As a young child, Katie discovered that writing gave her a way to understand the world and connect with it. She had a family and a school that gave her the confidence and skills to write her heart out.

When she was 13, Katie decided to help kids who weren't so lucky to have the same outlet for their thoughts and feelings. So she decided to start a writing workshop for kids 8 to 12 who didn’t have families and schools like hers.

But she was immediately assaulted by "NO."

"Kids aren’t teachers." You are not qualified to do this." "Where would you do it?" "It won’t work." "Why do this instead of hanging out at the mall with the cool kids?" "No one will come."

The challenges made her doubt herself and fear that she’d never pull off her idealistic idea. But she kept going.

Now, Kids Tales, Katie’s nonprofit writing workshop for kids, is so successful she’s trained 12 other teens to teach it, allowing the operation to expand into other locations than the sessions she runs in Milwaukee.

And one young graduate of the program told her: “Thank you for letting me have a voice. No one ever did that for me before."