Kate Morningstar Bednarski MS, MLA, CSD
Creator, 5 Stepping Stones Transpersonal Coach, Interfaith Spiritual Director & Shamanic Practitioner
In a word, my mission or calling is transformation…and in a sentence I guide those called through personal awakening to their True Selves.
I apply an array of tools in assisting your evolution, expansion and emergence. I thereby support you to create greater personal meaning and fulfillment.
The Sanctuary Shed and Fire Circle
The Sanctuary serves as my homebase located in the forested foothills of the coastal mountains north of Portland, OR.
MY STORY
Raised in Delaware, the second smallest of the United States, I grew up with dreams of becoming a doctor. Destiny would take me on alternate paths.
I enjoyed a diverse work history including 20+ years in corporations as a sports biomechanist for Converse where I developed the first true women’s running shoe last (the form used to construct shoes on that most affects the fit of a shoe); a brand marketing executive transforming and growing several successful women’s brands including Keds, Walmart and Ryka, as its President.
And as the Women's Global Business Director at Nike I led NIKE’s move from #3 to the top women’s athletic brand in the world while making NIKE "a more profitable and caring company” as noted by Judy Rosener in her book America’s Competitive Secret.
Nike Women’s Ads
"The rest is history, Bednarski's ads won numerous awards and were the talk of the advertising community. Today Nike is perceived as a firm that cares about women. If she hadn't argued for changing its corporate agenda, Nike might be less profitable today."
- Judy Rosener
I left the executive suite for good years ago and founded 5 Stepping Stones, both my company and a path for discovering one’s True self and right work. Complementing experience I gained as a business executive, I earned an MS in Biomechanics @Northeastern University, an MLA in Creation Spirituality @Naropa University and a Certificate in Interfaith Spiritual Direction @ CHI, The Chaplaincy Institute Interfaith Seminary and certification as Psychedelic Integration Coach @ Fireside Project.
Interspersed within those years of education and work I sought adventures to expand mySelf. I made pilgrimage to sacred sites in the Holy Land, Thailand, Europe and beyond. I served in hospitality ministry at Franciscan and Buddhist retreat centers; trained as a chef staging in top San Francisco restaurant kitchens and spent years apprenticing with shamans/curanderas in South America. All unplanned unknown gifts that came from following my heart and inner guidance. I AM GRATEFUL.
I am at once deeply connected to the Earth and the cosmos as I follow my path with a gracious open heart. South American Quechuan; Taino; Mayan/Nagual; American Indian and indigenous sacred plant medicine traditions and initiations; the Red Road, Buddhist meditation and sound/vibrational energy healing coalesce to inform who I AM and how I serve which evolves continually.