The Poet’s Rebellion: Kate Harris on Finding Your Voice and Redefining Strength

What if the thing that makes you the most alive is exactly the thing you’ve spent your whole life being told to quiet down? And what happens when you finally decide the world can misunderstand you, as long as you no longer misunderstand yourself? In this episode of The Better Mindset Podcast, I sit down with my dear friend and mentor, Kate Harris, managing partner of Istoria, author of The Poet’s Rebellion: A Willful Defiance of the Status Quo, and host of Rebel Poets Rising. Kate and her husband, Harris III, have worked together for more than twenty years, building Istoria and producing Story Gatherings. Kate also spends her days helping everyone from freelancers to Fortune 100 companies uncover the stories and language sitting just beneath the surface. This conversation is especially meaningful to me because we originally recorded it shortly after The Poet’s Rebellion came out (in April of 2025). In the time since, Kate has become even more woven into my own story. Through Istoria Studio, she helped spearhead the structure and flow of The Better Mindset until it became the book you’re about to hold. Together, we explore what happens when we stop building our lives around who the world expects us to be and start remembering who we’ve been all along. We talk about nålbinding, an ancient Viking stitching technique, and the powerful metaphor it offers for the stories we stitch into ourselves. We explore alchemy, vulnerability, being underestimated, stepping out of the shadows, generational healing, partnership, parenting, education, and what it means to build a life that is both fierce and gentle. This episode is also arriving during Story 2026—the same week The Better Mindset book launches—and I love that these stories are entering the world side by side. In this episode, we explore: Your power may not be something you need to find—it may be something you need to remember.  Vulnerability can be a form of strength. It isn’t too late to choose yourself. Connect with Kate: Istoria: istoria.com Story: istoria.com/story Instagram: instagram.com/katemharris Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rebel-poets-rising/id1800835227 Book: amazon.com/Poets-Rebellion-Willful-Defiance-Status-ebook/dp/B0G24J47KX