Welcome Stack Overflow Valued Associate #599, Catherine Kuck AKA Catija!

Question

We're extremely pleased to announce that Catherine Kuck (most of you know her as Catija) started yesterday on our Community Growth team as a Community Manager. As soon as she's completed a small mountain of paperwork, she's going to be spending the bulk of her time doing ... pretty much exactly what she's been doing for a while now, which is supporting users across the network while working with other moderators.

Catherine found her start in casting after graduating with a film degree, but she quickly found that she didn't care for the long and odd hours that the job required. She first discovered Stack Exchange in 2014 when she wandered into Arqade, then discovered Movies & TV and unwittingly began her journey into her ultimate role (I kill me, I really do) as a strong leader on our network. After she applied, we thought it would be nice if she received a paycheck for what she's currently doing, she didn't disagree.

In her spare time, Catija likes crochet, watching movies, and can pipe a pretty awesome hat with icing. When her toddler let her get stuff done, she worked with a pretty amazing team of moderators on Interpersonal Skills to make one of our most controversial sites a success.

Catija is going to be working with Juan M spending most of her time helping Stack Exchange grow and remain a safe place for people to get answers to their questions, while lending some of her hard-earned expertise in helping folks be civil to our welcome wagon initiatives.

Please join us in congratulating Cat in her new role! Questions about the stuff she's going to be working on, or questions in general? Let us know, she and our CM team will answer 'em! If you don't know how catija is pronounced, now would be a great time to ask.

Answer 1

It's such an amazing honor for me to join Stack Overflow and the Community Team. I've long respected their work and I look forward to sticking my oar into things, figuring out what needs help, and being there to at least listen, but hopefully actually act.

I know that the Network is a complicated place with a varied collection of needs and that what works for one site may not work for all of them (or any of the others). Taking time to get to know the moderators and users on the sites I'm not already familiar with is a priority for me and I'm looking forward to figuring out what sites need in order to do their thing better.

I'm really excited to be a part of Juan M's team as it really focuses on what I think makes these sites one of the best places on the web - the community of users who come together with the goal of helping others find the answers they need to the problems they face. We want to help the sites do this better - whether you get tons of questions per day or less than 1 - so speak up. We can't guarantee that we can solve all of your problems but we need to know what they are so that we can try.

I'm also a huge proponent of the welcome wagon initiative. I understand that it's not universally accepted. It's difficult for me to look in the mirror and see that my actions haven't always been perfect. I have some in my past that, looking back on, I would have done differently, even if that meant not engaging at all. I've struggled with never-ending flows of low quality questions on the sites I've used and recognize that taking some of the weight off of the first-line users and making first-time users more successful from the start is just as important as asking everyone to put a bit more thought into the user interactions they're having here. I feel that both sides of this are being addressed and I look forward to seeing how things can improve for both groups.

Thank you to the Team and everyone else for the welcome and to the users of the network for being here and wanting more from this great platform.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Answer 2

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

@Catija Congratulations!!!!

Your sincere efforts deserve this achievement. All the best for your future!!

Answer 4

Congratulations, and I'd say, excellent choice - especially with what they've been talking about with the new team

Answer 5

Note: I rewrote this answer from scratch to be more constructive. Meta-commentary about the previous version is towards the end.

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Congratulations to Catija on joining the Stack Overflow team.

While I have crossed swords with her in the past a number of times, I look forward to working with her more constructively to address issues. In particular, I hope we would be able to deal with criticism and have difficult conversations without ending up with "drop the discussion" or "N people agree/disagree with you". :-)

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I would have probably written the above answer to start with if dissenting comments on another answer had not been removed. Unfortunately, Catija bore the brunt of my displeasure with an action that she had nothing to do with. While nothing I say or do will make up for ruining her first day at work, I express my regret and apologize to Catija and everyone else whose day was ruined.

Answer 6

I must admit, for a long time I was skeptical about this whole Welcome Wagon stuff. I still am, but now with Catija on board I am a lot less skeptical and more optimistic it might actually work.

I'm also glad she's the first Valued Associate to be announced on Meta, all the rest have been announced in the blog before.

