Lake Wales woman to get center stage at convention

LAKE WALES (FOX 13) - Kat Gates-Skipper couldn't believe the phone call she got this week.

"I got the call that I am going to be speaking," she said from her home in Lake Wales. "I am like, 'Me? Who, me; why me? I am just nobody.'"

Gates-Skipper is a former Marine and chair of Florida Veterans for Trump. She will speak Monday at 10:45 p.m. to the crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cavaliers.

That night's theme is "Make America Safe Again."

"Am I nervous? Yes! I am always nervous," she continued. "It is a good nervousness, I am excited, I am proud, I am honored."

A cattle rancher and political volunteer from Lake Wales, she also advises veterans on how to navigate the VA system, which she's familiar with because of her husband's injuries in Vietnam.

"The RNC and Mr. Trump wanted speakers who are ordinary people who made a difference in their community, so, here I am."

She will speak for between 10 and 15 minutes.

She has spent her whole year pushing for Trump's candidacy, and will now do so on the biggest stage possible.

"They just said, 'Put a speech together, put where your heart is.' So I spent two days burning the midnight oil."

And what exactly is she going to say?

"I am just like Mr. Trump. Some things you will just have to wait and see."

The RNC has offered her the help of a speech coach.