Katherine Klimitas

Katherine Klimitas

LA, US
With passion, humor, & a unique perspective, Katherine will motivate you to live up to your full potential and to "Find Your Something," bettering your own life and also the lives of those around you.

Katherine Klimitas is a New Orleans-based artist, graphic designer and entrepreneur who motivates her listeners to "find their something" and contribute to society in whatever way they can. After breaking 500 bones by the time she was ten years old, losing all of her worldly possessions to a hurricane, and dealing with the death of a parent at a young age, she is through taking excuses about why people CAN'T and instead focuses on why people DON'T.

Katherine motivates audiences of all kinds and has spoken to:

  • Delgado Community College Physical Therapy Program
  • LSU Med School
  • Benjamin Franklin High School
  • Inclusion Matters Conferences of Louisiana and Texas
  • Families Helping Families
  • Jefferson Parish Credit Union

Katherine believes that everyone has something to give and that by "finding that something", you will not only reach your full potential as a human being but also enrich the lives of those around you. She challenges her listeners to imagine what life would be like if every member of society fulfilled their potentials and gives her audience guidelines to help them to find their somethings based on her own experiences.

Katherine sold her first watercolor at age 10 and expresses her family's life-long love of animals through her meticulous life-like paintings. She earned a B.A. from Loyola University in 2011, and today at age 30, runs her multifaceted business KAK ART & Designs from home. When clients learn that Katherine has Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, they are captivated by her unique perspective. She's 2 feet 7 inches tall, gets around in an electric wheelchair, and creates all of her art, jewelry and commercial graphic design while lying on her side.

Her book, Looking Up, is a glimpse into Katherine's world, a world unlike most. Because she spends most of her time in an electric wheelchair or lying down, she spends a lot of her time actually looking up. Though the book began as her college senior project, it evolved shortly thereafter into her story, complete with anecdotes, humor, and powerful photography. It is through the experiences detailed in Looking Up that Katherine encourages her audience how to become a fulfilling member of society.

Katherine Klimitas is a New Orleans-based artist, graphic designer and entrepreneur who motivates her listeners to "find their something" and contribute to society in whatever way they can. After breaking 500 bones by the time she was ten years old, losing all of her worldly possessions to a hurricane, and dealing with the death of a parent at a young age, she is through taking excuses about why people CAN'T and instead focuses on why people DON'T.

Katherine motivates audiences of all kinds and has spoken to:

  • Delgado Community College Physical Therapy Program
  • LSU Med School
  • Benjamin Franklin High School
  • Inclusion Matters Conferences of Louisiana and Texas
  • Families Helping Families
  • Jefferson Parish Credit Union

Katherine believes that everyone has something to give and that by "finding that something", you will not only reach your full potential as a human being but also enrich the lives of those around you. She challenges her listeners to imagine what life would be like if every member of society fulfilled their potentials and gives her audience guidelines to help them to find their somethings based on her own experiences.

Katherine sold her first watercolor at age 10 and expresses her family's life-long love of animals through her meticulous life-like paintings. She earned a B.A. from Loyola University in 2011, and today at age 30, runs her multifaceted business KAK ART & Designs from home. When clients learn that Katherine has Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, they are captivated by her unique perspective. She's 2 feet 7 inches tall, gets around in an electric wheelchair, and creates all of her art, jewelry and commercial graphic design while lying on her side.

Her book, Looking Up, is a glimpse into Katherine's world, a world unlike most. Because she spends most of her time in an electric wheelchair or lying down, she spends a lot of her time actually looking up. Though the book began as her college senior project, it evolved shortly thereafter into her story, complete with anecdotes, humor, and powerful photography. It is through the experiences detailed in Looking Up that Katherine encourages her audience how to become a fulfilling member of society.

Find Your Something

Format: 
1 hour keynote with breakout exercise halfway through


This program is perfect for: The audience will leave with:

"Have you you have ever broken a bone? It hurts, doesn't it? What if I told you I broke 500 bones by the time I was ten years old? I broke so many that at that point we just stopped counting."

Listen as Katherine tells her story, complete with both physical and...

Arts / Culture / MusicMotivationChronic DiseasesWomen in BusinessDisabilityAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeInspirational / Life-changingHumorous / Funny

The Importance of School Inclusion

Format: 
30-45 minute keynote, with exercise (optional)
This program is perfect for: The audience will leave with:

 


  • Educators
  • Education Administrators
  • High School Students
  • College Students (particularly education majors)

 


  • A new perspective about the advantages of including disabled kids in a mainstream school setting for...
EducationDisabilityAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeInspirational / Life-changing

I Have OI & That's OK

Format: 
45 minute keynote with audience activity (optional)
This program is perfect for: The audience will leave with:

"I'm not here today to talk about the science of Osteogenesis Imperfecta. You should already know that. I'm here to tell you that despite popular belief, people with disabilities like OI can work and can contribute to society."

  • Medical Professionals
  • Medical...
MotivationChronic DiseasesWomen in BusinessDisabilityAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeInspirational / Life-changingHumorous / Funny

Artist Talk

Format: 15 minute Keynote

 

This program is perfect for:

  • Art Exhibits
  • Artists or art students

 

The audience will leave with:

  • A new perspective on becoming a professional artist
  • Katherine Klimitas' personal journey as art evolved from just a hobby into a career

 

Due to a genetic bone disease, Katherine Klimitas has never done...

Chronic DiseasesWomen in BusinessDisabilityArts/MusicEducational / InformativeInspirational / Life-changing