Katja obtained her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University and started her career working for BBDO Hamburg. In 1995, she moved to Los Angeles where she founded Bellybutton, a trendy maternity wear company which she successfully sold ten years later. Katja then went on to develop and produce the German feature film 'Frau Ella’ for Warner Brothers in 2013 and still has a number of television shows in development for producer/distributor Tobis Film, Berlin. In 2018, she obtained her master’s degree in gerontology from the University of Southern California. At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Katja is involved in everything related to communication and media.