Kati was enjoying a rewarding opera career when she decided in 2019 to move on so she could build a more stationary life and put down roots. Having had some experience as an executive assistant, she was able to get a full-time job as an EA working at The New York Times in their advertising division. While there, she had the opportunity to expand her skill set by learning about the advertising industry and taking courses in project management, which led to rising to her current position as Senior Program Manager at T Brand Studio, The New York Times’ in-house advertising studio.

Timing is everything - making the decision to transition away from opera singing less than a year before the start of a global pandemic. Being prepared -  interviewing well and landing a job at the New York Times in a space looking for talent that could grow. Making the most of your opportunities - turning an assistant role into a manager role in two years.

“When I left opera, I canceled every contract I had lined up,” Richer said. “I realized that my dreams when I was eighteen didn’t line up with the future I wanted as an adult. The opera lifestyle was no longer the right fit for me, even though I was finding some success there. When I saw that NYT had a listing for an EA it felt like a very good fit, and I applied a week after I quit opera, and I got the job pretty immediately. So I started working at the Times.”

Kati was having more than a little success in opera. After performing on the stage at St. Andrew’s, she matriculated to Carnegie Mellon where she earned a Bachelors of Fine arts in Classical Voice/Opera. She added a Masters from the Mannes Conservatory and began performing in productions such as Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung,” among other productions.

“Richie Porter was a huge mentor for me,” Richer said “As a lead in both “Urinetown” and then “Pirates of Penzance,” Mr. Porter spent endless hours helping me stage things, figuring out how to find my own artistic voice, and becoming really comfortable on stage, making impromptu decisions. He was a huge part of that coaching.”

While Kati hasn’t utilized her vocal talents in her career’s second act, she does credit it with helping her in several different ways. For one thing, as someone who was self-employed, she already had a lot of organizational skills that translated well to being an executive assistant. In addition, she had French and Italian language skills from her opera career and her boss at the time was working with a number of agencies in those countries. And as she moved into her current role in marketing and advertising, she has been able to draw a different skill set from her singing days.

“As an opera singer, you’re running your own business. Basically, you’re marketing yourself,and you are the product that you’re selling out in the world,” Richer said. “ And in running your own business as an opera singer, you have to be extremely organized, responsible, flexible, prepared and professional. Additionally, both opera and advertising require creativity -  there’s a lot of overlap.”

In her role at T Brand Studio, she helps create digital, audio, video, and print advertising that feels native and organic to The New York Times. “The teams I oversee are creatives who come up with concepts for advertisements and campaigns that align with different clients' needs. Once we win that client over, we produce ads for them utilizing all types of creatives: artists, designers, photographers, voice actors, and editors. It's fun and it’s always different.”

Kati had a lot of changes recently - her mother Teri Benson who many knew as a very active St. Andrew’s parent passed away in April 2024. In much happier news, Kati became a mother herself in October 2024 as she and her husband Sam welcomed their first child, Henry. If her son is anything like her, he will undoubtedly have good timing, always be prepared, and make the most of his opportunities.