Apple media strategist Katie Cotton is retiring after nearly two decades of helping to shape the tech giant's culture and public image.

As vice president of worldwide corporate communications, Cotton was a longtime confidante of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and contributed to the Cupertino, Calif.-headquartered company's enigmatic presence, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

Apple is famously selective when giving interviews with major executives, and the company has a strict policy forbidding rank-and-file employees from making statements to the media.

"Katie has given her all to this company for over 18 years," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said in a statement. "She has wanted to spend time with her children for some time now. We are really going to miss her." 

Cotton's departure was earlier reported by the technology blog Re/code.

"This is hard for me," Cotton told Re/code. "Apple is a part of my heart and soul."

During Cotton's time at Apple, the company grew from a laggard in the tech world to a heavyweight that revolutionized the industry with products including the iPhone and the iPad.

Her retirement marks the latest change in the guard at Apple, which has seen some shuffling under CEO Tim Cook. Former retail chief Ron Johnson; mobile software head Scott Forstall; Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer; and hardware engineering head Bob Mansfield have also left the company or made plans to step down.

Apple hasn't yet announced a replacement for Cotton. The company's next planned moment in the spotlight will be its developer conference in San Francisco in June. Apple will likely showcase new software at the annual conference.

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