ABOUT US
Kate Counts
Kate has been involved in collective community building for the past 25 years. Using her belief in the power of honesty and building relationship across differences as a foundation towards growth and social change. Kate has utilized these values to organize, lead, educate and most importantly listen and learn from others. Her strengths have been put into practice through leading college run organizations, program coordinating for non-profits, teaching elementary school, providing service through house cleaning/waiting tables and guiding movement for the past 15 years.
Throughout those 15 years Kate has been working to bridge the gap between wellness and social change. Her movement classes always carry the truth of how these two worlds intersect and the importance of awareness, accountability, compassion and empathy when we show up for ourselves and others. Kate is always filling the shoes of student to bring a deeper sense of knowledge to all she does.
The practice of movement, stillness, identifying values and co-creating pathways to action is where Kate feels most aligned with purpose - and it is through this awareness the calling to show up has evolved. Kate believes the time spent on the mat exploring through self inquiry, meditation, and movement brings us closer to our inner knowing - the beautiful voice that holds our truth. This truth brings a sense of self awareness into our daily lives and how we live in relationship with the global community. It carries us to the frontline of personal and collective progress.
Kate firmly believes we have the power to create a world where all beings are seen, heard, respected and loved.
Sara Nelson
For over 20 years, Sara has dedicated her career to working with nonprofits tackling some of the most pressing issues in our communities, including child welfare, affordable housing, rural health, food insecurity, mental health, and addiction. Through her frontline experiences, she witnessed firsthand the injustices both locally and nationally, as well as the challenges and dysfunction within the nonprofit sector. Instead of collaborative efforts, organizations often became isolated in their specific causes, competing for donor funds and resources. Throughout her career, she often encountered situations where discussing politics or divisive topics was discouraged to avoid upsetting donors, even when there was a direct correlation to the causes they were advocating for.
In 2015, amidst battling postpartum depression and personal tragedies, she was deeply affected by the Emanuel 9 shooting in Charleston. This was a wake-up call for Sara to unpack her own privilege and get involved. She knew the first step was working on herself. This led Sara to embark on a personal healing journey where she landed in the the wellness world. Despite finding solace in practices like yoga, she noticed a similar trend to her professional career, of individual-focused messages, with little discussion about collective well-being. Sara began to seek out spaces where collective conversations were embraced as part of the wellness practice, eventually leading her to become a yoga teacher, women's circle facilitator, retreat leader, and holistic life coach.
Through individual and group coaching, Sara has worked with numerous women who are in the transformative, but liminal space, where they are no longer who they used to be, but are not yet sure who they are becoming, or unbecoming. She believes that collectively, we are in a similar transformative phase, where old systems are crumbling, and new ways of living are being reimagined. She has seen the power that can happen when we feel supported, seen, heard and valued in theses spaces and has witnessed what happens when we navigate this space using our values, deep questioning and having difficult conversations.
Sara believes that no matter where you are in life, if you love people and care about the injustices of the world, there will always be a place where your gifts are needed!
