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Hi! I’m Katherine Homes, friends call me KT! I love design, walking, playing music, traveling, exploring, adventuring outside, and color! I’m an artist, activist, and have an interesting environmental background that is too long to fit on this page. When I was very little I was very shy. I often played behind my house in our tiny forest and sang to the birds, caught fireflies, counted shooting stars, and believed I could heal hurt animals with the energy in my hands. In my late teens and early 20's I got lucky and attended a university that had some of the most incredible outdoor and environmental professors and they changed my life. My love for the arts, music, outdoors and wildlife persisted.
During my environmental philosophy classes I debated if chairs made out of wood were still alive. I wrote a paper on how mediation can impact the brain. I camped in -40 degree weather. In my environmental psychology class, I discovered how colors could change your mood, and spent half days roaming around upstate New York learning about the history of the local environment. I became fascinated by how to build barns, discovered my love for being on the river, hiking and camping, and bought my first guitar. I found my voice and started using it to sing about the voiceless: the wild. It only made sense that my desire to explore the world consumed my 20's.
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I saved up every penny I made from playing music, or teaching art, babysitting, or working at restaurants so that I could adventure. In New Zealand I worked on a film and after lived out of a white van with three friends, we called it "HOMEY". We hiked, explored, volunteered on an organic farm and photographed everything.
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In Nepal put together a trip in Upper Dolpo to distribute much needed shoes and socks, and ended up backpacking in a seriously remote area for three weeks learning how different cultures connected to their natural environments.
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Traveling continued as often as possible....
When I returned from Nepal I moved to the Vail Valley and met who would become my bandmate for the Boxcar Daisies. We cowrote songs and opened for notable acts such as National Rateliff, Trampled by Turtles, Elephant Revival, Joe Pug, and Emmit-Nershi Band. It may have been short-lived but one of the most magical times of my life.
In my early to mid 30's I worked for organizations in climate change and conservation. This included raising money as the Director of Development for an organization educating children on waste management, and my work in Indonesia in the early 2010's with an organization I continue to support, Health in Harmony, and one that had an enormous impact on me.
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I photographed eye surgeries in makeshift surgical rooms in a remote village in the middle of a jungle. I documented the devastation of illegal logging in order to plant palms for palm oil. Their work made me believe more could be done and filled me with hope.
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I watched in awe as two communities (local and international) came together to help loggers transition to forest guardians. Through active listening, sustainable farming education, environmental youth education, and subsidized medical care the organization had a profound impact on the area.
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The greatest take-away? You cannot make a positive impact in the wild unless you help make a positive impact in the human lives of those living there.
Although I wanted to keep working in the environmental non-profit world, I had little time for creativity and I knew something needed to shift. In 2017 I jumped off from the safety of my cliff and grew wings as I fell to the ground. But seriously - I got the courage to launch a kickstarter campaign to raise money for my upcoming solo album, Speak, and in the process my brand was born.
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Everyone who donated to the music album received either a hat with my art on it or a print. We raised enough money to complete the album, but the hats were so successful I took out a business loan, and soft launched the hats at a music festival.
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I had always dreamed of using my art to bring attention to wildlands and wildlife, but for years I didn't know how I could possibly raise money and run a company and so I forgot about it. It's funny how if you plant a seed in the right environment and let it do its thing- it grows. :)
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And this brand keeps growing! From a few small festivals to selling product all over the USA, in 109 REI stores, and Title Nine stores, and now leading retreats in nature, there are some very exciting things on the horizon.
