Red Fan Communications founder and CEO Kathleen Lucente was named the I AM AUSTIN WOMAN honoree at this month’s Women’s Way Award Celebration by Austin Woman Magazine. We sat down with Kathleen to talk about the journey, the people, and the city that made it possible.

Q: Tell us about Red Fan and what makes it different.

I built Red Fan because I lived the problem I now solve.

As a communications leader inside high-growth B2B tech companies, I saw what happened when the most consequential moments arrived. A $100 million acquisition. An IPO. A crisis that could reshape the company. The agencies we hired weren’t built for it. Senior teams pitched. Junior teams delivered. Positioning was built on gut feel, not data. When the pressure peaked, everything fell apart.

Red Fan is the partner I needed and couldn’t find. We’re a strategic B2B technology communications firm that positions companies to win their highest-stakes moments. M&A. IPOs. Funding rounds. The market-defining transitions where perception determines value.

Our Positioned to Win Method™ embeds us inside the business early, diagnoses the competitive truth through proprietary measurement tools, and executes with the same senior team through every chapter. We’ve guided companies through billions in transactions across fintech, supply chain, edtech and agritech. I’m proud to say that our clients stay for years, bringing us to their next company time and time again. 

Q: Who is the leader behind the business? How has being a woman founder shaped how you lead?

I didn’t come up through PR. I came through the journalist’s door. I started as a high-tech writer at EDN, then got recruited by Motorola’s agency because they needed someone who could translate microprocessors for the New York Times. That insight has shaped everything since. The best communications is translation directly to those who matter most, not promotion.

From there, IBM Research. Then JPMorgan Chase, where I led communications across Asia Pacific and ran comms for LabMorgan, their fintech incubator. We positioned startups for exits that included PayPal to eBay, Archipelago to NYSE, and Capital IQ to S&P. I’ve been doing M&A communications since before fintech was called fintech.

Twenty years ago I came back to Austin. A city that got under my skin when I was here in my twenties. I came back to plant roots and build the agency partner I always wished existed.

As a woman, I learned early that credibility isn’t given. It’s demonstrated, repeatedly, in rooms that didn’t necessarily expect you to lead them. That experience made me more precise, deliberate and committed to building something that lasts.

Red Fan reflects everything I learned in those rooms. Earn trust before you ask for anything. Always, always bring your best. And never mistake activity for strategy.

Today I lead a team I’m genuinely proud of. Several have been with me for over a decade. I mentor them the way I wished someone had mentored me. With candor, high standards and an unshakeable belief that women who master this craft should own the room, not just occupy it.

Q: Eighteen years in. What are the milestones that mattered most, and what’s next?

Red Fan was built on a stubborn belief. “Boutique” doesn’t mean lesser. It means better, if you’re willing to hold the line.

We’ve guided companies through some of the most consequential moments in B2B tech. Q2 Holdings to the NYSE and through five acquisitions. Nextira to an Accenture acquisition in under four months. CSI through a $1.6 billion take-private and three acquisitions. We made Austin-based Fluence the darling of the lighting industry, positioning them so precisely that the largest lighting company in the world came calling.

We built through the 2008 financial crisis. Through COVID. Through the funding freezes that shuttered agencies who grew too fast and held on too loose. We survived because we never chased volume. We chose depth.

What’s next is the question every communications firm should be asking right now. How do brands win in an AI-driven world where perception is shaped before a human ever clicks?

We just launched our Brand Authority Index to answer this question. It measures how companies show up across AI platforms and benchmarks them against competitors in real time.

Q: How has Red Fan given back to Austin and helped lift women?

This is just what I know to do. I grew up volunteering at my local fire department on the ambulance. I was voted in to lead the youth group at my church. Giving back wasn’t a value I picked up later. It was the water I grew up in.

Then living in NYC during 9/11 and then in Asia sharpened it. At JPMorgan, I had the chance to scrutinize how the firm was spending money and giving back across 18 countries. That experience changed how I think about community investment. I saw what it looks like when philanthropy is mapped with the same rigor as a business strategy. When you decide what you’re trying to change, measure whether you’re changing it, and concentrate your effort where it actually moves the needle.

I brought that lens with me to my new home. I’ve been helping shape Austin Gives since 2014, a corporate giving movement that grew so valued it became a crown jewel of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. It recognizes companies doing extraordinary work and inspires others to follow. Today, I lead its award submission committee.

I’m in my ninth year on the board of the ABC Kite Festival, an Austin tradition since 1929. I’m in my second year as a Trustee for the BBB’s Foundation for Better Business. Through the BBB’s Ignite program, I teach classes and mentor female entrepreneurs, helping women build businesses with integrity and confidence. I also proudly served on the board of Degree Partners, formerly PelotonU, leveling the playing field for young adults pursuing degrees right here in Austin.

And every year, Red Fan sponsors the A-List to make sure Austin’s emerging companies and the ecosystem supporting them are seen, celebrated and connected. This year we are also sponsoring the Austin Technology Council’s Tech Hall of Fame, where those who built the tech scene are recognized as well as those beginning to establish the new chapters. 

For women inside Red Fan, mentorship is embedded in how we work. And it’s not just me out there. This is the philosophy I lead with, and as a result my team gets to work on incredible efforts where they can see the impact in our community. The Red Fan team has always given our expertise and time to nonprofits, every single year. It’s part of our DNA. When we believe in a mission, we show up with the same rigor we bring to our clients.

Q: What does the I Am Austin Woman honor mean to you?

I’ll be honest… I didn’t expect this! For years, my team and I have written the award submissions. We helped Holly Tachovsky of BuildFax earn recognition. We helped Dru Armstrong with AffiniPay (now 8am), earn hers. That’s the work I love. Putting the spotlight on the leaders we believe in and watching the industry catch up to what we already knew about them.

Being on the receiving end is not my comfort zone. I’m traditionally the one behind the scenes. This submission happened because the women in my life pushed me to do it. Put the light on yourself, they said. So I did, with no expectation of where it would land. I certainly didn’t expect to be elevated into this category alongside the women who were honored that night.

It feels wonderful to be recognized. The notes, the calls, the women and men who have reached out in the days since have moved me more than I can say.

But the best part wasn’t on stage. It was the pride in my team’s eyes. That’s the part I’ll carry with me.

Austin made this possible. I’m grateful, and I’m not done.

Red Fan Communications is an Austin-based strategic communications firm helping B2B technology companies win their highest-stakes moments. Learn more about the Positioned to Win Method™ and the Brand Authority Index.