ridge High in 1998. She later attended the University of Tennessee and graduated in 2005 with a degree in communication studies and a not-too-shabby 3.86 grade point average.

She had taken a variety of communications-related classes in college and was able to get a part-time radio reporter’s position, which quickly turned into full-time work.

“Within a year I was the news director and then the program director,” she said of the busy work. “And at one point I was doing 13 newscasts a day in the afternoon and evening throughout all the radio stations.”

The award-winning journalist also covered a variety of big news topics at that time like the 2007 Black Wednesday Knox County Commission scandal, when nominees for various offices were appointed following secretive meetings that went against protocols. And with her work with WIVK, she got to meet and interview several well-known singers, including Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and, yes, Taylor Swift three times.

Howell recalled that Swift, even as a teenager, knew how to handle herself. “She was so impressive from a very young age,” she said. “I got to talk with her one-on-one, and she was bright, and she was kind.”

After leaving radio work in 2017 and then doing public relations brand managing, strategic consulting and writing, and helping her sister run a pub and deli in Townsend, she was ready for the new challenge with MoxCar.

Founded in 1992 and headed for numerous years by former owners Cynthia Moxley and Alan Carmichael, the firm has such clients as the Pilot Company, KUB, Covenant Health, Summit Medical Group, Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC), and U.S. Cellular, among numerous others.

Lauren Miller, a partner and CEO with MoxCar, said she became familiar with Howell while dealing with the stations when Howell was there and knew she would be a good fit for MoxCar after they hired her.

“Catherine was always professional, always helpful and always responsive,” she remembered, jokingly adding that she is also partial to those with fellow Oak Ridge connections. “She brings all those traits over to MoxCar.

“Anyone who knows Catherine knows she is a joy to be around. She is a hard worker and is thoughtful, professional and warm. We are really grateful to have her around.”

Howell is married to Sam Reynolds, a software architect, and has two sons and a stepson. For relaxation, she enjoys in-home yoga in her studio and hiking − along with, of course, reading. “A Gentleman in Moscow” is a recently read book she recommends.

She also recommends Knoxville as a good community, and said she is glad to be working with firms that have an interest in the well-being of the city, just as she said she does.

“I enjoy telling their stories and being a part of what happens in Knoxville,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Former radio personality Catherine Howell is a storyteller at heart