Kathy-Ann believes that acting, the best kind of acting, comes from the inside out. The human story is the actors’ life work. And empathy, defined as actors’ ability to embrace the story of another human being, is the tool for doing the work of the actor. Perhaps because of her own varied, awesome, awful, exciting and mundane life experiences.

Or perhaps because she’s has worked with and known personally people of all kinds: those who have been battered by those they love, the poor, the chronically ill, the marginalized, the lauded ivy league attendee, the multi-billionaires purchasing companies using private equity, the immigrant, the Trump supporter, and the inclusion expert, Kathy-Ann has the ability to shift her attention effortlessly from one reality to another. This is what she uses to coach actors.

She has studied with the lauded acting teachers Diana Castle, Peter Kelley and Tom Todoroff. Taking what she has learned from these greats, Kathy-Ann teaches actors to cultivate genuine interest in the human story – their own and that of others so that actors can embody the being of another human.

Kathy-Ann believes that all of us have a responsibility to leave the planet better than it was when we got here. Thus, she has lived her life to make the world a little bit better for her fellow man. In fact, this is why she went to law school. Even when she was just a law student, the only honor society’s membership she was interested in was the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She applied to and was accepted into its ranks, which also has included Michelle Obama, Loretta Lynch and the Honorable William J. Brennan of the United States Supreme Court. At the Bureau, Kathy-Ann focused on family law: domestic violence, child custody and support, divorce in large part because her mother is a survivor of domestic violence.

After graduation, Kathy-Ann went on to represent women (and a few men) like her mother through pro bono representation of clients who were referred to her by the Women’s Bar Foundation. She also represented folks with HIV in family matters, on Social Security issues and when facing eviction. Most recently, she was briefly able to work with now deceased attorney Hamza Ma’ayeragi on immigation matters for recently arrived immigrants and their families. 

Kathy-Ann is known in the performing arts as the “go to” person for any and every thing show biz related.

As a former corporate attorney, litigator and non-profit executive she knows the ins and outs of business matters from contracting to negotiations, budgets, and production.

Kathy-Ann draws upon her diverse experiences to make matters better for actors and anyone on the production side of the business. On casting, she works with CEM Casting to lead the charge in casting for a multicultural world.

Kathy-Ann’s first completed manuscript was awarded tens of thousands of dollars. The script, named “The Mediator,” was written based on her real life experiences as an attorney navigating the family courts. It is sure to be a sought after addition to many festivals.

 It’s currently in post-production. Kathy-Ann not only wrote the script but she starred in the piece, produced and co-directed too.

Since working on this project Kathy-Ann has been a consulting producer and legal consultant on another short film. 

Kathy-Ann is part of a multi-ethnic, multinational, deeply layered, and complicated family. Since she was a small child she’s understood and been working on bridging cross-cultural divides.

She was once a consultant/facilitator working for Verna Myers (who is now the VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix)  and presently she’s an actor/improvisor/facilitator with Power Play Interactive Development.

With Power Play, she goes to colleges and universities around the world (sometimes in person or via Zoom) acting out and improvising ‘trigger’ scenarios that encapsulate all areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Power Play gives Kathy-Ann the opportunity to carry out her empathic mission – promoting belonging and love for all humans whether rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, male/female/trans/cisgendered, US born or not, able bodied or not – in this case in higher education.

Kathy-Ann has also successfully worked with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to produce workshops on inclusion in college athletics departments nationwide.