Her Story
About Katelyn
My career path has been all over the place, but in the most meaningful way. I started working at a local school that I grew up in as a support for an emotionally disabled classroom, and I've kind of worked my way up from there. I've worked within school districts with emotionally disabled kids, then in the mental health field as a coping skills coach, and came back to the schools at one point. I also worked with alternative programming, specifically Independence Job Corps, for about 3 years, which I really enjoyed, but with the program instability, it just didn't seem like a good fit anymore. On the side, I've always loved doing marketing and graphic design, so I joined a young professional board, which got me more into that marketing side of things, and now I'm their Vice President of Operations. With all that experience, it led me to my current role in community outreach. I'm working for a startup right now, but they're so willing to empower people and empower communities. They loved all the things I've done so far, so I was promoted within 3 months to Director of Business Development. I've taken all the skills I've learned from each sector and am applying them into this role.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Katelyn
01What do you attribute your success to?
I really attribute my success to people giving me a shot, just because I don't have the most traditional background when it comes to working with youth and in this kind of field. All of it is really just experience that I've lived and learned as I go, and what kind of works best. It feels natural after a while, so I don't even really think about it. I'm a big believer in proving yourself to yourself. If I apply to something and I feel like I can do it, I'm gonna prove to myself that I can do it. I've been really lucky to have people in my corner who have given me a shot, and they may have hired me on for a specific role, and then I'm promoted pretty fast because they see the work that I'm doing. So I would attribute my success to people giving me a shot.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge I face is the stigma around mental health. Maybe not so much with the younger kids who are receiving the treatment, but the parents feel like they let their kid down, when in reality what they're doing is providing their kids support by coming to us. Changing that mindset has been really difficult and really hard, and we totally understand that this is something that some families just don't talk about. We're trying to change that narrative by partnering with a lot of schools, because a lot of parents trust the schools that they're in. We incorporate our schools into our programming, so we're always in communication with the schools, making sure their kids are on track with their grades, so that's not an added stress as well. We try to do whatever we can to change that mindset for those parents, because it is hard, and you feel like you might have failed, but in reality, you're noticing an issue and you're getting the support for it.
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