About

HELLO!

I'M KATYA

I am a teacher, writer, traveler, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate.

I lead with my heart.

As a multi-passionate mover and shaker (like you, I bet), I am excited about many things. What most excites me is living a BIG life and helping other ambitious, creative teachers do the same.

Through weekly episodes of The RICH TEACHER Podcast, intentionally designed resources, and a growing community of badass educators like you, I help teachers build and live RICH lives.

HELLO!

I'M KATYA

I am a teacher, writer, traveler, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate.

I lead with my heart.

As a multi-passionate mover and shaker (like you, I bet), I am excited about many things. What most excites me is living a BIG life and helping other ambitious, creative teachers do the same.

Through weekly episodes of The RICH TEACHER Podcast, intentionally designed resources, and a growing community of badass educators like you, I help teachers build and live RICH lives.

Here's a bit of my story...

For the first decade of my adult life, I played small.

While I'm proud of the work I did and the life I lived during this time, I followed the safe path laid out by societal norms and pushed down the callings of that still, small voice inside me.

I bounced around as a classroom teacher, coached youth swim and water polo teams (Go Gators!), earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, and was on track to becoming a school principal.

As much as I LOVED teaching and working with kiddos, I felt trapped, exhausted and poor. I was functioning on autopilot, I wasn't living intentionally.

Often, I'd stand in front of the classroom and silently think, this isn't for me. Overwhelm would creep in without warning and wasn't a quiet guest. My inner voice grew from a whisper to a shout: I needed to make a change.

Here's a bit of my story...

For the first decade of my adult life, I played small.

While I'm proud of the work I did and the life I lived during this time, I followed the safe path laid out by societal norms and pushed down the callings of that still, small voice inside me.

As much as I LOVED teaching and working with kiddos, I felt trapped, exhausted and poor. I was functioning on autopilot, I wasn't living intentionally.

I listened.

I quit my jobs as a teacher and swim coach, sold my car, donated a bunch of furniture and clothes, moved out of my apartment and bought a one-way ticket to Rome.

I used the funds I'd initially been saving to buy a home to explore our world for a year, meeting beautiful people and places along the way.

Traveling around the world solo for a year took courage, openness, and deep trust in my inner voice.

I learned these truths:

When we open ourselves to the world, the world opens itself to us.
Everything we need exists within us already. We have the answers.
Gratitude works wonders beyond measure.

I also learned this truth, a mantra I return to again and again:

I listened.

I quit my jobs as a teacher and swim coach, sold my car, donated a bunch of furniture and clothes, moved out of my apartment and bought a one-way ticket to Rome.

I used the funds I'd initially been saving to buy a home to explore our world for a year, meeting beautiful people and places along the way.

Traveling around the world solo for a year took courage, openness, and deep trust in my inner voice.

I learned these truths:

When we open ourselves to the world, the world opens itself to us.
Everything we need exists within us already. We have the answers.
Gratitude works wonders beyond measure.

I also learned this truth, a mantra I return to again and again:

WHAT YOU SEEK IS SEEKING YOU.
-RUMI

Halfway through my year of travel, I spent two weeks in Northern India on a yoga retreat. This experience transformed me so much so that I created my own yoga retreat company, Travel Soul Yoga.

Running a business cost me my comfort zone but gifted me with connections to incredible women around the world.

At the beginning of 2020, I tripled my investment in Travel Soul Yoga and took bold action to expand the business-- launching more retreats in one year than in the previous two years combined. Weeks before our first retreat of the year on the Amalfi Coast, travel shut down...as did the business.

Cue another pivot.

After some solid self reflection in sweatpants, I came back to my roots in teaching. Like the travel industry, education was completely disrupted.

This was an opportunity for me to help.

I began offering personalized teaching and tutoring services to neighborhood students who were struggling with online learning. I taught yoga and swim lessons to kids who desperately needed an outlet. In the fall of 2020, I launched a learning pod of four elementary school students. We met three afternoons a week for hands-on, fun-infused, in-person learning.

By the end of the year, my concierge teaching business was thriving. I got all the best parts of being a teacher: I was using my creativity in full force, lessons were project and game-based, student interests were at the center of my instruction, I made my own schedule, and...I was earning twice what I made as a classroom teacher.

Cue a paradigm shift.

Teachers can teach and use their creativity without being stifled by bureaucratic gobbledygook. Teachers can build challenging and incredibly fun curriculum based on students' interests and individual needs. Teachers can teach and live full lives outside of the classroom. Teachers can teach and make money.

I know the gifts and struggles of teaching well. There is nothing like the reward of contributing to a student's growth. There is also nothing like the daily exhaustion that comes with giving one's all to a vocation that offers little in compensation.

I'm here to revolutionize education.

Through my weekly release of The RICH TEACHER Podcast and resources like the ones below, I am tackling ways to get teachers more joy, more freedom, and more money.

GET STARTED BY DOWNLOADING MY FREE RESOURCES