Speaker • Facilitator • Author
Kat Vellos helps hybrid and remote teams create a greater sense of belonging and connection. She provides interactive firesides and keynote talks, and facilitates team-bonding events for companies, conferences, and community groups who want their team members and participants to experience greater authentic connection with each other, stronger teamwork, and healthy friendships/colleagueships.
Since the release of her book, We Should Get Together, Kat Vellos has been spreading the message that the cultivation of thriving, resilient connection is how we will heal our country’s loneliness epidemic — and why this is the number one issue that individuals and companies need to make a priority in the coming years.
Attendees consistently leave Kat’s talks and workshops excited, inspired, and equipped to create better relationships at work and in their personal lives outside of work. She’s also an in-demand guest for press interviews and podcasts where she shares actionable advice about the cultivation of thriving friendships during adulthood.
Her approach to the cultivation of friendship and community is informed by her extensive background as a community facilitator, researcher, and User Experience designer (formerly at Slack, Pandora, multiple startups, and as program director of empowerment programs). Reach out today to book a talk or workshop.
PAST TALKS & WORKSHOPS
Kat has been speaking and facilitating group programs since the early 2000s. She designs experiences and talks that leave participants feeling connected, inspired, and motivated to use their new insights to create closer teams, better friendships, and more inspiring communities. All of Kat’s keynotes and workshops can be delivered virtually for a remote audience.
PRESS & PODCASTS
Kat welcomes interviews with journalists, podcasters, and youtubers for coverage related to cultivating meaningful connection and why this is more important than ever in the age of COVID-19 and beyond. Some of her previous interviews have appeared in:
WHAT CLIENTS & COLLABORATORS ARE SAYING
ABOUT KAT
Author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships which was called “marvelous” by BookLife, a subsidiary of Publishers Weekly. Kirkus Reviews said, “...The sheer amount of energy and inventiveness on display in these pages, engagingly written and illustrated by the author, will give even the most jaded some hope for more friendships in the future. A heartfelt and winningly optimistic guide to understanding—and finding more—friendship.” Kat’s writing has helped thousands of adults around the world form deeper platonic connections and heal from disconnection and loneliness. Learn more at weshouldgettogether.com
Creator of Better than Small Talk, which has fostered connection for hundreds of people across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, helping people get closer to strangers, friends, and loved ones. Kat is also the creator of the Better Conversations Kit (also available as a calendar), which provides twelve months’ worth of fresh alternatives to all of our most tired check-in questions, helping you bring new life to your conversations and relationships. An avid workshop facilitator and experience designer, Kat brings two decades of experience to creating powerful, positive communities where people find belonging and authentic connection.
Senior User Experience and Product Designer. Kat has researched, designed, and advised on the user experience of countless flows in digital products serving millions of people at Slack, Pandora, and multiple Silicon Valley startups. Understanding both the goals of the product/agency and the goals of the customer/client, Kat designs efficient and pleasant ways to get everyone’s goals accomplished while reducing confusion, friction, or complexity. In addition to her design work in the corporate sector, Kat also has multiple years of experience designing and leading powerful and effective creative empowerment programs in the education and nonprofit sector as well.
Founder and Community Leader of Bay Area Black Designers, from 2015-2022. BABD was a company-agnostic employee resource group that existed to provide meaningful community to 500+ Black design professionals living in the San Francisco Bay Area. BABD members represented startups, agencies, design studios, universities, midsize companies, and large corporations. For the seven years of its existence, BABD provided professional development and community for Black designers, especially those who know what an isolating experience it is to be the only Black designer in their company or design team.