We were lucky to catch up with Kate Boatright recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

When my mom was a child, she wanted to be a veterinarian, but at the time, she was discouraged from that career path because she was a woman. Instead, she became a pastor (which at the time was also a male dominated profession). When I expressed my desire to become a veterinarian, she worked hard to show me that it could be done. Our dogs growing up were only taken to female veterinarians because my mom wanted me to see a woman doing the job I wanted to do. Representation matters. Seeing yourself in someone who is in the field you desire to go into is a huge asset.

My parents embody the term servant leaders. My mom was a pastor and my dad worked as a grant writer and leader in nonprofit organizations. My mom’s church was in a lower income suburb of Pittsburgh. When we moved there in 1990, gang violence was high. Racial tensions were high. Both of my parents engaged in community activities and leadership in their respective workplaces to create community partnerships and initiatives to improve racial relations and decrease gang violence. Their work has shown me how to be a servant leader and how to be an effective ally.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My interest in veterinary medicine started when I was in elementary school. I always knew I wanted to work with animals, and while my interests briefly drifted to marine biology, a fear of sharks brought me quickly back to veterinary medicine. I love science and problem solving, so these passions all worked well with the field. After high school, I attended Hiram College, where I received by BA in neuroscience with a minor in writing and biology.

I attended the University of Pennsylvania for vet school. During school, I served as the national vice president for the Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA), which is a national, student-run organization that works to help prepare veterinary students for both the business side of veterinary medicine and the “soft” skills necessary for success in the profession that are less prominent in the core curriculum. This role and the people I met during this leadership role continues to shape my career.

After finishing veterinary school in 2013, I entered clinical practice in a rural general practice. I had wonderful mentors in my initial practice but left that clinic after a year because my husband was living 3 hours away. In 2016, I moved into a new position at a clinic that provided both general practice and emergency medicine. It was in this position that I began mentoring pre-veterinary students and new graduate veterinarians. Providing mentorship has been a huge part of what has made my career so fulfilling.

In 2016, I also got involved with leadership in my local and state veterinary medical associations. I had missed having a leadership role and impacting the profession on a larger scale. I helped to found an alumni branch of the VBMA in 2018 and served on the alumni committee until 2021. I currently serve on the House of Delegates of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) as an alternate representative for Pennsylvania. These leadership roles have enriched my career and made me much more aware of profession-wide issues, developing policy in the profession, and how legislation affects the profession.

In 2018, I began freelance writing and speaking. This has become a huge part of my career and where I spend a lot of my time now. My focus areas are spectrum of care and mentorship. I’ll be publishing a Veterinary Mentorship Manual in late March 2023.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In late 2020, I was working full time as a general practice and emergency veterinarian, doing freelance writing and speaking on the side, and learning how to be a toddler mom. Early in the year, I had recognized that I was experiencing severe burnout in clinical practice. I knew I needed a change that would allow me to find better integration of my work and home life. At that time, I made the decision to move to part time clinical practice and focus more of my time on my freelance work and family. I knew that I didn’t want to leave practice entirely but wanted to give my freelance work the chance to become a significant portion of my income. I found the most fulfillment through my writing and speaking. I founded KMB Veterinary Media LLC in March 2021 and started a new job as a part time general practitioner. The change has been great for my mental health, my family, and my professional fulfillment. Two years later, I am able to travel frequently for conferences, provide webinars, write several columns and independent articles, and still spend some time in the clinic. I am going to publish my first E-book in late March 2023, The Veterinary Mentorship Manual.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Yes. I would choose veterinary medicine over and over again. Unfortunately, my feelings are not echoed by about 50% of my colleagues. For me, veterinary medicine has been fulfilling. But it can be a hard career. There are long hours, emotional and moral distress, and it is a customer service industry. I have been able to maintain my passion for the profession because I engage in work in the profession outside of the clinic. I want to improve the opinion of those in the profession and help guide future veterinarians in their decisions about the profession.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.writetheboat.com
• Instagram: @writetheboat
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/k.boatright.vmd
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kateboatrightvmd

Image Credits
Melissa Jackson Photography for the one with me writing