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Interviews

An Interview with Educator Kelley Ristow

March 11, 2015

One of our awesome educators, Kelley, saw down with us to talk through some of what brought her to our ranks, and her feelings about being an educator!

With Catharsis: 15 months. “It feels like 15 months! I can, like, crawl fast and walk slowly in these presentations now. I can drop things and pick them up without falling on my head. My movements are not necessarily as efficient as they could be but I’m getting some new, smaller muscles under control and I can keep my balance.”

Favorite US city never visited: Kansas City. I’ve never been to KC but everyone I’ve ever known from there is the best: Janelle Monet, Melissa Ethridge, Brea Hayes! Also, I love BBQ and I love the Midwest so… I bet I’d love KC!

Background: University of Minnesota, BFA in Acting. “My whole family was like ‘but what are you going to do with an acting degree?’ And I was like ‘but what am I gonna do with any other degree?’ I’ve loved using my theater skills at non-acting work and when I act in Chicago it’s only in shows that are an extension of what I believe. Which is that nobody ‘gets it’ better than anyone else. audience, actors, writers, we’re all in any show/class together.”

Call Kelley to talk about: Big picture ‘corporate’ stuff, interpersonal dynamic stuff, negotiating goals. “Before I joined Catharsis I worked in Organizational Development as an employee training consultant – workplace harassment training. Which means that basically I went into different companies for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months and talked to their employees about what was preventing the org from getting from point A to point B and then I would help create/facilitate a class/workshop to try to create progress. So that’s why I’m excited to be a deputy. To try to bring that skill set and perspective to Catharsis. My clients were the Federal Reserve, US Steel, Aldi, Citrix, Mortenson – some really different office cultures with unique problems. I love working here and I want to help harness all of our voices into action towards internal culture progress.”

Special Truth: “I’ve never really been an animal person. I still don’t think I could ever LIVE with an animal but I enjoy looking at videos of them since this job. For example; I just had a class today that was exactly like this video. Those Soldiers just sat there like this damn cat and didn’t resist us but were NOT going to help us get anywhere. God I love this little dog right now. Keep at it buddy!”

The opinions expressed in this article represent those of the author, and not necessarily Catharsis Productions. Our blog may occasionally host content that does not directly reflect the sentiments of the company because the dialogue it generates may have value to our readers.

Maura Kinney

Maura Kinney has been working with Catharsis for several years in various capacities and is pleased to now serve as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator.