Katie is a professional speaker, corporate trainer, self-care strategist, and executive coach for high achievers who take care of business at the expense of taking care of themselves. After experiencing her own breakdown from relentless productivity and self-neglect, Katie left her international sales career to rebuild her life from the ground up. Now she helps fellow high performers get things done without coming undone through keynote speaking, corporate training, and intensive 1:1 coaching.
Katie doesn't do spa-day self-care or fluffy motivational talks. She leads with tough love and compassionate accountability. Her methodology is grounded in her own lived experience of hitting rock bottom and rebuilding, combined with certifications from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and advanced training in Heroic Public Speaking. Katie meets you where you are, then holds you accountable for the changes you say you want to make. No fluff. No quick fixes. Just sustainable, supported systemic change you can actually adopt and benefit from.
Katie believes self-care isn't selfish—it's your duty. She helps clients change the way they change: from bullying to befriending, from critical to curious, from overwhelmed to overjoyed. Her work is built on the understanding that we must parent ourselves, set boundaries unapologetically, and refuse to settle for mediocrity in how we treat ourselves. As Katie says: "How dare you deprive us of your best self?"
Facing debilitating disease that threatened to compromise and shorten her life, Katie made a silent vow that if she could recover, she would devote her days to ensuring others never had to walk her path. Her work teaching doers how to be is Katie's way of repaying a debt. She figured out the impossible, what felt so "un-figureoutable'…how to take care of business and take care of herself. Katie created bnourished (the planner, the methodology, the brand) to give anyone ready to leave the detrimental habits behind a day-to-day guide to actually practicing self-care, not just taking about it. The bnourished framework turns self-care into a concrete plan not an afterthought.
Katie spent years as an international sales executive working across the US, Europe and Canada before her health crisis forced a career pivot. She’s certified as a holistic health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, trained as a raw food chef & instructor, completed the Graduate, Fellowship & Business Mastery programs at Heroic Public Speaking, and graduated form the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. She is also a Leadership Rhode Island alumna and active member of the National Speakers Association.
Katie is right for you if you're a high achiever who's exhausted from doing everything for everyone, drowning in "too muchness," and over the overwhelm. She's right for you if you're tired of trying to figure it out alone and ready to do the actual work of change. Katie is NOT right for you if you're looking for quick hacks, surface-level advice, or someone who will tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear.
This is Katie's core philosophy: productivity and self-care are not mutually exclusive. You can be a high performer without sacrificing your health, relationships, or sanity. "Getting things done without coming undone" means learning to manage yourself (not just your time), setting boundaries without guilt, prioritizing what truly matters, and building sustainable systems that support your wellbeing instead of draining it.
We have high standards for every aspect of our lives except self care where mediocrity is tolerated.
Let's Be Real
You've heard the term "self-care." You probably even know a little bit about it. You know you should prioritize it more. You add it to your offensively long to-do list, reassuring yourself that you will get to it, only to have it cascade to the very bottom again.
You know you should make healthy decisions. That your mental and physical health are important.
But when it comes to self-care, most of us are asleep.
Lulled into complacency by the deluded promise that tomorrow will be different. That is, until a massive personal tragedy or crisis wakes us up and scares the hell out of us.
Katie McDonald believes it doesn't have to be that way.
The Wake-Up Call
If you're ready to stop sleepwalking (and you are), this speech will hit you like a sound-barrier-shattering alarm clock with a busted snooze button.
You'll learn how to liberate yourself from destructive, self-sacrificing habits by being deLIBERATE in your self-care. This speech will challenge you to take action in your own life—immediately—and give you the tools you need to do it.
What if you stopped apologizing and started advocating for yourself?
Aren't you curious what life would be like when you are truly nourished by your habits and mindset? When you walk out of this speech, you'll emerge refreshed, alive with purpose and a contagious passion to show up for yourself the way you show up for everyone else.
What Attendees Will Learn:
Perfect for:
Industries that love this keynote:
The Reality Check
You love to get things done. It's who you are and how you roll. But sometimes you wonder if it's all doable.
Meeting after meeting, deal after deal, deadline after deadline. Tasks topple your bulging inbox and demand more and more from you. It might feel like you have to choose between taking care of business and taking care of yourself.
Maybe you're starting to come undone in service to getting things done.
Katie McDonald learned the hard way that it doesn't have to be that way. Circling the drain, Katie's addiction to doing took her to hell. She returned scorched and emboldened to share with her tribe of doers what she learned along the way.
What This Keynote Delivers
This engaging keynote empowers audiences with time-tested strategies to reclaim the ME in tiME management and shift from human doing to human being.
Attendees learn:
Katie doesn't speak from theory. She speaks from the ashes of her own burnout and rebuild. She knows what it's like to circle the drain. To be so addicted to doing that you lose yourself completely.
This Keynote is:
The Problem Your Audience Is Facing
They're drowning. Meeting after meeting, deal after deal, deadline after deadline. Tasks topple their bulging inbox demanding more and more. They wonder if it's all even doable.
They might feel like they have to choose between taking care of business and taking care of themselves. Maybe they're starting to come undone in service to getting things done.
Frenzy has become familiar. An old friend. The electric current of their life that they tell themselves is enthusiasm, motivation, drive. The pacing, the racing. But it's ineffective time management masquerading as productivity.
They're plowing ahead as if to cross some imaginary finish line that only moves further away with any progress.
What This Keynote Delivers
Through de-LIBERATE, Katie helps audiences trade chaos for intention. This keynote dismantles reactivity and teaches a practical system for aligning calendars, commitments, and self-respect.
Attendees learn:
Her talk was more than a keynote; it was a reset. It prepared everyone to look inward before turning outward. That's the effect Katie has: she grounds people so they can rise higher.
Tania A. Doub, Mindful Quadrant