So... congrats and keep doing what you do! :)

Answer 7

I too want to congratulate you on your new position. (The meta diamond looks good on you.)

Your dedication to SE is profound. There are many examples where you worked through things and helped ISP along. You will be a great asset to the whole SE community.

Don't get too bogged down. The haters are going to hate, and nothing you do will change that. Keep your head on and your heart light, just brush it off. You will do great things.

Answer 8

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Ref: JoeHastings-pen

Answer 9

I wouldn't exactly call IPS a success.

From my interactions with her, she's contributed to the toxicity of IPS, but also has some very well-formed answers. I deleted my account there because her and other mods/high-rep-users created a very hostile environment for people with differing world views from their own.

Even when trying to be civil and discussing how to communicate across our differences, she and others fanned the flames at times. Some of this may be due to the inherently polar nature of the type of questions the site receives, so the behavior is not without reason.

That said, I wish you success in your new role, the wisdom and divine skill to herd cats, and that you can learn from past mistakes. We all want StackOverflow to succeed, and you are now part of that.

Answer 10

Congratulations and best of luck to Catija.

Stack Exchange seems to be going through some unprecedented changes, by setting some enormous and admirable goals - starting with the creation of the new Code of Conduct. This "promotion from within" is another step in the right direction.

Answer 11

Congratulations, Catija!

When I first discovered that you'd got the job I was really pleased but certainly not surprised.

For context, I've only been a mod for about 11 months. One of the best parts about moderating on SE is that we have a real team spirit, great support and all of the existing mods (and team) are really keen to share their knowledge. Your advice, in varying locations (MSE, Chat, IPS), have helped me think about how to moderate, manage and do what I can to grow my site in new ways. Thank you for that.

I'm really excited to see what you bring to the team and I wish you all the best in your new role.

Answer 12

Congratulations!!!!

All the very best for your new job as Community Manager. I'm sure you will be as successful as you are (or more than that) on Interpersonal Skills and Arts & Crafts as a moderator.

I hope the diamond they gave you is green ;-).

Answer 13

That sucks. #599. One away from being the 600th. So sad...so...sad.

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Just kidding :)

Congrats!!

Answer 14

Congrats!

Wish you the best for the future.

Answer 15

Congratulations! SE has made an excellent choice, and I'm sure you'll continue improving the various sites. You've demonstrated a consistent ability to be a positive influence. We're all lucky to have you in a more official position!

Answer 16

You are one of the people I most respect on the network. You always are willing to answer a question from the newbie mod or to help out in anyway you can...

I look forward to seeing you around with the CM diamond =) My deepest congratulations.

Answer 17

CONGRATULATIONS, AND THANK YOU!

While I haven't had any specific interactions with Catija (well, maybe one), it's apparent to me that, wherever she has ever been a mod, nothing famously bad has ever happened. Since I'm not particularly active in those sites, I don't really know about the past, but I still feel like Catija has contributed a lot to SE being in as nice a condition as it is right now. I can't imagine what it would have been like without her amazing effort, and I know that, with her as an employee, Stack Exchange will be going only towards the best.

Seeing her history, I only want to thank her for her choice to volunteer as a member back then when she joined. I believe she has an amazing, optimistic personality, and is more than fit to work for SE. I always saw her tendency towards getting diamonds, and thought that, maybe, it was time for her to become an employee. I wasn't wrong. I also saw her being excited for becoming one; I can't describe my feelings in words, I just feel sorry in advance, when that excitement breaks down and the real exhaustion from work begins...

Overall, I believe Catija is going to live a very beautiful career, while she will still get to enjoy those unique, happy motherly moments with little Bennett that she won't be able to relive once they're over, even if she gets another child.

Answer 18

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will hope you do good work

Answer 19

Congrats Catija.

We compete in the Pro term mod election of Inter personal Stack last year and she made it. I already knew her from the Tavern and I believe she'll make a good CM. She know how to behave to different types of people and that is important to moderate such a large community.

Finally, now you can see spams and all the dirty things across the network. Enjoy it!!!

Answer 20

Congratulations!!, it will be great having you as the CM.