A mother, educator, and breast cancer survivor, Katy Tessman aims to help families find strength, courage, and optimism.
Minnesota author, Katy Tessman named "Changemaker" by the Minnesota Women's Press, has written a book for children about breast cancer Our Mama Is A Beautiful Garden.
Katy has fought the battle of her life and won. Finishing the fight with children who stayed optimistic gave her the courage to have confidence in being victorious. Inspired by Katy's battle, artist Barbara Porwit created a larger-than-life painting of Katy as Wonder Woman for her Breast Cancer Superheroes portrait series. Katy is passionate about literacy. Since 2012, Katy has been the volunteer director of the summer reading program for Gatewood Elementary in Hopkins Schools called Book Buddies. |
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Music has always taken center stage in Katy Tessman's life. Growing up in the Twin Cities, Katy sang in choirs and musicals. After graduating from Minnesota State University-Moorhead in 1992 with a B.A. in Speech Communication (and a resume of roles in several musical theatre productions), Katy picked up the guitar, and later the mandolin, and started songwriting. In 1998, Katy recorded a CD of 11 original songs. Before becoming a mother in 2003, and again in 2006, Katy went on two national tours. Katy thoroughly enjoyed taking Music Together classes with her two sons when they were young. So much so, she is was a teacher from 2012-2015. Motherhood changed the focus of Katy's music-making and she now performs annual "classroom concerts" for her boys' classmates. At their home in Minnesota, Katy and her family make all kinds of music together.
