When Kat was at school, she loved science subjects like biology, chemistry, physics and maths, and her dream was to become a vet. She studied veterinary science at university but quickly realised it wasn’t the right path for her. Instead, she switched to studying Genetics, fascinated by how living things are built from the inside out.
After graduating, Kat discovered something surprising: she didn’t actually want to work in a science lab. Her first job was answering phones at a laboratory’s call centre, which turned out to be the perfect way into the world of business and data. Because of her science background, she soon found herself working with data professionally.
“Many jobs that exist today didn’t exist when she was at school, so it’s impossible to plan for everything - but staying curious can lead somewhere brilliant.”
Ten years later, while working as a data consultant, Kat went back to study again - this time for a degree in Design. It was in combining science with art that she found what she calls her “happy place.” In 2016, she founded a company called Rogue Penguin and became a Visual Data Storyteller, helping people turn complicated information into pictures and stories that are easy to understand. She even wrote a book about it, called “The Data Storyteller’s Handbook.”
Kat didn’t have a specific role model growing up. Instead, she was inspired by science books that made discoveries feel exciting and showed her how ideas could be applied to the real world. She got into STEM simply because she found it interesting, and nobody ever told her she couldn’t do it.