Prairie Portraits is a weekly set of questions intended to help the community get to know someone from the Silicon Prairie startup scene a little bit better. Prairie Portraits feature a fixed set of questions ranging from career background and personal perferences to, perhaps, off-the-wall questions on YouTube videos and entrance music.
Name: Katie Robbins
Title/Occupation: Head of Happiness at Sculpt
Age: 28
Hometown: Lone Tree, Iowa
Current city: Iowa City, Iowa
Twitter: @headofhappiness
Personal
Title of my autobiography: “smARTistic but distractable”
Thing I can’t live without: Sleep. Music. Good conversations. Color.
Drink of choice: Arnold Palmer
Last book I read: Honestly? “The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women.” What I would rather say: “Succulent Wild Woman“
Ultimate road trip snack: Water, water, water and Teriyaki beef jerky. Yummy!
Entrance song if I was a wrestler: Jill Scott’s “Golden.”
Celebrity doppelgänger: Marie Stuart Masterson (supposedly)
Guilty pleasure band and/or film: The “the dream” is such a terrible/wonderful artist. I will watch Twister pretty much any time it’s on. And if you decide to include games, I’d say Bully or The Warriors on PS2.So fun!
Chosen career in an alternate reality: Travel photographer or Madonna, er…a big time entertainer singer/dancer, maybe on Broadway.
Worst OCD tendency: Simply the belief that everything MUST have a place.
Quote I might have said: “Take care of you”
Which actor or actress, and why: Voice Actor: Roy Dotrice—his gritty inflection and perhaps the presence of spittle?
Favorite YouTube video: Elizabeth Gilbert gives a great talk about creativity. It’s a TED video, but I’ve got nothing else. That’s the one.
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Local
Best place in Iowa City no one knows about: Other than my hammock, I’d say Her Soup Kitchen is worth your time.
Iowa City’s obligatory tourist stop: The Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. If you come in the winter, I just feel sorry for you.
One thing Iowa City has that other Silicon Prairie cities don’t: World class literature, progressive thinking about ecology, an enclave of highly educated artists of all kinds, great bike trails and the Hawkeyes. Oh, plus great events like the Iowa Soul Festival and Creative Week. Other than all of that, nothing. We’re just another tasty slice of the Heartland.
Best thing going for Iowa City’s startup community: ICAD. Bless them. (Which implies a blessing for all of their collaborative partners, too: Kirkwood Community College, JPEC, CBJ, Diversity Focus, Seed Here Studios, etc.)
Last local restaurant I ate at: Thai Flavors
Best meal I’ve had in Iowa City: The Culinary Ride—all of it.
Iowa City would be better if… there was no winter! If not that, then an outdoor skating rink, a stronger R&B/soul/Hip-Hop music scene and more Gluten-free quick food options.
The Startup Scene
Social media pet peeve: Intriguing pins that lead to nothing. GAH!
App I’m obsessed with: VocalEase (a warm-up app) and HI-Q MP3 recorder (for songwriting, thoughts, etc.)
Silicon Prairie startup crush: Amanda Styron
Most comfortable startup T-shirt I own: Sculpt’s shirts are the softest. For real. I’m not tooting my own horn. My hope for Midwest startups is that we all STOP PRINTING ON GREY SHIRTS! We are so much more interesting and bold than that. Find a color that speaks to you. Own it. Love it.
Something most people don’t know about me: I have a sense of humor. If I’m not laughing, then it is not that I am too serious. It is that you are not that funny.
Entrepreneur I most want to grab a drink with: Myself. Is that terrible? Startup life needs to include some quiet time, too. (The ones who I would’ve listed are those that I already have daily access to because of working at the ICColab).
I do what I do because… I love making things. I love brainstorming and jamming. Improv is what keeps me sane. Not improv in the “winging it” sense, but improv in the compositional improvisation sense. We have a framework, we have the materials at hand and we get to respond and play, and hopefully solve a problem, which is my second love. That is joy. Joy is my job. Head of Happiness, right?
Before I was in startups… I was in terrible, terrible jobs. Not really—they’ve all played into the skill set that supports me on the daily at Sculpt. But I do not miss them… Okay, I do miss the yoga.
If money wasn’t an object, my next company would be… A bamboo underwear company. So breathable. Best fabric on Earth.
The Silicon Prairie startup scene is missing… more video game companies.
In five years, I’ll… be doing the work culture thing and loving it (and taking photos of loving it).
In five years, the Silicon Prairie… is going to be really different. Look around. Things are changing/growing at a rapid rate. So exciting! I can’t wait to see big businesses like the UIHC as they start supporting their workers and their work environments in a more human-centric way—look at ACT right now. In five years, I think we’re really going to see the impact of our workplace (r)evolution.
Credits: Photo courtesy of Robbins.
