An Alternative Career

Kate L. Harrison, '08

Kate L. Harrison (’08) is an author, a communications and marketing expert, a consultant, a business owner, an entrepreneur, and a graduate from Pace Law and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

At Pace, Kate was a member of the Pace Environmental Law Review and participated in the federal judicial honors program. “In addition to amazing, knowledgeable and dedicated professors like Professor Ann Powers (who taught me how to accurately calculate effluent levels) and Professor Don Doernberg (who turned civil procedure into one of my favorite classes with his enthusiasm for the topic), Pace had so much to offer in terms of experiential learning. Through the judicial externship program, I was able to work directly with Judge Stefan Underhill and see what clerking was like. The Pace network also connected me one summer with Sive, Paget, & Riesel, a boutique environmental law firm in New York, where I was able to experience life in private practice.”

While still a student at Pace, Kate was hard at work writing what would become a best-selling green wedding book, The Green Bride Guide. From there, she went on to found the leading green wedding website in the country. “It was something I was extremely passionate about. Once I started planning my own wedding, and wanted to do so sustainably, I realized there were few resources to help me. From there, I started writing the book and developing the website.”  After helping over 2 million brides “go green” – Kate sold the company to mywedding.com in 2014. “I still run a green wedding professional certification class and am still extremely passionate about green wedding planning. It is the country’s first Green Wedding Professional Certification Course administered online and at colleges throughout the United States. ”

Currently, Kate runs a branding and marketing firm, Kate L. Harrison Consulting, offering communication, branding and content marketing services to sustainable businesses, startups, nonprofits and government organizations. “Green technology and going green remain passions of mine. In everything I do, I have in mind the most sustainable way to do it. I like to work on projects that make the world better in some tangible way.”

Most recently, Kate collaborated with her father, Henry S. Harrison, who is a leading Real Estate author in the country.  Kate’s father, Henry, previously wrote a book called Houses: The Illustrated Guide to Construction, Design and Systems. “Given the current trends, I thought it would be fun to make a coloring book out of my father’s original book to bring the content to a younger and wider audience. As a result, we just released the first edition, which covers Early American and Victorian homes. The name of the book is Houses, Houses, Houses Coloring Book: Vol. 1: Early American Styles. We designed the book with a variety of audiences in mind, from real estate professionals, to house lovers, to architecture students, homebuyers, and individuals looking for a fun and unique house-warming gift.”

As a “non-traditional” law graduate, in terms of her career, Kate values her law degree and it has benefitted her tremendously as an entrepreneur.  “While I ended up pursuing an entrepreneurial path after law school instead of practicing, I still credit Pace with really teaching me how to dissect problems and lay out logical step-by-step solutions, which is a process I use daily as a branding and marketing consultant. My clients, like plaintiffs, often come to me with a messy story and a rough idea of what they need and my job is to look at the overall picture, their goals, and the marketplace and advise them on what I think their best course of action is. I love the work and appreciate the tools Pace gave me to do it.”

Kate lives in Southern Maryland with her husband Barry and their two children, Sterling (age 6) and Clio (age 3). In her free time, she enjoys baking, painting, exploring new business ventures, traveling, and Zumba. Kate’s advice for future law students? “Explore your passions and lead a balanced life.”