Meet Kate Benjamin

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Benjamin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all owned businesses of some kind, so I guess it’s just in my blood. I had various jobs in academic administration, hospitality, and marketing throughout my 20s and 30s, several of which were for other small businesses, but I always had a creative side hustle. I sold beaded jewelry and handmade accessories at farmer’s markets, I designed greeting cards that I sold to local gift shops, I delivered elaborate candy bouquets to patients in hospitals, and I did a lot of freelance graphic design. I always excelled at my day job but I would become bored and cared much more about my own business ventures. I always asked myself, why am I working so hard for someone else’s benefit?

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Both my undergraduate and graduate education were in design — environmental design, visual communication design, and consumer product research & development. I have also always loved cats. These two passions, combined with my entrepreneurial spirit, lead me to create a rather unique career focused on cats and design.

In 2007 I was working as the Director of Marketing at Boon Inc, a company that designed and manufactured modern children’s products. It was at the peak of the mommy blogging era and I found myself working with these bloggers to create what ultimately became a multi-million dollar global brand. At that time there was a new focus in the US children’s product industry on stylish, innovative design that would make being a parent easier.

Being a proud childless cat lady myself with a background in design, I realized that the cat product industry needed a similar focus. One night I started a blog about cats and design and it took off. It really was the perfect storm, with blogging being a huge, mostly unregulated outlet and cats starting to take the spotlight. My public relations experience helped me get the word out about the blog and soon major media were contacting me. I was interviewed for The New York Times, USA Today, and CBS Sunday Morning even sent a film crew to my home.

Income from the blog grew to the point that I was able to leave my job at Boon and work on my business full time. I drew on my product development experience and started making handmade cat toys, beds and scratchers, which I sold at local markets and on Etsy.

Then along comes celebrity cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy and his show on Animal Planet “My Cat From Hell”. Jackson reached out to me and asked if we could work together because, as a cat behaviorist, he had clients who were hesitant to install cat shelves or add cat scratchers, litter boxes or beds because they were afraid their home would look like a crazy cat lady house. He felt that his behavior experience paired with my design background was the key to getting cat guardians to do what was needed to keep cats happy, healthy and well-behaved.

Everything started coming together. I could see that my business wasn’t just about making cool stuff for cats, but it was about helping people understand what cats need to live their very best lives, which improves the human-animal bond. It also made me think about cats, and animals in general, in a new way, developing a deeper compassion for these living creatures who we share our homes with. If we can have compassion for the animals we live with, then can’t we have compassion for all living beings?

Jackson and I co-authored two books “Catification” and “Catify to Satisfy”, which both became New York Times bestsellers. My business has expanded to include Catification consultations for both residential and commercial environments. I’ve designed a number of cat housing areas for animal shelters across the US as well as several cat cafes.

I also designed a line of cat products in partnership with Texas-based Primetime Petz and I continue to design handmade cat products that are sold on Etsy and in our online shop at shop.hauspanther.com along with other curated products from hand-selected manufacturers.

There have been many challenges over the years but I always remind myself that I absolutely love what I do and am so grateful that I can earn a living while celebrating my love of cats, busting the crazy cat lady stereotype, improving the human-cat bond, and hopefully making the world a better place for cats and the people who love them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ve lived in Phoenix since 1996 and I’m completely in love with the desert. One of the best places to take visitors is the Desert Botanical Garden to show off the breathtaking desert landscape.

We have so many fantastic vegan restaurants in the Phoenix area, we would have to eat at Green/Nami, Earth/Gogi Berry, The Coronado/Dark Hall, and Tacos Veganos.

A little shopping is in order at Strawberry Hedgehog Soap Shop & Vegan Boutique, where my business, Hauspanther, has a big display of products for cats and cat lovers and we could pick up some handcrafted vegan soaps with desert-inspired all natural scents.

And the highlight of the trip would be a visit to the Phoenix Cat Cafe! I had the pleasure of designing the cat spaces at the cafe in downtown Phoenix where people can go to grab a cup of coffee, hang out with cats, and maybe even adopt a new furry family member.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve been inspired by many people over the years but the late Paul Rothstein, one of my professors in graduate school at ASU, was particularly inspirational. He had so much confidence in my ability to get things done, he never questioned my ability and it made be believe I could do anything. His work also ingrained in me the idea of social entrepreneurship and the importance of starting a business that has at its core the goal of making a positive impact on the world.

Website: https://www.hauspanther.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hauspanther/

Twitter: https://x.com/hauspanther

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hauspanther

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hauspanther