For more than 15 years, Katie Garcia has helped leaders and emerging leaders across industries to improve their ability to lead and to communicate effectively. She is an Advisor at Logos Consulting Group and a Fellow at the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership. She also serves as Chief of Staff for Logos Consulting Group.
Katie is also the Founder and President of Athene Strategies, a strategic and crisis communication consulting firm. Athene Strategies works with small- to large-size organizations across a variety of sectors, including non-profits, NGOs and INGOs, social action campaigns, and religious and educational institutions.
Katie previously served as Communications Coordinator at the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC), a nonprofit civil rights organization based in New York City. In this role, she built a communication department from the ground up, including developing and executing a long-term strategic communication plan and changing the way the organization engaged its stakeholders.
Katie also served as an interim communication consultant for the Starr King School for the Ministry, where she led the communication department during a time of transition and crisis. In addition to advising the new president of the school, she also coordinated and crafted communications with internal stakeholders and the media, as well as created a multi-year strategic communication plan for the school.
Prior to that, Katie was a communications consultant for Religions for Peace, the largest multi-religious coalition of senior religious leaders working for peace. While at Religions for Peace, Katie ran the communication department as the organization developed a new strategic framework and communication plan. This included managing communication efforts during high-profile public events such as the global Interfaith Summit on Climate Change, which brought together senior religious leaders from around the world to convey faith communities’ concerns and proposals to the UN Secretary General’s Climate Change Summit.
Katie previously worked at Logos Consulting Group and the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership for more than seven years. In her role, she assisted and led client trainings and engagements in the US and abroad, generated case studies, and served in various communication roles at client events. This included serving as the social media coordinator at the 9th World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Vienna. She also served at the 8th World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Kyoto as a press room intern and assistant photographer.
She has previously served in organizations such as Freedom to Marry, Disaster Chaplaincy Services, Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, Brodeur Partners and Millennium Promise.
Katie has researched, fact-checked and edited several books, including Words on Fire: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It (Radius Publishing Group, 2020) and The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively (Pearson/FT Press 2012), both by Helio Fred Garcia. Additionally, she created training guides for educators seeking to teach The Power of Communication in their classrooms.
Katie has guest lectured on strategic communication, crisis communication, and navigating difficult conversations at universities such as the College of Mount Saint Vincent’s and the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Katie received her Bachelor of Arts from The New School for Public Engagement, while studying in the Accelerated Bachelor’s-Master’s Graduate Program in International Affairs. At the same time, she received a Graduate Certificate in Unitarian Universalist Studies from the Starr King School for the Ministry. She received numerous academic honors, including The New School for Public Engagement Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.
She is currently the Board Chair of the Dorill Initiative, a multidisciplinary arts organization committed to empowering youth to tell their stories and transform communities. She previously served on the board of Dance Entropy, a nonprofit that serves the local community by using dance as a healing tool through dance education and classes.
Katie is the Youth Group teacher in her local congregation, working with middle and high school students. For several years, she also served as a volunteer religious education teacher for children ranging in age from 3 – 18 years old.
Katie is a competitive ballroom dancer and certified ballroom and Latin dance teacher, with a goal to find ways of combining her love of dancing with her commitment to serving her community.
