A former Shreveporter designs her way to success after an extensive career in marketing and branding.

For several years while she was growing up, Shreveport was home to designer Katherine Way. She expresses fond memories of her school years at St. Vincent Academy, as well as attending services at Ford Park Baptist Church along with her younger sister, Karla, and their parents, Jerry and Katie Deen.

A favorite photograph from Way’s childhood shows her and her sister dressed in pretty little matching “shift-style” dresses that had been sewn by their mother. Much later, although unbeknownst to her at that time, the picture would come to represent a significant influence on a change of direction in Way’s career path.

Graphic design was her major while she was enrolled at Louisiana Tech. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree and working in Monroe for a while, she and her new husband, Bradford, resided in Destin, Fla., and later, Atlanta, Ga. Professionally, Way became introduced to the corporate world, held executive marketing and sales positions therein and ultimately found herself at Turner Broadcasting System and on the launch team for Turner Network Television. After Turner Broadcasting, she worked for various brands such as Great American Cookies and The HoneyBaked Ham Companies.

As luck would have it, in the midst of helping numerous corporations to establish their ideas and products, she experienced a personal scenario that sparked her venture into a career transition in which she could apply her corporate knowledge and experience to the fulfillment of her own dreams.

The light-bulb moment happened while she and her husband were vacationing in St. Croix. She had decided to shop for a sundress to wear for their last evening out before leaving. “I hit the cute boutiques and some great shops, but all the dresses I found were skimpy, flimsy or not flattering at all,” she said. “The shopping experience was simply depressing.” At that point, Way vowed that one day she would create a line of dresses for those she refers to as an “under-served audience” ... women who want to wear something nice without broadcasting all of nature’s imperfections; women who prefer garments with a cut, fit and shape designed to accommodate challenging body types.

With this clientele profile in mind, Way approached the design field at a measured pace. She was mindful of what her mother had taught her decades earlier as shown in that childhood photograph; that is, the shift dress and its attributes. “Simple, stylish and easy. It’s hard to beat a well-designed, easy-to-wear, cute dress that moves you through the day,” Way remarked. And nothing would fit the bill better for an “under-served audience” nor has had a greater influence on women’s fashions than the classic shift silhouette. It has been called one of the most timeless of women’s garments.

After accumulating a sizable sampling of dresses of different styles with features she found appealing, “I tucked them away, along with my design dream, and continued with my corporate career until January, 2012, when I left my job,” Way stated. “My husband asked me what I was going to do, and I replied, ‘Freelance marketing and designing in retail stores.’ He said that was fine but urged me to pull out my dress samples and get the line started, and that’s the day Katherine Way Collections was born!” While Way might have put away her samples and her dream for a while, when the right time arrived to bring them out again, an aspiring entrepreneur could not have been more thoroughly prepared. “I’d spent my life helping large corporations launch products,” she said. “I’d named them, packaged them, displayed them and sold them.” There was no doubt that she possessed the necessary business sense to begin, promote and operate a business of her own. Her mission would be to create a line of dresses, skirts and tops for a target customer base that she had keenly identified. She fully focused on meeting the needs of that base with stylish and age-appropriate clothing while keeping jobs within her company in the United States.

For the next year, Way was in deep research mode as she studied fabric technology aimed at producing machine-washable/cool-to-the touch/moisture-absorbing/wrinkleresistant/sun-protection qualities, all of which have proven to be very appealing in her golf wear line, as well. She developed a vibrant color library and drew from her graphic design education to create stunning geometric patterns for her product.

“I worked on the line until March 2013, when I produced the first season showing. In 2014, we moved into our corporate offices and warehouse, a lime-green cottage with pink awnings across the street from the beach in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.,” Way said. Those offices now serve as the flagship boutique for Katherine Way Collections as the corporate office moved to a 4,600-square-feet warehouse last September. Her line is now available in 300 boutiques and golf club shops and a limited selection online. Locally, it can be found at Imelda’s on Line Avenue.

As the popularity of Katherine Way Collections has grown, Way and her clothing line have become the recipients of special entrepreneurial and fashion industry recognition and awards. Recently, 2015 Up and Coming Entrepreneur of the Year by Women Business Owners of North Florida and Top Buyers’ Choice Award at the 2016 PGA Fashion and Demo Experience for its launch of new golf apparel for women.

As women-owned businesses are fast becoming a major force in the nation’s economy, Way is certainly strengthening the exciting statistic. She is a lady who had the courage to return to her dream, the determination to become exceedingly proficient in all areas of her field and the fortitude to face obstacles a woman is certain to encounter when building a business of her own. Way states, “I encourage women to really follow their dreams because this has been a really amazing ride. I truly believe that each one of us has some great idea in our head, and we need to follow that dream and do it. It’s never too late.”

– Jo Ann Garner