Rising Stars: Meet Katie Grossbard of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Grossbard

Hi Katie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I love that my path to where I am today has been completely indirect. I grew up in Los Angeles and went to college in Washington, DC. I firmly believed that I was going to work in fashion and moved to New York to do just that after graduating. When the 2016 election happened, I decided to make a complete left turn. I felt like I just had to do more and learn more – so I decided to go to law school. I didn’t even go with the intention to become a lawyer. I just wanted to understand how our systems work and how to change them when they are not actually serving us (which is very often).

During this time I also started doing a lot of work with nonprofits based in LA helping in the civic engagement, immigration, and women’s rights spaces. When I was in law school I started leaning into my digital presence even more and because I had worked in digital marketing in fashion, it came quite naturally to me. I started sharing things that were important to me and ways to get involved. And lucky for me, people started following along.

This increased exponentially during the pandemic as people needed critical information and were also very aware that keeping the news on 24/7 may not be the best thing for their mental health.

Ultimately, as my platform grew I have gotten some incredible opportunities and I’m so grateful to my community for being a part of this journey!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t call it a smooth road… because like anyone I questioned how all of this would ultimately play out. I wasn’t always comfortable with the fact that my path wasn’t direct. I wished that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up at five years old and just did that. It turns out that not a lot of people have that happen. And now my story is something I’ve very proud of.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
This is honestly a funny question for me to answer because sometimes I don’t know how to explain it. Professionally, I work with nonprofits and foundations to try to make the biggest impact they possibly can with their given goals. On Instagram, I focus on daily news, politics, and sprinkle in some mental health, home renovation and pictures of my puppy. The idea that all of that led to an invitation to watch the State of the Union at the White House is wild to me. In terms of something that I am proud of – I was able to bring my dad as my guest to the White House Christmas party and that was a pretty surreal moment. But beyond that, I am proud that I have built all of this as my authentic self and have found a community of passionate and kind people.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I think success changes every day. There are days where success means accomplishing everything on my to do list, getting incredible news, and finishing projects that I have put off for months.

Other days it’s just brushing my teeth and doing the bare minimum.

The important part of defining success to me is looking at my life holistically – what do I want my whole life to look like rather than just the professional parts of it. Am I happy? Am I fulfilled? Am I taking care of myself? That all has to matter just as much as anything else.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/katiegrossbard

Image Credits
Stefanie Villars