We recently connected with Katie Burkholder and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with important influences in our lives. Is there a historical figure you look up to?

Beyond trying to emulate her writing style — concise, clear, and accessible while still being thoughtful — I am inspired by bell hooks’ philosophy, especially the thoughts she outlines in her book “All About Love.” In this book, she explores how to live and lead with love as an action instead of a feeling, and I strive to work with this kind of active love in mind. I love my writing, the community I serve, and the writers I lead. I do my best to be conscientious about exploitation and avoid disrespecting their work, time, or humanity. For leading my team, this looks like being understanding with deadline extensions when necessary, giving time off when needed, and clearly expressing my admiration of and appreciation for their work.

Katie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Katie Burkholder, I am the editor of Georgia Voice, an LGBTQ publication based in Atlanta. We publish two print and online issues every month, each based around a theme catered to the LGBTQ community. I first got involved with Georgia Voice during my sophomore year at Georgia State. I received an email from my department head about an internship opportunity with the publication and was accepted. A couple months later, the editor at the time hired me part-time as the digital media manager and from there, rose the ranks to become editor when I graduated from college in 2021.

I am immensely proud of my work with Georgia Voice not only because I worked hard to receive the position I have, but because I care so deeply about the LGBTQ community and Atlanta, and I feel so honored to be able to interview interesting and inspiring people in the community, write about topics I care about, and ultimately create a magazine that serves as a touchstone for Atlanta’s LGBTQ community. I know creating community that’s rooted in a physical place — not just existing in the digital work — is hard, and I hope Georgia Voice can act as a tool to help people create that real-life community.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to give people the opportunity to see themselves reflected in my work. To have the ability to craft a story is a skill, one not everyone has — and those who do often don’t have the platform I am lucky to — and everyone deserves to have their story told authentically. This is especially important for the LGBTQ community as rampant misinformation and dehumanizing narratives continue to spread.

One of the greatest compliments I have ever been given was from the subject of an article I wrote in 2021 about his personal
history as a gay Atlantan. He wrote me after the story was published to tell me that he found it “amazing” that I could “take someone’s thoughts and bring it to clarity for readers to absorb.” Three years later, I still haven’t forgotten that compliment because that is exactly what I try to do with my work: allow someone whose story in their own eyes may be fragmented to see it reflected back to them clearly and truely.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I began my career as a writer, I was young, sensitive, and afraid of disappointing people. When I was given one of my first paid assignments at Georgia Voice, I made a big mistake: I hadn’t known how to write the article I was assigned and ended up taking a lot from other sources without doing my own interviews. When I submitted the article, my editor told me as much, and I was crushed. I had a full-on emotional breakdown, absolutely convinced I was destined for failure in this position. That was obviously not the truth, and I hadn’t even failed in that moment, as I was able to fix the mistake before going to publication.

A few years later, I received more disappointment and backlash as editor, this time from the leader of an organization people in the community had problems with, which I wrote about. The organization’s leader sent me an email expressing how disappointed she was in the reporting, which she thought was poorly done. Again — albeit on a smaller scale — I freaked out, horrified that I had done a bad job and would be reprimanded or worse by my publisher. In reality, my publisher took my side and made amends by publishing an interview with her about the situation so her side could be represented. I was not in trouble, I was not fired, I had simply done something someone did not approve of — which is inevitable in this and many other creative industries.

As I have become more comfortable with my work, I have unlearned the need for perfection. Mistakes are going to happen, you are going to do something someone doesn’t like. It is never the end of the world, and more often than not you will move on without things ever being detrimentally hurt by whatever mistake you made.

Contact Info:

• Website: thegavoice.com/author/kburkholder2/
• Instagram: @katie.burkholder
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-burkholder-10259a179/

Image Credits
Marching in pride parade: Photo by Katie Burkholder Pride booth: Photo by Katie Burkholder Grand marshals: Photo courtesy of Atlanta Pride