Katoya Raquell Palmer

A life lived in thought, taste & presence.

Writer, systems strategist, and maker. I move between the boardroom and the kitchen, the essay and the breath — and I build things that help people see clearly and live well.

Get to know me → Read the journal
Katoya Palmer
LOUISIANA-BORN  ·  Pacific Northwest
The throughline

One person, three appetites.

Thought

How systems hold — or fail.

Commentary, storytelling, and the operating mind behind two decades of leadership. Where ideas become infrastructure.

  • Five Windows into a Fragile Economy
  • ToyBox Consulting & Management
Taste

Eating well, on purpose.

From restaurant tables to my own kitchen and garden — eating well, cooking in, and the rituals of a life lived deliciously.

  • Lipstick on My Fork
  • SZND by Katoya
Presence

Staying whole in the middle.

Mindfulness for people living in the thick of it — leadership, caregiving, and the long, messy middle of a life.

  • Mindfulness in the Middle
The work & the brands

Everything I'm building.

Different rooms, one sensibility — rigor and warmth, in equal measure. Step into whichever is calling you.

Thought · Consulting

ToyBox Consulting & Management

The operational infrastructure that lets mission-driven organizations do their work. My systems mind, for hire.

Visit ToyBox →
ToyBox Consulting and Management
Presence · Mindfulness

Mindfulness in the Middle

Grounding practice for people leading, caregiving, and holding it together in the thick of it.

Explore →
Mindfulness in the Middle
Taste · Home & Garden

SZND by Katoya

My recipes, my garden, my DIY — the homemade, seasonal life, made by hand and in season.

Explore →
SZND by Katoya
Taste · Dining Out

Lipstick on My Fork

Flirty, gluttonous, decadent — eating my way through the restaurant scene, lipstick intact.

Explore →
Lipstick on My Fork
Where to find me

Upcoming events.

Gatherings designed for connection — built in the same room as the work.

Aug
23
2026
Featured · Free

Golden Hour Unboxed

A cross-cultural celebration of Black entrepreneurship on the Eastside — Bellevue Botanical Garden. Presented by ToyBox Consulting & Management as part of the City of Bellevue's Cross-Cultural Center without Walls.

See the event → · RSVP free on Eventbrite
Katoya Palmer speaking
Who I am

I've lived both sides of almost everything.

I've held a Section 8 voucher and I've sat in the COO's chair of a $12M organization. I've built financial systems and I've built a really good pot of greens. The range isn't a contradiction — it's the whole point.

I was born in Shreveport and grew up in Minden, Louisiana — until 1990, when I moved to Auburn, Washington, then Seattle, and Bellevue since 2020. I've built a life, and a body of work, in every one of those rooms.

“Inclusion is not charity. It is infrastructure.”

I'm a writer, a systems strategist, a researcher, and a maker — appointed three times by the State of Washington, published, peer-selected to speak, and endlessly curious about how people and systems stay whole.

More of my story →
The journal

Katoya's Substack.

A multidisciplinary journal of thought, taste, and presence — commentary, storytelling, mindfulness, and recipes. It's where all of this begins.

Subscribe free →
Come along

Thought, taste & presence — in your inbox.

No funnel, no pitch. Just the writing, the recipes, and the practice — wherever you like to find me.

The Seattle Medium · Best of the Best Northwest — 1st Runner-Up 2026
Thank you, Pacific Northwest

1st Runner-Up for Best Community Leader.

Top two across the Pacific Northwest in The Seattle Medium's Best of the Best Northwest 2026. To every hand that voted, every organization I've served, and every reader who's kept up with the work — this is your win too. Deepest thanks.

The Seattle Medium → Announced 2026