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Resources

Self-Care Strategies: Nourish to Flourish

Audible Original Self-Care Strategies: Nourish to Flourish Bubble baths and bonbons aren’t going to save you from burnout.Real self-care isn’t about quick fixes or feel-good fluff. It’s about building accountability to yourself. Because the hardest person to keep promises to? That’s you.Self-Care Strategies: Nourish to Flourish is Katie’s signature Audible Original course that guides you […]

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b.nourished Resource Guide

b.nourished Resource Guide you know the saying “too much of a good thing?” That can describe today’s seemingly endless array of resources for self-care and personal well-being. All these options are simply not created equal.This getting-started guide is the result of the countless hours — actually decades — I’ve devoted to finding the most powerful […]

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Download b.nourished Resource Guide

This getting-started guide is the result of the countless hours — actually decades — I’ve devoted to finding the most powerful tools and resources available. It was carefully curated to help you find valuable and transformative resources for your own journey.
Download the Guide

Self-Care Isn't Selfish: It's Your Duty

Unapologetically Taking Care of Yourself While Taking Care of Business
Designed for women's leadership initiatives, ERGs, and high-potential programs

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.

The Core Message

Why do we expect so much of ourselves in every area of our lives except self-care, where somehow mediocrity is tolerated?

Self-care is a duty. It's our responsibility to bring our most evolved selves to the table. In telling ourselves we don't have permission and we are too busy, we have become damsels in distress. But only we can rescue ourselves. We are the knights in shining armor we've been waiting for. Suit up.

Self-care is an act of defiance in a society conditioning us to be martyrs and saints. Saying yes to ourselves and our legitimate needs must mean saying no to someone else. And we all know good girls don't say no. If they do, they're guilty. Naughty even.

We honorably over-function for everyone else and in doing so, we underperform for ourselves. Our compulsion to serve is as primal as a bull facing a red flag. And God it feels good. Until it doesn't. The superhero cape chokes us, strangling our needs, depriving us of oxygen.

We cannot resist someone in need unless that someone is us.

So we deny our right to self-care and in doing so, make us the ones in need of rescue.

What Attendees Will Learn:

  • Why self-neglect is actually selfish (and self-care is your responsibility)
  • How to be a mentor and model, not a martyr
  • The relationship between self-care and leadership effectiveness
  • Concrete strategies to implement immediately
  • Permission to choose themselves without guilt

Perfect for:

  • Women's leadership conferences and summits
  • Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) focused on women
  • High-potential women's development programs
  • Organizations committed to women's advancement
  • Annual women's retreats and professional development days

Industries that love this keynote:

  • Healthcare (where caring for others is the culture)
  • Education (where teachers/administrators give constantly)
  • Professional services (where billable hours rule)
  • Non-profit sector (where mission drives sacrifice)
  • Any organization with women in leadership

Katie-isms featured in this keynote

"Self-care isn't selfish. It's your duty."
"How dare you deprive us of your best self?"
"Self-neglect is selfish."
"We are the knights in shining armor we've been waiting for."
"Be a mentor and model, not a martyr."
"Rest is rebellious."
"We cannot be good girls and good to ourselves. Choose you this time."

What Makes This Different from Other "Women's Empowerment" Talks

Katie doesn't do empowerment theater. She does truth-telling. This isn't a feel-good pep talk that everyone forgets by Monday. It's a paradigm shift that challenges deeply held beliefs about women's roles, responsibilities, and right to their own attention.
Katie speaks from her own experience of self-sacrifice nearly killing her. She knows what it's like to believe everyone else's needs matter more. To be drowning in "too muchness" while feeling like you're not enough.
This keynote gives women permission to rescue themselves. And the tools to actually do it.

Testimonials

"Her session provided attendees with useful tools to better manage their own well-being while supporting their organizations."
Gary Dawson
Director of Learning and Development, EANE
"Working with Katie was incredibly easy. You can tell that she's truly trying to make an impact on the lives of those that she speaks to."
Michelle Buettner,
Women in Energy Global Program Manager
Logistics
Duration
30, 45, or 60 minutes (customizable)

Format
Keynote, workshop, or fireside chat
Delivery
In-person or virtual

Language
Female-focused (can be adapted)

Ready to bring this powerful message to your women leaders?

