Hi! I’m Katie.
I have worked in nonprofit and higher ed development for more than 15 years and currently lead the fundraising efforts for a wildlife conservancy in Kenya. Despite not traveling overseas for the first time until I was 25, I have been to more than 70 countries and all seven continents, including taking a career break to backpack the former Soviet states in 2011-12. I published my travel memoir, Finding Katya: How I Quit Everything to Backpack the Former Soviet States, in 2023.
Recognizing that many people share my travel dreams but lack the time and resources to make them a reality, I became a certified travel coach through the Travel Coach Network. As an experiential travel coach, I believe in traveling with a purpose, whether it’s the physical challenge of a mountain trek, learning about wildlife conservation on an African safari, experiencing the thrill of competition at the Olympics or immersing myself in a new culture far off the beaten path. Whatever your travel goals are, I look forward to helping you live your best life through travel!
The longer version…
I am a Minnesota native, 15-year Chicago resident and Washington, D.C. transplant who started dreaming of traveling and seeing the world at a young age. But aside from a church mission trip to Mexico when I was 14, I didn’t leave the country for the first time until I took a 23-day tour to Europe after finishing law school. I spent the next ten years making the most of my vacation time by taking short trips to Australia, Egypt, Peru, Norway and all over western Europe.
A self-professed “recovering attorney,” I left a job in educational fundraising and event planning in 2011 to travel and volunteer in all 15 states of the former Soviet Union. My 13-month career break included running a marathon in Estonia, teaching English in Russia and Tajikistan, volunteering with the national tourism board of Armenia, living with local families in Azerbaijan, and trying my best to speak Russian on a daily basis. In addition to being obsessed with travel, I am a sports fanatic and running enthusiast who has been gluten-free since 2010 due to Celiac Disease. I have finished 14 marathons and have a goal of finishing a marathon on each continent.
After returning to the United States at the end of 2012, I spent three years working at a law school in Chicago as the director of alumni engagement, while writing about travel in my free time. I wrote regularly about Chicago, Russia and the Baltic States for Viator, as well as the occasional post for sites like G Adventures, BootsnAll, Meet, Plan, Go! and Brazen Careerist. In 2016, I moved to Washington, D.C. to start a new job as a planned giving officer at the National Geographic Society, a job that perfectly combined my background as a tax attorney, my experience in fundraising and my passions for travel, geography, education and wildlife.
While working at NatGeo, I had the opportunity to go on a safari to South Africa with donors and quickly becaome hooked! Since then, I have taken personal trips to Rwanda, Zambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Malawi. Today, I work as the director of philanthropy for a wildlife conservancy in Kenya, leading the major gifts team and building philanthropic support from individuals and family foundations in North America.