Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Lemmert.
Hi Katie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been a graphic designer for more than 20 years, but it took me a long time to finally take the leap and work for myself.
At the beginning of 2020, I had decided I wanted to leave my full-time job and go all-in on my own graphic and web design business, Katie Did Design. And then I got scared. I had all the normal questions running through my head: Could I really make this work? Would I have enough clients? Was I crazy to walk away from a steady paycheck?
Then the pandemic happened.
When we were sent home from the office, I packed up my things with this very strong feeling that I was never going back. It certainly wasn’t the easiest time to start a business, and I was offered other jobs that would have given me more security. But I wanted to see if I could build something of my own.
So I stuck with it.
Katie Did Design grew into the business I had envisioned, allowing me to work directly with organizations and businesses on branding, websites, print, signage, campaigns, and other creative projects. I especially love work that has a connection to community and helps organizations communicate who they are and the impact they’re making.
But something else was happening during that same period that I never predicted.
Like a lot of people during the pandemic, I was overwhelmed, isolated and spending too much time doomscrolling. One day, I came across a live breathwork session. The facilitator essentially said, “If you’d like to lie down and breathe – please join us.”
And I remember thinking, *Yes. That is literally all I want to do right now.*
So I did.
I was completely blown away by what I experienced simply through my breath: the physical sensations, emotions, release, and the feeling of being more connected to my body. I was hooked.
In 2021, I went to a breathwork training at the Omega Institute because I wanted to deepen my own practice. At the time, I had absolutely no intention of becoming a facilitator. I was doing it for myself.
I was also attending sound baths pretty regularly and began thinking about how naturally breathwork and sound seemed to complement one another. That curiosity eventually took me to Atma Buti Sound and Vibrational School in Boulder, Colorado, where I trained with Himalayan singing bowls and came home with my first set of bowls.
From there, I kept learning. I added more instruments, more training, and eventually began facilitating experiences for other people. What had started as something I desperately needed during an overwhelming period of my own life slowly became something I wanted to share.
That eventually grew into my second business, Sound Body + Breath, where I now offer breathwork, sound baths, private sessions, retreats, and experiences for businesses and community organizations.
As I look back, neither business began because I had everything perfectly mapped out. Katie Did Design began because I finally decided to bet on myself during one of the most uncertain periods any of us had experienced. Sound Body + Breath grew from something more personal: a desire to share practices that had helped me feel more grounded, connected, and at home in myself.
Both businesses started with a leap of faith, a willingness to follow what felt meaningful, and the belief that I could figure things out along the way.
Today, the two businesses may look very different from the outside, but to me they’re connected and creative in different ways. My design work is about helping people and organizations communicate who they are and bring their ideas into the world. My breathwork and sound practice is about helping people step away from all the noise for a little while and reconnect with themselves.
Both have taught me a lot about creativity, courage, community, and trusting the next step even when I can’t see the entire path ahead.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t always been a smooth road, especially in the beginning. I had been a designer for a long time, so I knew how to do the creative work. What I didn’t know was how to run a business.
I started without much of a business community around me and had to figure out how to find clients, price my work, write proposals, manage invoices, market myself, and handle all the other pieces that come with being self-employed.
Pricing was one of the hardest things at first. I wanted the work, and I didn’t want to price myself out of opportunities, but I also had to learn to value my experience and charge enough to actually sustain a business. That took time and confidence, and I am still learning.
The first few years felt like a rollercoaster. There were periods when I had plenty of work, followed by stretches when things suddenly got really quiet. That feast-or-famine cycle can be emotionally exhausting when you’re the person responsible for bringing in every project and every dollar.
Over time, I’ve gotten much better at trusting those cycles. I’ve built a stronger network and community, learned how to price my work more confidently, and created systems that make the business side much easier to manage. I still have moments when things feel uncertain, but I don’t panic the way I did in the beginning.
One of the biggest lessons has been realizing that running your own business requires a completely different skill set than being good at the thing your business actually does. I’m still learning, but I’ve become much more comfortable with that part of entrepreneurship.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve been a graphic designer for more than 20 years, and through Katie Did Design I work with businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations to help them tell their stories visually. My work includes branding and logo design, websites, print and digital campaigns, brochures, maps, signage, interpretive graphics, and large-scale environmental design. I like the variety – if I niche’d down to only one thing, I think I would be bored or burnt out.
I think what I’m most known for is being able to look at the bigger picture. I’m not interested in just making something look good. I want to understand who you are, who you’re trying to reach, and what you actually need the design to accomplish. Sometimes a client comes to me asking for one thing, and through conversation we realize there’s a bigger problem we need to solve.
Some of the work I’m most proud of is the work I’ve done around Richmond. I love projects where design becomes part of a place or helps people better understand and connect with their community. I’ve worked on maps, interpretive signage, public-space graphics, environmental projects, and materials for organizations doing meaningful work throughout the city. There’s something really satisfying about walking or biking around Richmond and seeing something I designed out in the world being used by people.
I also really enjoy working with small businesses and organizations that are still figuring out how to communicate who they are or want to get an idea out of their head and into reality. I can help someone develop a logo and visual identity and then carry that through a website, signage, print materials, or a campaign. Because I’ve worked across so many areas of design over the years, I’m able to think about how all of those pieces work together rather than treating them as separate projects.
Over the last several years, my professional life has expanded beyond design as well. I started Sound Body + Breath, where I facilitate breathwork, sound baths, private sessions, retreats, and experiences for businesses and community groups. On the surface, it might seem completely different from graphic design, but I’ve realized that creativity is really at the center of both.
I love creating experiences, whether that means designing something someone sees and interacts with or creating a space where someone can slow down, breathe, listen, and reconnect with themselves.
I’m proud that I’ve built a professional life that doesn’t fit neatly into one box. For a long time, I thought I needed to choose one identity or one path. Now I see that the different parts of my work can coexist. They’re all expressions of creativity, curiosity, connection, and my desire to make something meaningful for the people and communities around me.
What are your plans for the future?
I want to keep learning and growing: in business, in community, in life, in relationships, in love, and within myself spiritually. I don’t necessarily have one big destination I’m working toward. I want to stay curious and open to where work and life takes me, while continuing to build something that feels meaningful and sustainable.
With Sound Body + Breath, I’m excited to keep building community and introducing more people to breathwork and sound. These practices have had a transformative impact on my own life, and I love being able to create spaces where other people can experience them, whether that’s through a sound bath, breathwork session, retreat, or workshop.
And I want to continue showing up for my Katie Did Design clients and doing creative work that I’m proud of. I’ve spent more than 20 years as a designer, and I still love the process of taking an idea, a story, or even a complicated problem and figuring out how to communicate it visually.
More than anything, I want to keep building a life where there is room for all of it: meaningful work, creativity, community, adventure, relationships, rest, and continued growth. I’m less interested these days in having everything figured out and more interested in staying present, paying attention, and being open to what comes next.
Pricing:
- Logo Packages start at 2555
- Corporate Wellness Events start at $500
- 1:1 Private Sessions start at $222
- Public wellness class rates are typically $25-65 per person
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.katiediddesigner.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiediddesigner/ , https://www.instagram.com/soundbodybreath/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Katiediddesigner
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katielemmert/
- Other: https://www.soundbodybreath.com/
