Introducing Katie, Director of Social Enterprise
Katie B. Coffey was born-and-raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a Sherman Park and Washington Heights native, she grew up alongside the soap shop at 34th & Lisbon where her mother started a non-profit. After attending Pius XI High School, Katie went to John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. At JCU she was a part of the Arrupe Scholars program—a scholarship cohort for emerging social Justice leaders—and graduated with a business management degree. As an Arrupe Scholar Katie completed hundreds of service hours and a cultural-immersion experience in San Juan la Laguna, Guatemala which ultimately changed her entire career trajectory. After this experience Katie went on to study abroad in Madrid, Spain to get a hold of the Spanish language, immerse herself in other cultures, and walk El Camino alongside her father. It was on El Camino that Katie realized "business" wasn't her path (ha!) and shortly after she applied to The Jesuit Volunteer Corps' international service program.
After graduation, Katie went to Dodoma, Tanzania to serve as a volunteer for two years. She volunteered as a classroom teacher, assistant director of campus ministry, and lived in community with other volunteers. As Katie's time in Tanzania came to a close, she was unsure about what the future held. She wanted her next move to be a "step closer (in)to God" rather than another step on the corporate ladder. Again, she resisted business, enrolled in a dual-Masters degree at Loyola Chicago, and served as the Director of Campus Ministry at a local university.
As part of her formation at Loyola Chicago's Institute of Pastoral Studies Katie interned at Franciscan Peacemakers. She quickly fell in love with Friday mornings' candle lighting ceremony, laughing with the ladies, and working alongside Shelly in the marketing and communications world. After a year and a half of working as a general team member Katie is excited to join the Peacemaker family as the Director of the Social Enterprise. Katie says Franciscan Peacemakers "seems like a perfect intersection of my love for social justice, background in business, and desire to create a more just and loving world as God intended."
Today, Katie lives on the East Side with her partner, Tomás, and 3-month-old, Javi Finn. She will graduate from Loyola Chicago's Institute of Pastoral Studies this May (2022) with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Social Justice. In her free time Katie loves to walk their two dogs (Chu and Oso), cook for friends, explore the nooks and crannies of MKE, and thrift. "Thank you for welcoming me with open arms and open hearts, Peacemaker family!"