Book Katie →
Request Custom Proposal →
Smiling woman with short gray hair, black glasses, silver earrings, and a black jacket, posed against a plain light background.

Reclaiming the ME in tiME™

tiME Management Keynote: Getting Sh!t Done Without Coming Undone
For the doers who love to get things done... until they don't.

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:

  • Why ME management (not time management) is the answer
  • How to parent ourselves with the same care we give others
  • Concrete practices for sustainable productivity
  • The difference between being busy and being effective
  • How to heed the tick of your heart, not just the tick of the clock

Because taking care of you IS taking care of business.

The Core Message

Time management is a fallacy. Time is fixed. We are not.

tiME management sits at the intersection of self-care and self-discipline. It's about managing ourselves, not our calendars. About making space for the ME in tiME before we come completely undone.

This keynote isn't about bubble baths and bonbons. It's about the fundamental practices that actually work when you're someone who gets sh!t done.
Ideal Audiences:
  • High achievers drowning in their to-do lists
  • Teams experiencing burnout from relentless productivity culture
  • Organizations where "busy" has become a badge of honor
  • Leaders who want their teams to perform sustainably
  • Anyone who's forgotten there's a person behind the productivity
What Makes This Keynote Different

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:

  • Grounded in lived experience, not just research
  • Practical and immediately implementable
  • Compassionate but brutally honest
  • Designed to wake people up before they hit rock bottom

Katie-isms featured in this keynote

"Self-care is parenting ourselves."
"Taking care of you is taking care of business."
"tiME management is at the intersection of self-care and self-discipline."
"Heed the tick of your heart, not the tick of the clock."
"We cannot be good girls and good to ourselves. Choose you this time."
Logistics
Duration
30, 45, or 60 minutes (customizable)

Format
Keynote or interactive workshop
Delivery
In-person or virtual

Language
Gender-neutral or customized

Testimonials

"Katie is an energetic presenter who is not afraid to tell it like it is. Her unapologetic and passionate nature will have you thinking twice about your bad habits and inspire you to start being a better you."
Kassandra McGlone
District Manager, Insperity
"Katie's words are ninjas, synaptic mercenaries bringing clarity to a chaotic mind."
TJ Bennet
Desuckify Work Podcast

Ready to help your team reclaim the ME in tiME?

Request Information →
Download One-Sheet →
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de-LIBERATE:
From Reactivity to Intentional Productivity

The Flagship Keynote for Overwhelmed High Achievers
Approach: Getting the right work done, at the right time, for the right reasons.

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:

  • How to be de-LIBERATE instead of reactive in their daily decisions
  • Why time management is a fallacy (time is fixed; we are not)
  • The intersection of self-care and self-discipline for sustainable productivity
  • Concrete strategies to get things done without coming undone
  • How to lower expectations of themselves while raising their standards

When you're de-LIBERATE, you get the right work done, at the right time, for the right reasons.

Ideal Audiences:
  • Corporate teams experiencing overwhelm and burnout
  • High performers struggling with work-life integration
  • Leaders who want sustainable productivity strategies for their teams
  • Organizations prioritizing employee wellbeing as competitive advantage
  • Anyone who's tired of feeling like they're constantly behind
What Attendees Will Walk Away With:
  • A reframed understanding of productivity that doesn't require self-sacrifice
  • Practical tools for intentional decision-making
  • Permission to prioritize what truly matters
  • Strategies to implement immediately (not "someday")
  • Renewed energy and clarity about their path forward

Katie-isms featured in this keynote

"Lower your expectations of yourself and raise your standards."
"Time management is a fallacy. Time is fixed. We are not."
"tiME management is at the intersection of self-care and self-discipline."
"Choose badass over half-ass, every time."
Logistics
Duration
30, 45, or 60 minutes (customizable)

Format
Keynote or workshop
(half-day/full-day versions available)
Delivery
In-person or virtual

Language
Gender-neutral or customized to your audience

What People Are Saying

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

Ready to bring de-LIBERATE to your organization?

Request Information →
Smiling woman with short gray hair, black glasses, silver earrings, and a black jacket, posed against a plain light background.