Meet Katrina! Katrina Singletary is a Republican, fiscal conservative, and advocate for her local community. She has spent her career working for nonprofits and state & local government agencies. The last four years Katrina has managed the office of the City Council and currently the office of the Mayor for the City of Roswell. In 2017 she decided to return to school to earn her Masters in Public Policy and will graduate in May 2020.
Singletary Family by Kim Ali Photography
Katrina is a lifelong public servant. Since the age of 15, Katrina has been serving the communities and neighborhoods she lived in. In her twenties, she started a nonprofit to study a high school with high dropout rates and high teen pregnancy rates. Through the efforts of Shower of Hope Inc., state government agencies began the process of talking to one another to better serve this population of at-risk girls.
Katrina has been married to Michael, her college sweetheart for 15 years. Together they have three children and kinship foster two family members. Katrina and her family are members of Sojourn Community Church in Woodstock and reside in downtown Woodstock, Georgia.
Speaking with Katrina was a moving experience. Her passion for rooting down and investing in where she lives is contagious, and we really got a feel for her servant’s heart. We’re so excited to help you get to know her!
Q. What inspired you or led you to your current career?
A. I have been working in the public sector since I was a teenager. Serving in churches, food banks, colleges and even starting my own non-profit in my early 20’s. I cannot imagine having a job where I was not serving the public in some way. Working for a local municipality was a natural next step in my career. I love facilitating!
Q. What is your favorite restaurant in Woodstock, and what do you love there?
A. I love Freight Kitchen & Tap. Every single time I go I get the braised beef over collards and grits. Every single time. It’s so good!
Q. How long have you lived or worked in Woodstock?
A. We moved from Jacksonville, Florida to Georgia in 2011. Then we moved to the area six years ago. We left where we were from, but we finally found our home.
Q. Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Woodstock? Who would you like to see nominated as a Face of Woodstock?
A. This one’s easy because he’s the most interesting person I’ve met in my entire life. He lives above Fire Stone in one of those little apartments. He is in his eighties, and his name is Trevor Wright. He’s a sommelier and has also worked as a palace guard for the queen of England. He has climbed mountains and he–he’s done everything!
He recites poetry and just has the best sense of humor and lightheartedness. Even at his age, he loves getting to know new people and sharing his life experiences. He is a real gem for the Woodstock community
Q. If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?
A. Well, traveling was very important to me before I lived in Woodstock but now that we’re here, we’re always going, “Oh, we love leaving and we love coming home!” So it’s not such a big deal for us anymore.
If we were going to travel right now, it would be to Northern California, I have a friend who lives there. We would drive up the coast and visit her winery.
Q. What is your favorite movie OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theatre?
A. Well, we don’t watch a lot of TV, but I love the Anne of Green Gables series. It was so exciting when I finally found the whole series to purchase. I took a whole weekend with my daughters to watch them.
The first movie I remember seeing–probably because it was a thriller–was the first Jurassic Park. It was pretty scary! That’s probably why it sticks out.
Q. What advice would you give a crowd of people?
Singletary Family by Kim Ali Photography
A. I would say, be invested. Invest yourself in your community, in the IDEA of community. Invest in the notion that we get to control our attitudes, we get to control the person we present and what we’re putting into our community. Our attitude and energy is infectious. We get to create the place that we long to have… Which is Woodstock!
I seriously love this place so much, and it never ceases to amaze me that when other people visit they see the same things that I do. And that tells me that community is contagious, that kindness, respect, and all of the things that Woodstock is made of are contagious.
Q. What is something on your bucket list?
A. To write a book. I dabble in writing and I’m slightly dyslexic. It’s a struggle to believe in yourself, that you can put something on paper that sounds intelligent, and I’ve put that off for a long time.
When I decided to go back to graduate school to get my master’s in Public Policy, that was a mountain. It was my Mount Everest. I can’t tell you how big of a mountain that was to climb, knowing that I’d have to write a lot to get through Grad School. I had one professor stop me after class and said, “You actually know what you’re talking about. You can do this,” and that was all I needed.
Q. What is your favorite music/ 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?
A. As of right now, I love the Lone Bellow. I have a serious affection for Dolly Parton. Then there’s Fleetwood Mac.
Q. What current / former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Woodstock?
A. I am pretty nostalgic about Copper Coin just because so much happens there. I’ve studied hundreds of hours there. I’ve gone on dates there. I’ve taken kids there. If we’re going out and getting ice cream, we usually end up at Copper Coin because they want ice cream and I want coffee.
Q. Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative: with whom (dead or alive) would you love to have lunch? Why? Where in Woodstock would you have lunch?
A. Dead: definitely Abraham Lincoln. I am fascinated by that man. He used humor to diffuse situations, but he was willing and bold enough to stay at war for years over his convictions. And he attempted to compromise every step of the way. It’s very interesting how he used humor and the art of compromise to achieve a goal that he set, and I would love to talk to him about it.
I’d probably take him to the rooftop at Rootstock and Vine so we could look over downtown and I could explain to him where people gather and what we do.
Q. What is your favorite thing or something unique about Woodstock?
A. We love music. We love a good cover band and we attend every single concert. It doesn’t matter who you sit with, they will sing with you and you will be friends by the time you leave.
Q. Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
A. Raising my kids and not losing sight of how important family is. Making sure we stop to spend quality time together and make memories together. We are currently planning to do three weeks in an RV with five kids, which should be an adventure.
So traveling with them and staying true to who I am, no matter what that looks like–no matter what I’m doing!
Q. (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A. I am a government nerd. For fun, I read sidewalk plans, LCI plans, and growth plans. I love to study cities and the growth of cities; I find it fascinating. So I spend a lot of time studying city growth patterns, who’s coming in, who’s leaving, how much is being built, etc.
Q. What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
A. Chaos, laughter, and safe.
Q. If you went back in time to when you were a child and could spend more time doing something that you didn’t give yourself permission to do then, what would you do?
A. I have been working since I was fourteen years old. Even though I really enjoyed working, I think I would work a little less and do more things. I did not have a true high school experience, so I would try to do more things that I enjoy in my teenage years. I was in a hurry to grow up.
Q. If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose? Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, or Nanny?
A. Housekeeper! I’d pay for them to come every day!!
Katrina in Community
Katrina believes in “strong values for strong community” and is currently running for State Representative District 20. You can find more about her on her Facebook or on her website.
