About Katie

Katie grew up on a small family farm; she was active in 4H, and she loved animals and being outdoors. Her mother says that she rode a horse before she could walk. As a child, Katie spent much of her time reading books, showing horses, hiking, and playing softball. She could be often found at the local Little League field, selling pizza slices and candy in the concession stand or working as an announcer in the press box.

Katie’s first paying job in high school was bussing tables at a local restaurant; she also worked at a donut shop, in a track-side restaurant at a horse racetrack, and during college, at a pet store. She met her future husband, Jesse, when they worked together at the pet store, and they were married in 2001. Katie discovered that she loved working with birds, and she hand-raised and trained a variety of parrot species. Soon she began volunteering at a small wildlife rehabilitation center.

Katie and Jesse both have Bachelor’s degrees from Penn State and Master’s degrees from West Virginia University. During graduate school at WVU, Jesse decided to pursue a career as a veterinarian and was accepted at Virginia Tech’s veterinary school, and Katie was hired as an Instructor in Virginia Tech’s English Department. After Jesse received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, they moved back to the Cheat Lake area to start a family.

During this time, Katie wrote four books about birds and conservation (two for adults and two for children); taught writing part-time at WVU, West Virginia Wesleyan, and Chatham University; began volunteering as the Market Manager of the Cheat Lake Farmers Market; co-founded the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia; and served on the Board of Directors of the Mountaineer Chapter of the National Audubon Society. Their family co-owns Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, which employs about 120 people, as well as Feline Veterinary Care of Morgantown.

Katie is a sought-after speaker on birds and conservation; she’s given presentations and keynotes across the United States, including at the American Museum of National History in New York City, the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., and in California, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and elsewhere.