Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Severt. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Katie is a healthcare advocate passionate about advancing access to healthcare in underserved communities of children and adults. She serves on the Board of Directors for Hennepin Health Foundation and the Philanthropic Board for the Community University Healthcare Clinic at the University of MN. She is advising ICAR8 at the Adoption Medicine Clinic at the University of MN. She has founded and operated several fundraising events, including Care To Celebrate, benefiting the Adoption Medicine Clinic, and has a successful leadership and business development history in multiple technology companies. Katie is a Gopher and a Badger with an MBA from the University of MN Carlson School of Business and a BBA from the Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and four children and loves living in Minnesota, where thinking forward and innovation are at the core of what we value.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Reentering the workforce after spending many years at home with her children was bumpy. Understanding how to engage with a business world that only sometimes values the work of a full-time volunteer mother was a real challenge. Returning to college for an MBA during middle age was also a mountain of learning. However, exiting as a Carlson Scholar with a renewed sense of strengths and experience was empowering. Like many, COVID and lockdowns changed my plans for what I want to do “with the rest of my life” – or at least for now. Elevating women, amplifying the voices of those doing excellent work, connecting research and frontline with those who control capital, and empowering women to take control of their healthcare are primary goals, alongside the educational aspects of running an event series.
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Let’s Talk Women?
Women’s health is paramount to the well-being of our communities and society. Let’s Talk Women operates a quarterly series, provides corporate events, and is exploring the opportunity to host a women’s health innovation summit. All events are designed to unite people to educate, inspire, and connect those dedicated to elevating women’s health throughout their lifetime. We lead conversations and dialog with a health equity lens, recognizing that health disparities for women of color and indigenous women are particularly egregious and need to be recognized and discussed. Through recognizing and collectively sharing our power, we will find ways to mobilize and take action to drive true change. Health disparities extend past the doctor’s office into research and funding of innovation. We know that you can remove people from the health system, but if systems are designed to benefit one group, others will need access to equitable care. Additionally, women’s healthcare does not have the same historical basis in research due to gender bias, lack of representation, and misconceptions about women’s health. We will only change women’s health outcomes by recognizing the power of capital.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Despite higher healthcare spending compared to other high income countries worldwide, the United States consistently shows worse health outcomes. In the US, black women die in childbirth at a rate of 3X the rate of white women. Many don’t realize that most research excluded women’s bodies until 1991. Not until 2016 were female mice mandated to be included in research by the NIH. And a well known Women’s Health Initiative Study that was halted and changed course of hormone therapy was more recently challenged. This study changed the trajectory of healthcare and hormone replacement therapy during menopause for multiple generations of women.
Why don’t we talk about these things? Like pregnancy, menopause, and estrogen cycles in general, these topics are considered taboo, or women are just expected to figure them out on their own. Fortunately, there is a noticeable change in this perspective, resulting in improving health outcomes for women. Better outcomes for women not only benefits us as people, but also opens up new prospects for investors, companies, employees, and other stakeholders within the healthcare ecosystem.
Let’s Talk Women strives to influence and accelerate trends that address systemic inequity. We use education, empowerment, amplification, and connection. Thank you for taking the time to elevate our series! We are a strong but mighty team wanting to make big changes.
Katie Severt
Founder
Let’s Talk Women
Contact Info:
- Website: https://letstalkhealthwomen.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letstalkhealthwomen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089685134726
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/92559559
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkHealthWomen
Image Credits
Bre McGee,(4-7) Paula Wilhelm, Henriet Hendriks
