Hi! I'm Kat Richards.

Strategy catalyst and leader, turning complexity into clarity, purpose into progress.

With 14+ years in healthcare, finance, and CPG, I turn cultural insight and research into strategies that bring complexity to clarity and connect people to purpose. At Digitas, I lead CX strategy in high-stakes, regulated industries, aligning executives, strengthening trust, and championing overlooked voices. Mentoring junior folks cross disciplines, I lift others up behind me.

Hire me for

- Evangelize agile mindset and way of working
- Nurture team growth through ongoing learning and coaching
- Streamline operations through scalable solutions and frameworks
- Build psychology safety in teams I lead to share perspectives
- Advocate for users through research and behavioral insights for a holistic experience
- Bridging silos across departments with a strategic vision/roadmap
- Aligning senior leaders, and stakeholders, influencing impactful change
- Build emotional connections to consumer needs
- Spark consumer engagement to build brand loyalty and trust
- Ensure brand consistency and accessibility across digital and physical spaces
I’m always looking for an opportunity to share my knowledge and thinking, through thought leadership and speaking engagements. See my speaking page for details.

See my work

Let's connect

Some clients I’ve partnered with:

Community Involvement

MSOE University

Advising the UX program on industry trends and driving industry needs into their 4 year curriculum. Assisting in networking events and co-authoring a scholarly article on AI’s impact on future students.
Disability:In

Mentor emerging leaders with disabilities through Disability:IN’s NextGen program to support their career growth for the past year.
FoXX Health

Women's Health Advisory Committee, supporting Foxx Health's mission to advocate for women's health by providing strategic guidance on their soon-to-be-released app, giving every woman the tools, knowledge, and confidence to be heard in every healthcare setting.
Badass Mamas

Co-founder of Badass Mamas, a community and storytelling platform for modern mothers redefining what leadership and legacy look like.

https://www.thebadassmamas.com

What others say

“Kat is really good at listening and wrangling people to deliver on the work. I saw her actively listen and engage our leadership client, and it was reassuring to see her defend her thinking.”

— Angela (SVP - Account)

“The GOAT. Kat is walking the talk. Way to freaking go! Thank you for facilitating and having a great discussion on Asian Representation in Media.”

— Ali (CSO- Strategy)

Working with Kat and Kristine has been a fantastic partnership. They meticulously planned and executed multiple complex studies, each with staff focus groups, survey deployment and analysis, and deep-dive family interviews that led to clarifying and impactful journey maps. The tremendous amount of high-quality work captured the emotional complexity families face before they even walk through our doors. That depth in storytelling gave our leadership the confidence we needed to move forward with action plans.

One of the doctors who reviewed the work even noted it was the best set of recommendations he'd seen in 18 years. Beyond the data, Kristine and Kat were seamless partners who felt like an extension of our own team. I would gladly recommend them to any organization looking for strategic experience insights.”

— Jeremy (Experience Manager - Children’s Hospital)

“The amount of details in this research, leading into the strategy. This is great stuff. Thank you to you and your team for the diligence.”

Amy (CXO - Global Markets and Global Research at BofA)
"This is really smart thinking. I love that you guys are showing us aspirational goals to achieve."

Jessica (SVP Small Business Digital Tools)
“These personas are well-rounded to depict the enterprise as a whole. Appreciates that they all come from different points vs one forced and centralized gated experience on this Women’s Ecosystem”

Rachel (SVP Business Marketing at BofA)
“This is awesome. Thanks again for pulling together this accessibility x strategy playbook. Super impressive, comprehensive and important thinking!”

Josh (Head of Experience Strategy)
“So impressed with your team’s thinking about this massive undertaking! I’m seeing a lot of change recommendations from all our conversations, so thank you… thank you for listening and hearing us.”

Antonio (Client Lead on MSK)
“Great job on the discovery workshop. The findings and presentation were smart and well received by the clients, but the real surprise was how engaged the client team was with the prioritization investing game. In the two years I’ve worked on the wealth team, this is the most engaged client call I’ve been a part of.”

Ashley O. (VP, Account Director)
“So fantastic! Thank you so much. This is exactly what we need. It’s so insightful to help us move forward. It’s really impressive to see how on point the pain points are visualized. I’m jumping out of my skin with excitement. ”

Karli (BofA Marketing Chief Executive)
“You are a super great partner. I think others would be watching designers design by now, but you’re in there pitching in. Always helpful when you have a collaborator with a POV!”

Michael (VP/ Director of UX & CS)
“Left brain? Right brain? Kat is ambidextrous. She flawlessly balances strategic, analytic and methodical thinking with inspiring, creative and experiential ideas. She brings order to chaos and innovation to the norm. I thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity I’ve had to collaborate with Kat.”

Tyler (Account Director)
“Thanks for great work and for all the great discussion. Your research, professional approach and frankly, awesome work transformed our product.”

RC (Microsoft Product Owner)
"I’m very impressed... at how you turned my hours-long ramble into a cohesive presentation, backed with credible and quantitative research. Absolutely love this work.”

Joe (Napoleon Marketing Director)

Let's build something together

Strategy catalyst and leader, turning complexity into clarity, purpose into progress.

Hire me for

Leadership & Operations

CX Strategy & Account Planning

Brand Marketing

Speaking

Some clients I’ve partnered with:

MSOE University

Disability:In

FoXX Health

Badass Mamas

What others say

“Kat is really good at listening and wrangling people to deliver on the work. I saw her actively listen and engage our leadership client, and it was reassuring to see her defend her thinking.”

“The GOAT. Kat is walking the talk. Way to freaking go! Thank you for facilitating and having a great discussion on Asian Representation in Media.”

“The amount of details in this research, leading into the strategy. This is great stuff. Thank you to you and your team for the diligence.”

"This is really smart thinking. I love that you guys are showing us aspirational goals to achieve."

“These personas are well-rounded to depict the enterprise as a whole. Appreciates that they all come from different points vs one forced and centralized gated experience on this Women’s Ecosystem”

“This is awesome. Thanks again for pulling together this accessibility x strategy playbook. Super impressive, comprehensive and important thinking!”

“So impressed with your team’s thinking about this massive undertaking! I’m seeing a lot of change recommendations from all our conversations, so thank you… thank you for listening and hearing us.”

“So fantastic! Thank you so much. This is exactly what we need. It’s so insightful to help us move forward. It’s really impressive to see how on point the pain points are visualized. I’m jumping out of my skin with excitement. ”

“You are a super great partner. I think others would be watching designers design by now, but you’re in there pitching in. Always helpful when you have a collaborator with a POV!”

“Left brain? Right brain? Kat is ambidextrous. She flawlessly balances strategic, analytic and methodical thinking with inspiring, creative and experiential ideas. She brings order to chaos and innovation to the norm. I thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity I’ve had to collaborate with Kat.”

“Thanks for great work and for all the great discussion. Your research, professional approach and frankly, awesome work transformed our product.”

"I’m very impressed... at how you turned my hours-long ramble into a cohesive presentation, backed with credible and quantitative research. Absolutely love this work.”