Starting at a young age, she managed several roles in the family-owned Gleason Works in Rochester, New York, and later used her experience to launch a successful career in finance and construction.

[4] When Kate was 11, her stepbrother Tom died of typhoid fever, causing hardship for both the family and the company, where he had assisted William.

[5] She was never able to return to full-time studies to complete a degree, but through training and self-learning she earned the title of engineer and was recognized for her accomplishments.

[9] In 1893, she toured Europe to expand the company's business, an early attempt at globalization by an American manufacturer, and succeeded at finding several new foreign customers.

[5][10] Fred H. Colvin described Gleason in his memoirs asa kind of Madame Curie of machine tools […] Kate spent her youth learning her father's business from the ground up, both in the shop and in the field, so that when she branched out for herself about 1895 as a saleswoman for her father's gear-cutting machines, she knew as much as any man in the business.

She would select extremely feminine outfits to wear, used her sense of humor to charm customers, and went as far as to take voice lessons to practice the ideal pitch.

[5] A misconception arose that she, not her father, had invented the company's bevel planer, and the idea was promoted by her acquaintance Henry Ford.

[8][13][14] The company's expansion necessitated larger facilities, and the family relocated their factory from Brown's Race to University Avenue between 1904 and 1911.

[6][15] Gleason had the new foundry modeled after the Pisa Cathedral to create a large interior space for overhead cranes.

[16] During this time, she also constructed a house for herself on East Avenue, which she named Clones, after the town of origin of her mother Ellen.

[10] She purchased and rebuilt a castle in Septmonts and built a library and movie theater in the town to commemorate the American Expeditionary Forces.

[25] The Gleason family were friends of fellow Rochesterian Susan B. Anthony, who provided Kate with advice on business and publicity.

[10] Gleason pursued a number of philanthropic interests in the 1920s, making large donations to orphanages, libraries, and schools.

[31] The Gleason Corporation remains in operation and retains a strong connection with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).