Why Learn With Me?
You have so many choices in learning to use your new laser. You can do the YouTube thing (I teach over there, btw), learn by trial and error, or find an educator you like and trust them to clear the noise.
So, who am I, and why should you trust me to help you along the way?
I’m Katie, and I've loved to learn for as long as I can remember. All the things, all the time. I was always the geeky kid who loved school and taking on new hobbies and challenges. Those ranged from creative pursuits like watercolor painting, origami, and calligraphy to physical challenges like rock climbing, downhill ski racing, and weight lifting, to name a few.
But when pursuing a career, I did what you’re supposed to do. I got a fantastic education at the Colorado School of Mines (have you heard of it?) in General Engineering, with a specialty in Mechanical, with the hopes of pursuing my dream of working for Disney. I thought maybe I could be an Imagineer - how cool would that be?
To make INCREDIBLE things from your imagination all day?
I really wanted to be the voice of a Disney Princess, but that’s a story for a different day.
When it was clear I was NOT going to be an Imagineer, I was blessed to find CONSULTING - a magical career choice for someone who loves to learn. I got paid to learn new technologies my Retail client would use in their businesses, all while learning about their businesses. It was a sweet spot for leveraging interests, for sure.
And then I got bored, as I frequently do, repeatedly implementing the same solution without seeing the results of our hard work.
So, I pursued different interests in Retail, climbing the corporate ladder in roles of increasing responsibility. I chose the challenging role of predicting how much of an item to buy in what sizes and what stores to send it to. And for almost 20 years, I loved it. The work challenged me; I loved developing teams and mentoring individuals, and I had the good fortune to work for some of Retail’s greats - Mickey Drexler and Jenna Lyons at J.Crew in the Obama years; anyone?
But suddenly, I didn’t love it anymore.
And that’s how we ended up here. My husband gifted me a Glowforge after watching me increasingly pursuing creative things. He would see my excitement when I would figure something out and how desperately I wanted to share it with someone who would understand why it was a big deal and maybe want to learn it, too.
He thought a Glowforge was the next right step for someone with my Engineering background and my creative bent. He was spot on. I fell in love with making again and remembered all the things I loved to do as a kid. I tried new things and constantly searched for all the information I could find.
Unfortunately, a lot of what I found was condescending, conflicting, or confusing. I would see people posting in Facebook groups that they had given up on their lasers or been afraid to turn them on, and that made me so sad.
How frustrating it is to invest so much money in something and not use it.
I made it my mission to learn as much as I could and share it in a straightforward, step-by-step way so anyone who wants to learn how to use their laser well can.
I believe anyone can laser if they are willing to put in the work and are open to trying new things.
I love watching someone tackle something that scares them and watching them master it. I love helping people pursue things they know they want to do but are just getting in their heads about. I love seeing someone’s wheels start turning about the possibilities once they can get out of their own way. And I love watching a lightbulb come on that makes something that was once terrifying easy.
I’d love to be that laser mentor for you.
