About
Hi, Friends!
I'd love to share with you why I do this work.
For over 25 years I struggled with chronic loneliness. It was traumatizing. But I had an incredible, almost unbelievable, breakthrough when I was pregnant and sitting in the cafes of Los Angeles that set my life on a trajectory of connection and belonging I didn't even know was possible. (Here's my extended story!)
My major learning and the foundation of my work is that you belong already. Belonging is a fact of our personhood and first human right. We are wired to connect meaningfully and message belonging to everyone we meet. In fact, the quality of our relationships is the #1 predictor of our wellbeing across the lifespan. And as a global society in an age of unprecedented loneliness, burnout, polarization, anxiety + depression, we must find our way home to each other where we are, as we are.
I'd love to be with you on campus, at work, in your spiritual groups, or as a creative or activist to create belonging where you already are. This is all doable, and the process can actually be fun. I can't wait to hear from you + see what we can create together.
~Cat
CV
Academic
Professional
Professional
Cat is an award-winning innovation fellow who was scholarshipped to study the Human Condition at USC & the University of Edinburgh, graduating summa cum laude with honors in Philosophy for her work on the conditions for community and the transformation of social life through public spaces.
She received fellowships to study engagement of cu
Cat is an award-winning innovation fellow who was scholarshipped to study the Human Condition at USC & the University of Edinburgh, graduating summa cum laude with honors in Philosophy for her work on the conditions for community and the transformation of social life through public spaces.
She received fellowships to study engagement of culture through politics and religion with a political think tank and Yale faculty, respectively.
For nearly ten years she apprenticed to Philosopher and Theologian, the late Dallas Willard (USC), participating in the development of work around the ethical basis of the professions.
Professional
Professional
Professional
Cat currently serves USC as the first Director of Belonging in the history of American higher education. She is the course designer + instructor for CLICK!, gaining national media attention. She is also the CEO of Re-human, a company that empowers digital users to connect on purpose on + off-screen.
She partnered with the Los Angeles Unifi
Cat currently serves USC as the first Director of Belonging in the history of American higher education. She is the course designer + instructor for CLICK!, gaining national media attention. She is also the CEO of Re-human, a company that empowers digital users to connect on purpose on + off-screen.
She partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District to analyze the role of relationships and integrity in systemic change before directing communications for a non-profit that helps locals to transform their contexts through relationships.
For the last 7 years she has partnered with leaders across industries to prototype models for organic connecting. Her work has been studied by universities + received grants.
Personal
Professional
Personal
Until her mid 20's, Cat was so shy that she had trouble making eye contact in public. Through the slow, organic process of being present in her local cafes, she began hatching socially. Over the course of several years, she came to discover the power of listening, generosity, and other micro-gestures of friendliness to create community. S
Until her mid 20's, Cat was so shy that she had trouble making eye contact in public. Through the slow, organic process of being present in her local cafes, she began hatching socially. Over the course of several years, she came to discover the power of listening, generosity, and other micro-gestures of friendliness to create community. She came to experience the reality of interdependence, which renewed her conviction that community is not only possible for all of us, but is, in fact, the most basic human right and the precondition for human flourishing. One day she looked in the mirror, and with a shock and a thrill, saw a community maker dedicated to working this out with whomever else is excited to weave unity in community.