Big leaps. Gently.
I work with women who are quietly fierce, hugely capable,
and ready for a sustainable way forward that doesn't require
them to be someone they're not.
A catapult doesn't push. It holds the tension, and then it releases.
You notice something exciting is pulling at you, and you can feel it even on the days you'd rather not.
You might be yearning for a wider reach, or a deeper kind of impact, or work that sits closer to the bone than what you're doing now. Maybe it's the same work you're already doing, but in a different shape. The pull is the thing.
Underneath the pull, there's usually a quieter requirement: whatever comes next has to hold the rest of you too, not just the vocational part. The life around the work matters as much as the work.
You're already capable, and you're already doing a great deal. What you're reaching for isn't more effort. It's a different kind of forward, where the bigness and the rest of your life move together rather than at each other's expense.
This is the dynamic I help you create.
Catapult Conversations sees the story within a story and the evolving person, and begins exactly where you are.
Big Leaps. Gently.
How we work together
Catapult Conversations are programs and resources that exist in several forms. From a single mentoring clarity session to six months of sustained work. As well as one-to-one mentoring, workshops and webinars. Below are two common starting points. Visit the programs page for more.
'Katy hears what is being said beneath the words'.
[CATAPULT Alumni]
'..a gentle and deep learning process which has left me with some profound revelations and new tools.'
[CATAPULT Alumni]
Not sure which fits? See all the ways we can work together.
'I'm trying to find the words to express how grateful I am and how profound this process has been.'
[Janine, C]
'My capacity has increased through my work and conversations with Katy. I feel like I can hold more of my life, my work and my emotions, and make clearer choices. Her understanding and empathy have enabled many shifts in my perception.'
[CATAPULT Alumni]
'I have improved decision-making and ability to think strategically'.
•
'I’m having more fun with my practice, not overthinking everything generally, seeing things with a beautiful Katy-lens of playfulness'.
CATAPULT Alumni
Behind the conversations
Across three decades as a composer and educator, I have mentored hundreds of creative leaders to navigate their 'next'. This deep body of work informs every Catapult Conversation.
Dr Katy Abbott started composing at 27. She completed a PhD with three children, including twins, and built a career that has led to five solo albums, commissions from Australia's major orchestras and ensembles, and the 2024 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence.
Along the way, she left a tenured role on academic staff to pursue other inklings, held a portfolio career across composing, teaching, and mentoring, and learned, often the difficult or long way, what it means to override your own intuition.
Katy works with women who approach life creatively, whether their creativity is expressed in their work, leadership, art, or in how they think about being human. They are usually the ones in the room who notice things others don't. Who feel things acutely. Who think in connections.
Katy's mentoring work has grown from decades of conversations with brilliant people who find themselves stuck. Not because they lack talent or drive, but because the things holding them back are invisible to them.
Katy's particular skill is hearing what sits beneath the surface. Trained as a composer, her ear is built for picking up what is present but unspoken. She does not give advice, add frameworks, or hand over a to-do list. She illuminates what is already there and supports people, with practical, strategic tools, to act.
She holds Practitioner Certifications in Playing Big (Tara Mohr), Emotional Agility (Prof. Susan David, Harvard), and Driven Resilience Coaching, alongside her PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she remains an Honorary Senior Fellow. She has mentored over 60 artists through the CATAPULT Virtual Residency program and served as Lead Mentor for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Programme in 2024.
Katy has been there; a late start to music, competing work-life priorities, with messy momentum. She isn't always elegant, and she doesn't work according to formulas, but in a way that is distinctly, recognisably hers.
More about Katy's composition work at katyabbott.com
'The noise shifted. It became something clear...'
I'd been getting in a tangle about how to articulate my work, but the noise in my head would always win.
I think I was waiting for a moment of crystallisation that just never arrived. Katy found a thread in that noise and invited me to follow it. In that (catapult) conversation, the noise shifted. It changed my thinking. It became something clear and composed. It was recognisable as mine and I could finally hear what I'd actually been trying to say.
What I walked away with was clarity at a level I'd not experienced before, that is now the identity of my work. It's woven into everything, and I feel calm and grounded in my approach. And it was with gentleness and precision.
Katy's wisdom and insight did what I hadn't been able to do on my own.'
Louise, HR Leadership Specialist
My capacity has increased through my work and conversations with Katy. I feel like I can hold more of my life, my work and my emotions, and make clearer choices. Her understanding and empathy have enabled many shifts in my perception.'
CATAPULT Alumni
'I think back twelve months, six months — and the way I approached some things, the mental effort it took,
what felt really hard. It's not like that now.'
CATAPULT Alumni
A good place to begin:
New Era of Artist is a free mini-course delivered fortnightly to your inbox. It's an entry point practical, short, and immediately useful. It uses examples from creative practice, but the principles inside apply to anyone navigating the distance between where they are and where they want to be.
There's also Are You a High-Achiever or a High-Performer?, a short resource that might surprise you.
Or simply receive an email every couple of weeks. Insights, practical tools, and first word when new Catapult Conversations program dates are available.
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Catapult Conversations is the mentoring practice of Dr Katy Abbott · katyabbott.com