Kathy brings over 25 years of real-world experience as a singer to her thriving teaching practice. She has enjoyed a long performance career in the San Francisco music scene. As a lead singer in one of the Bay Area’s most sought-after party bands, she has performed before thousands at corporate events worldwide, opening for acts like Sheryl Crow, Donna Summer, and Tony Bennett.
As a backup singer, she has performed with Bonnie Raitt, Elvin Bishop, Ronnie Spector (The Ronettes), Eddie Money, Bill Spooner (The Tubes), and Al Jardine (The Beach Boys). Kathy has also shared the stage with members of Santana, Tower of Power, Chris Isaak, and the Steve Miller Band. She also toured with Starship, featuring Mickey Thomas, singing lead and backup.

Kathy began teaching voice, in addition to performing, in 1996. Remembering her first experiences with voice teachers who couldn’t show her how to sing high notes easily, she went on a mission to find more balanced and effective ways of singing. After years of searching and practicing, she found great tools and practical ways to get her voice to blend and mix. She decided she wanted to share these great technical tools with other singers and teachers to promote not only great singing but also great voice teaching around the world.

She started studying with Seth Riggs and was asked to join a small eight-person team of Master Teachers of his technique in 2007. Now a Master Teacher and co-founder of IVA, she has trained voice teachers and taught public workshops in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.

She greatly enjoys working with people of all levels of development. As a teacher, Kathy has an incredible ability to meet each student at their level and tailors lessons to her students’ particular issues to help them reach their goals. She can quickly analyze a voice and get it functioning better. Her students rave about how she has helped them develop the technical skills they need to feel confident. Whether her students are total beginners or seasoned pros, she helps singers understand how the voice works and how to get the most out of it.