We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Cook. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.

Katie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I have never been asked this question in an interview. Eventually it comes up later when people learn I have 7 siblings, but I love it! Both of my parents are from huge families and that gave them a tenacity to get things done that they have instilled in all 8 of us. They made us a team, and still approach life with a “we” mentality. None of us were more special than the other. They were excellent examples of proverb, “love never runs out”. I believe my parents thrived as models for the framework for what I do now in Foster Fit. My parents don’t stop giving. I woke up regularly to people sleeping on coaches or even the floor on Saturday morning because if someone needed a safe place to crash, because there was always room, and likely pancakes cooking in the morning too. My mom taught me to see the value and to champion others right where they are at. She still loves people in a way that lets them see their own worth and I like to think that spilled over into how our family is expected to treat others. Not to be outdone, the best lesson my dad ever taught me was that a leader never asks his team to do something he wouldn’t do himself. I have found success with every venture I have had and it is because I can’t be outworked and no job is below me. They taught us how to love people, so there has never been a reason to belittle or devalue them and that will take you far in anything you do.

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?

Yes, of course! My name is Katie Cook and I currently serve at Vice President for Foster Fit, a non-profit that matches foster youth and those aging out of a system with community and health by way of crossfit scholarships. My background and education has been in professional sports, event marketing, partnership sales, coaching, national sales, but most recently as a foster and adoptive mother and personal trainer.

I first heard about Foster Fit through my gym when they put on a lifting competition back during the pandemic. As a foster and adoptive mom the mission was close to my heart and because my own children experienced the benefits of crossfit during those first fostering years, the relationship with the organization grew and grew. Fast forward and I am now working with Foster Fit where I am charged with supporting our vision through both outreach and matching applicants with crossfit gyms and memberships.

The biggest barrier to what we are doing has been education. No matter how much the research has proven the need for exercise to balance mood, brain chemistry, confidence and health, it isn’t the priority it needs to be and most of the time people, especially youth and caregivers, feel like it is too difficult to obtain. That is where the idea for hosting events for local foster and adoptive teens came in. I had the opportunity to partner with a lululemon Knox/Hendersen to host a summer series and bring local teens into the store where they got to experience and crossfit-style class while also being loved on by the amazing store team. All of these kids are either in foster care right now, have aged out, or have been adopted. Since that series, we have been able to partner with some incredible organizations including: Adaptive Training Foundation, The Alchemy Yoga, Black Swan Yoga, Mental Giants Crossfit, Pwr Lift, Shoreline City Church, and have even hosted a Field Day with lululemon and their ambassadors by way of the community foundations lead, Iman Wilkerson.

Through these events we are able to set the table for those that have felt forgotten. The events give us the opportunity to educate youth and their caregivers on our mission while also offering them an experience they will never forget. Each session I begin by asking everyone something they like about themselves, and after all of the sweating and laughing I ask them if they had fun and if they did something hard today. We have worked with hundreds of kids and I have yet to not receive a yes for the last two questions. In a very real way I watch people’s lives changed and impacted in a significant way each time and that is worth more than gold. Then we work to have those who participate apply for our scholarship so that they can continue to have this type of intentionality poured into them year round.

Foster Fit is fully funded by donations and is made up of a board that have all been impacted by the system in one way or another. We know that the system is broken, but we understand that a broken system does not mean broken children. 80% of incarcerated people were in the foster system. We aim to change that statistic one extraordinary life at a time.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I know that it would make sense for my experience of being a foster mom would be the easy answer here, but it has actually been each “impossible” thing I have had the gift of going through, and how it’s grown me.

Perhaps the most impactful was when I was in college. I had a massive injury playing for my school soccer team that was significant enough I was told I wouldn’t run again. I had dozens of doctors give up on me and that resulted in me learning that someone else’s “end of the road” is just the start of a harder and more rewarding climb. I thought I had lost everything. 18 months later I completed my first marathon. It was a hugely valuable lesson to learn. People have a lot of quit in them if you encourage it, but they can also reach heights they never dreamed of if given the opportunity. Since then, hard things have never stopped, but by the grace of God, fighting through them hasn’t either. I will push people the extra 20% they don’t know they have in them, because I know that if I can do hard things, so can they. It is not just talk. I have seen breakthroughs in the dozens and dozens of youth I have worked with. They all know if I say “today is going to be hard…” they respond back with “…but I can do hard things”. Voluntarily doing hard things sets you up to do the involuntarily hard things better.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

No one else is doing it. Our founder, an adoptee himself, saw the need and decided he should do something about it. He brought a group of people across the nation together that have the same drive he does and organizations and people we work with know where really have been where they are so they can count on us.

Personally, what makes me successful with working with the foster system or supporting it in general is seeing the potential in the “broken” parts of it. I know from personal experience that if given attention, anything can be healed stronger than it was originally. We all see the brokenness of the system; it’s such a large fracture and so many pieces. That can discourage anyone. My training as a foster parent has given me the knowledge for that side of our work that involves planning and connecting with the network and systems. My experience as an athlete, as a parent, and as someone who has experienced both worthlessness and redemption has been the most helpful for my success and why we get to see kids understand they are valuable, worthy, and strong.

This is not one man band. It takes a village. We have volunteer coaches and trainers from all walks of life that have stepped up and stood in the gap to support these amazing young people. Their “yes” and the yes of the Foster Fit team make all of this possible.

If any one is the DFW wants to catch our last event check out our social media! We will be at The Alchemy Yoga for a foster parent and caregiver event thanks to the amazing Ayako DeRuby on December 9th or Foster Fits virtual burpee challenge happening all next month.

Contact Info:

• Website: fosterfit.org
• Instagram: @motherhoodandthefword @fosterfit
• Facebook: FosterFit Community
• Linkedin: Foster Fit
• Other: We have two more events coming up with both lululemon x Black Swan Yoga and The Alchemy Yoga in Frisco. For details check out our Instagram!

Image Credits
Mollie Youree, Madie Rose Photography, and Dean Xu