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.