Kathryn Watts is a mixed martial arts for self-defense student, enthusiast, and teaching assistant. She helps teach classes to teenage girls in a mix of Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well as a children’s Self-Defense and Stranger Danger class. She also continues to study and is dedicated to spreading the joy and confidence that the discipline of martial arts can provide.

Off the mat, she is a science fiction writer and stay at home mom who still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. She has been an Athletic Ticket Office Clerk, a Business Continuity Intern, a Youth Ministry Coordinator, a Compliance Coordinator for a wealth management firm, a high school Spanish teacher, and a soccer coach. She also volunteers with a local chapter of an international organization for mothers of young children.

Kathryn might be the only native Mississippian to dislike sweet tea, but she loves the smell of magnolias and wearing pearls, so her fellow statesmen tend to forgive her. She resides with her husband, two sons, and a cranky but lovable Boxer.

She graduated summa cum laude from Mississippi State University with a B.B.A. and a B.A. in Spanish from the International Business Program. As a part of the program, she also studied abroad at la Universidad de Costa Rica in San José.

For fun, she enjoys reading, crocheting, loom knitting, and trying not to pass out at the gym. She is an avid sports fan, dedicated to Mississippi State athletics, the Atlanta Braves, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Memphis Redbirds, and Atlanta United.

Kathryn received an honorable mention in the inaugural Wonder Pitch competition and her writing has been featured on BlogHer, a subsidiary of SheKnows Media. You can find her on Twitter @KayeSwissWrites or on Instagram @kswatts.