Bio
Cate Rubenstein was born in NYC, with formative years spent in New England and the American South.
Childhood in a vibrant international city gave her appreciation for other cultures, curiousity about the world generally, and enduring love for the arts. She acted, danced and sang in professional summer stock theatre, played multiple musical instruments badly, then dropped out of gymnastics and figure skating to focus on ponies. A ranked child equestrian who started riding at the age of 6, she competed in Hunter-Jumper Equitation and Children's Pony Hunter, training for the Junior Olympics as a national rider before her father's early death.
Relocating to rural Appalachia at 13 was- interesting. Far from grandparents' tales of war and immigrating, she landed squarely in a small town where Jews weren't allowed places. She remains grateful to the high school English teacher who saw through her staring out windows, and nagged her to start writing what she was thinking and feeling.
Earliest career writing was liner notes at a record label, seguing to albums, concerts, tv, film and comedy. Her first book for YA readers is Voices in Hip-Hop: Jay-Z, published July 2025. Books 2 and 3 release summer 2026, Voices in Pop Music: Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift. Her best known work was her unflinching chronicle as a breast cancer patient in the US after years living in France. Finding humor in the absurd while skewering healthcare bureaucracy, her darkly funny and frank writing exposed critical gaps in women's health, mixing ire, depth and honesty with personal reflection, pop culture and sardonic tragicomedy. Telling it as it is, not how she'd prefer it to be, she detailed changes in her body, relationships, spirituality, purpose and meaning (or...lack thereof, as she specifically set out to never induce pity or be called "inspiring".) Touching on grief, loss and inanity while learning to navigate a new reality and repatriating, she authored a constituent Bill simultaneously for proposed amendment to legislation, presenting it herself to Senators and Assemblywomen/ men who might take action. While the Bill ultimately did not pass or effect healthcare reform remotely, it brought global audience to the story, with a real and unpolished look at cancer away from pink ribboning. An essay she wrote later about the inefficacy of Pinktober (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) is now part of basic cancer trainings in the US and UK. Other current narrative themes are culture, geopolitics, media, storytelling, heritage and identity.
She has solo-traveled 7 continents and worked in 6 - home is Paris, New York and LA.