Hi, I’m Katie.
After living in a lot of places, I am happy to call my hometown (a small town in the Willamette Valley outside of Portland, Oregon) home again. I am a mother, a writer, and an entrepreneur with what feels like a number of lifetimes under my belt.
Post-college, I leapt into the world of publishing, co-founding Kinfolk Magazine in 2010. The magazine and its family of publications (The Kinfolk Table and The Kinfolk Home) became one of the most influential lifestyle titles in print and media within a few short years. It was at Kinfolk that I cut my teeth in the world of writing, editing, business, and publishing. In 2013, I co-founded Ouur Media, a lifestyle publisher and agency creating print and digital media for young creatives.
As my professional career in media evolved, I kept a finger on the pulse of some of my first loves—human rights, conflict resolution and peace building, topics that led my undergraduate studies in Hawai’i. I became a certified mediator, philanthropic consultant and grant writer, working on behalf of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, families experiencing homelessness, youth aging out of foster care, and adults with developmental disabilities.
But that was just what was happening above the surface.
I never sought to be an expert in grief and loss, but that is where my life journey has taken me. In navigating two separate households as a child, a transition of faith, the losses of a child, a marriage, a career, and my ‘chapter two’—my soul love—I’ve become well-acquainted with the darkness of deep loss, grief, and the grit of burning resilience.
I care deeply about equipping others with the ability to adapt to life’s unavoidable adversity, trauma, tragedies and stressors. Learning to live with grief in a culture that is pain-adverse can feel impossible and incredibly lonely, but there are ways to move forward (rather than moving on), rebuild and reclaim joy. I know this, because I’ve lived it time and time again—and so can you.
