Episode Details

What happens when you achieve the things you thought would make your life successful—and still find yourself asking what comes next?

Katherine Ma grew up in Ohio, attended Emory University, and spent much of her career in consulting, including working at Bain & Company in New York. But the experience of achieving those conventional markers of success led her to question how she was defining a fulfilling life.

Today, Katherine is working at Planet 9 Studio, a venture studio that researches problems, develops solutions, and builds companies. Its first company and product is Neelo, a life-skills learning app designed for children, particularly around ages 5 to 10, with a focus on skills such as emotional regulation, resilience, communication, confidence, cooperation, and peer relationships.

In this conversation, Katherine explains why she believes the skills that matter most in everyday life aren’t always the ones we emphasize in school. We explore emotional regulation, relationships, resilience, self-understanding, curiosity, growth mindset, and why achievement can build confidence without necessarily answering every question about fulfillment.

Katherine also explains why Neelo focuses on giving children opportunities to practice social-emotional skills rather than simply being told about them, and how building Neelo changed her own definition of success.

For Katherine, success now involves growth, curiosity, believing that she can continue developing, and making room for relationships and other sources of fulfillment alongside career achievement.

Learn more about Neelo: https://www.tryneelo.com/getstarted

Thought Atlas listener offer: Katherine gives the code ATLAS20 for the first month free of a Neelo subscription.

Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn by searching Katherine Ma.

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