Katie is a lifelong resident of the Bay Area who loves the local landscapes and flora/fauna/fungi deeply. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in politics. She spent her first few years after college working in the California State Assembly and then decided to make a change to follow her passion for education and helping people to connect to the world around them. That was the best decision they ever made – it took them into a career as an educator and naturalist working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and now here to Hidden Villa.
A Hidden Villa value that resonates with Katie is community – she believes in building connections for both human communities and more-than-human communities! On site, you can find her looking for slugs, wondering at woodpeckers, and enjoying time outside with students.
Katie loves to read – particularly nature writing – and their favorite mission-aligned books are Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Secrets of the Oak Woodlands: Plants and Animals among California’s Oaks by Kate Marionchild, and Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard.