Tania Katan
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Tania Katan is an author, public speaker, playwright, and creativity expert. Known around the world as a potent keynote speaker, Katan teaches people and companies to generate imaginative innovations and breakthroughs. Some of the organizations and conferences impacted by her talks include: CiscoLive!, Expedia, Amazon, Google, Business of Software, S.H.E. Summit, Humana, TEDxScottsdale, TEDxNCSSM, World Domination Summit, Uber, Etsy, Inbound, and Comedy Central Stage. In the tech world, Katan is known as the Co-Creator of #ItWasNeverADress, a social movement that has inspired over 50 million people worldwide to see, hear and celebrate women for the superheroes. The #ItWasNeverADress campaign strives to shift perceptions of women in male-dominated fields. Katan's battle with cancer led her to write for the cancer-awareness initiative
Stand Up to Cancer Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable organization that was established as a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). In 2022, SU2C was separately incorporated and was recognized by the IRS as a Section 501(c)(3) public charit ...
and to publish her first memoir ''My One-Night Stand With Cancer''. She adapted the memoir into a one-woman show, ''Saving Tania's Privates.'' Katan's works have been presented internationally and won several awards.


Writing


Books

After more than 10 years of bringing creativity into the workplace in unexpected and often liberating ways, Tania Katan made a startling discovery, "We don't need to work in a job or field that is uniquely creative in order to be uniquely creative within our work." This discovery compelled her to write, "Creative Trespassing: How to Put the Spark and Joy Back into Your Work and Life," published by Penguin Random House, February 2019. The book focuses on Katan's philosophy of "Creative Trespassing", showing how thinking outside the box can impact every part of a workday routine and result in extraordinary and exciting projects. Tania Katan has been treated for breast cancer twice: at age 21, and at age 31. As a result of her experiences, she has become an advocate for breast cancer awareness, and has written a memoir and a play about breast cancer. Her first memoir, ''My One-Night Stand With Cancer,'' received the
Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...
, the Judy Grahn Award for Nonfiction from the Publishing Triangle, and a finalist for the
Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...
. Katan published a micro-memoir, ''Pop (Childhood 6 of 1)'' in 2015. Her writing can also be found in publications such as ''The Huffington Post'', ''The Advocate,'' and Stand Up to Cancer's website.


Plays

While studying theatre at
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, Katan wrote her first play ''Stages.'' It was produced at University of Connecticut and received staged readings at American Stage Theatre Company and Circle Repertory. ''Stages'' met with positive reviews. She adapted her first memoir, ''My One-Night Stand With Cancer,'' into a solo-show, ''Saving Tania’s Privates''. The show made its New York debut at Frigid New York Festival in 2011 where it won the Audience Choice Award for Best Show and the Sold Out Run Award. Katan's plays and solo-performance have also appeared at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
, Circle Repertory Theatre Theatre of NOTE, and the Renberg Theatre. Her work has gained national recognition. Publications such as ''New York Times'', ''Huffington Post'', ''DIVA Magazine'', ''The Scotsman'', ''The Advocate'' have all written about her work.


Programs

Katan has created and produced programs at the
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) in the state of Arizona is a museum in the Old Town district of downtown Scottsdale, Arizona. The museum is dedicated to contemporary art, design, and architecture. The Museum has five galleries t ...
, including ''Arm Wrestling For Art'' and ''Lit Lounge.''


#ItWasNeverADress Campaign

Tania Katan is one of the co-creators for #ItWasNeverADress. This campaign is focused on addressing gender inequality in the technology industry and beyond. The Scottsdale-based software company Axosoft is doing away with the age-old symbol of a generic lady in a dress, as seen on women's bathroom's, and instead replacing the "triangle dress" with a superhero cape. Katan first came up with the idea as a part of an inaugural Girls In Tech Catalyst Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Katan was asked to create an empowering campaign for women in tech, which led to her new take on the traditional female symbol. #ItWasNeverADress hopes to spark conversations about gender norms, not only by encouraging women to be more involved in
STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...
fields, but also by raising important points about representation of the LGBT community. This campaign became an Internet sensation, picked up by national news outlets such as CNN, ''The New York Times,'' ''TIME'' magazine and Yahoo!


References


External links


Tania Katan's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katan, Tania Living people American women dramatists and playwrights American activists 1971 births Arizona State University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American women writers