Rising Stars: Meet Kat Pepmeyer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Pepmeyer.

Hi Kat, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
After graduating from the University of Iowa, I moved to Arizona and landed a job in the mortgage industry. I thought I had life figured out, I was making good money, bought a beautiful home with a pool in the dessert, even had season tickets to the Arizona Cardinals games…and then the housing market fell apart. After the rise and fall of my first career, I moved to Cincinnati in 2007 to take a moment to figure out who I really was and what I wanted to be when I grew up. Seemed like a completely necessary move at the age of 27. I decided if I’m going to work that hard at anything, I need to know that what I’m doing is making a positive difference in the community I’m a part of.

I decided to lean into the nonprofit community in Cincinnati and volunteer for a bunch of organizations that sparked my passion. I bartended at a local spot in Oakley for 4-years while I networked and attempted to break into the close-knit nonprofit community. I joined the board of the Music Resource Center and Permaganic while also serving on Give Back Cincinnati’s Fuel Commitee. Finally, I caught wind of a new Executive Director position opening for a brand-new nonprofit that was being formed, the Cincinnati ToolBank. The ToolBank lends tools and equipment to nonprofits and charitable organizations to equip large-scale volunteer projects. Volunteers complete service projects, making Cincinnati a more vibrant and progressive place for everyone.

I learned all that I could about the mission, and it immediately clicked with me. This was the job I was hoping would come along. I brought all of my passion about the mission to the interviews with the newly formed board of directors, which was made up of local bank, financial, and construction executives. I wasn’t the most qualified, I wasn’t a household name in the Cincinnati community, and I knew this was going to be a tough position to land given the competition. Thankfully, my passion and understanding of the ToolBank’s mission resonated with the board of directors and they hired me as the new Executive Director at the beginning of 2012.

Fast forward 10-years and I still love every aspect of my job. I’m the complete cliché of the person that loves their job so much that they say work never feels like work. Like any position, I’ve encountered both ups and downs. Luckily for me, the highs have outweighed the lows. In 2019, the ToolBank board of directors and myself decided we outgrew our first home and needed to find a new building. We secured a deal with the Cincinnati Port Authority to purchase an incredible building in Bond Hill / Roselawn and then at the end of 2019 it was time to move the ToolBank. This is not exactly a traditional building move. Our warehouse is compiled of over 25,000 tools…all of which had to make their way to a new location.

Once we got that massive feet accomplished, we rolled into 2020 with the attitude of “this is our year!”…I think we all know what happened next. COVID-19 and the whole world shutdown, which meant no volunteer opportunities, no fundraising event, and a look on the faces of our board of directors that said “how are we going to survive this.” The ToolBank was able to pivot by distributing PPE to the community and because of the relationships we had built over the past 8-9 years, we knew that once this ended that we would be the resource that the nonprofit community would need most after the pandemic. The ToolBank would be the organization to lift the nonprofit community, saving them thousands of dollars provide necessary special event equipment to raise funds and awareness for their mission, and equip their volunteers with tools. Here we in 2022 and although the pandemic lingers on, the ToolBank is thriving and getting back to normal tool lending activity…not without some massive hurdles, but we’re happy to be here and serving the Cincinnati community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like I stated before, this whole journey has not been without its challenges. I accepted the Executive Director job to run a brand-new nonprofit then found out I was pregnant with my daughter, Sam. I’m sure this was just what the newly formed board of directors was looking for when they were going through the hiring process…a Cincinnati transplant, highly passionate individual, and soon-to-be first-time single mom. There were definitely days that felt like daycare during the start of the ToolBank, but we all made it work, and even during the pandemic the ToolBank turned into the SchoolBank!

So, we’ve almost made it through a global pandemic…thing should get easier, right? That’s definitely what I was thinking. We, like many others, experienced some staffing changes during the pandemic that left me working in the warehouse, fulfilling tool orders, and getting back to what really excited me about this organization…working with the member agencies and hearing their stories about how our blue tools are making a difference in the community. While working in the warehouse, I realized I may have injured myself while lifting some wheelbarrows. I found a lump, this was not a spot where as a woman you would want to find a lump, but I chalked it up to repetitive contact from moving tools in our warehouse.

After a few conversations with my close friends, they encouraged me to go get a diagnostic mammogram…and thank goodness I did. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in early November 2021. This diagnosis felt like it came out of nowhere especially since I believed it was an injury. Once a few additional test results came back, things began to move very quickly. I went into surgery for my port for chemotherapy in early December and started my treatment the next week. My road to recovery has definitely not been the easiest one. I need 6 rounds of chemotherapy, every 3 weeks, then a double mastectomy, and some additional rounds of chemotherapy. So, after what felt like the ToolBank and I beat a global pandemic, now we will beat breast cancer. One thing I realized throughout this journey is that all of my work throughout the years of building a network of friends, ToolBank supporters, and active board of directors, I know I’m not alone on this road and I’m very grateful for my entire tribe. The ToolBank and I could not do this without all of them.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the executive director for Cincinnati ToolBank, a nonprofit organization that provides tools, equipment, and expertise to charitable organizations, empowering them to achieve their most ambitious goals. My passion for this organization landed me my dream job 10-years ago and every day since has never felt like work.

My volunteer work continues as I serve on the Madisonville Community and Urban Redevelopment Corporation board of directors, as well as the Invest in Neighborhoods’ board. It has been an eye-opening experience to learn about the ins and outs of how our city, community councils, development corporations, and community members work together (or not) to bring positive change to the region.

What do you think about happiness?
Happiness comes pretty easy to me despite what pops up in life. My beautiful, 9-year-old daughter, Sam, brings me so much joy. Watching her grow and really come into her own has been an incredible experience. Sam and I also enjoy traveling to see family in Colorado and spending time with our dog, Hope. Hope was a pandemic puppy and we felt like that name appropriately fit given everything that was going on in 2020. I also am so proud of the amazing community of friends that have become my family throughout the years here in Cincinnati. I couldn’t get through all of these challenges without them. I feel like it goes without saying, but my job at the ToolBank brings me immense happiness. There isn’t a greater feeling than knowing that our work is directly impacting the betterment of our Cincinnati neighborhoods while saving our incredible nonprofits and community partners money to put back into their missions.

Contact Info:

• Email: kat.pepmeyer@toolbank.org
• Website: www.toolbank.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cincitoolbank/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cincitoolbank
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CinciToolBank
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CincinnatiToolBank