Katy has been a pianist from age 4, and a violist and violinist since 6th grade orchestra. Growing up in Oklahoma, Katy consistently earned superior ratings in OMEA piano solo and piano composition competitions annually for 10 years. She finds that playing and composing for piano is the best way she can express herself creatively, and this inspired her to continue her musical education by joining orchestra in middle school.

Katy began playing viola at age 11, and she quickly found that the rich relationships she made in orchestra connected with her unlike anything else in her life. Her parents, having seen the impact music education had on Katy, enrolled her in private lessons which later led to her becoming principal violist of the Tulsa Youth Symphony for 5 years. After participating as a violist for the second year at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, her mentors and peers inspired her to pursue music education as a career.

After having been accepted into the viola studio and music education program at the University of North Texas, Katy joined the UNT String Project as a private and group upper strings teacher. In addition to regularly teaching with String Project throughout her time at UNT, she taught at local private music schools as a piano and strings teacher for children and adults of all ages and abilities. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in String Music Education in 2020, Katy became a DFW area middle school orchestra director where she had the privilege of sharing the joys of musical expression and collaboration with her students.