Kasey Cordell | LOR Foundation
Portrait of
Denver, Colorado

Kasey Cordell

Communications Officer

Kasey understands the power of story to connect communities and elevate their ideas. She also knows that every good story begins with listening. So in leading LOR’s storytelling efforts, Kasey works closely with LOR staff to create opportunities for authentic community engagement and translates the results into powerful narratives that can amplify the rural voice throughout the region and the nation.

A product of the West herself—born in Oregon and shaped by Colorado—Kasey is motivated to ensure the Mountain West isn’t overlooked in national conversations, and she has dedicated much of her career to finding and sharing stories about the region. She joined the LOR Foundation after more than 15 years as a decorated magazine journalist. A National Magazine Award winner, she brings an unwavering commitment to accurate, thorough reporting and sensitive, thoughtful storytelling. Her work has been recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors, the City and Regional Magazine Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists, and has been included in two anthologies. In 2018, she was honored as a Folio: Top Women In Media.

Kasey has a B.A. in psychology from Lewis & Clark College, an MA in Irish studies from Queen’s University Belfast, and an MA in journalism from the University of Colorado. She lives in Denver with her husband and two lab/border collie mixes: Rigby (as in Idaho) and Vander (as in Evander Holyfield). And yes, there’s a story there.

An avid traveler and outdoor adventurer, Kasey regularly seeks landscapes with big skies and big horizon lines, where her curiosity leads her just a little farther down the trail or, just as often, into a favorite local coffee shop. She was drawn to LOR’s mission to preserve and enhance these special places and is excited about the chance to support both the foundation and the tightly knit communities with which it works.

My Kind of Livable

Starting the day with a sunrise stroll beneath a canopy of 100-year-old honey locusts and ending it on my front porch, sitting in my rocking chair, visiting with neighbors.

My Kind of Livable: Easy access to alpine adventures. Door to trailhead at 10,000 feet in about an hour. My Kind of Livable: A place that makes voting easy and accessible for all (including dogs). Denver mails ballots to all residents and places convenient drop-off locations throughout the city to make civic duty-ing easy. My Kind of Livable: Cute Tudors sprinkled in amidst fanciful Victorians, sleek, modern builds, and high-density apartments along commercial corridors underscore the importance of tolerance, understanding, and creating housing options for all. My Kind of Livable: City planners with a vision for creating community green spaces. Inspired by the City Beautiful movement, early 20th century planners created ample neighborhood parks and parkways in Denver, including the parkway I live on, which is 101 years old! My Kind of Livable: Myriad options for delicious (and locally sourced) working dinners within walking/biking distance of my front door. My Kind of Livable: Remembering how we got here. The railroad helped put Denver on the map in the late 19th century. And the rail still plays a major role in commerce today—even as those mountains have created an equally important industry: tourism.

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If you have an idea for improving quality of life in Cortez or Monte Vista, Colorado; Lander, Wyoming; Libby, Montana; Questa or Taos, New Mexico; or Weiser, Idaho, use this form to start a conversation with us.

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