Kate McCracken is a relatively recent Cincinnati resident – she moved here less than two years ago from Los Angeles. But in her short time in the city, she’s joined a local dance crew, found her favorite places, and started a body liberation community. Nestled at Lydia’s on Ludlow, we talked to her about moving to the Midwest, why she describes herself as “fat and witchy,” and more.

Interview by Suzanne Wilder. Photography by Moriah Kenton.

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Kate. I live here in Cincinnati with my family; we moved here from Los Angeles last summer. I have a partner, Jennifer, so I identify as a queer person. I have a 12-year-old son with autism, so I also identify as a parent of a neuro-atypical child, which is a big part of my life. I describe myself as fat and witchy and… What else? In the world, I do diversity, equity, and inclusion work by day, for pay. And I’m also on a local dance crew, the Cin City Shakers; we perform in parades. It’s amazing – we’re looking for new members whenever you’re ready. And I founded the local body liberation community, Cincifatty.

“Fat and witchy” – tell me about the witchy part first.

I believe in magic. I believe in almost anything. I’m pretty comfortable with the “woo.” Growing up in southern California made that possible. We did not have religion growing up. My mom was – she called it a “recovering Catholic.” She just made sure that we felt safe. Like, “Nothing bad is going to happen to you; you’re not going to hell” was the baseline.

I believe in the power of manifesting things with thought

From there, it was all about exploring. When I was a young adult, I started learning more about pagan earth religions. I don’t practice anything specific, like I’m not a Wiccan. But I have experience with life and spirituality, where I feel like I’m in a strong relationship with the earth. And I can feel the seasons change in my body and how my life goes along with those things. And I believe in the power of manifesting things with thought, setting a clear intention, and then allowing the universe to be in service to your life by helping that unfold. It doesn’t always work. There are sometimes circumstances that get in the way. But a lot of the time, it works out. Sometimes it’s small stuff, like I need a new mattress for my guest room, and then someone on the neighborhood Facebook page the next day is like, “I’m giving away a mattress.”

Then I’m like, “Yes, I did that!”

So you also said “fat and witchy” and mentioned founding a body liberation group. Tell me more about that as part of your identity and about the group itself.

I grew up in a family of fat women, fat people. And I wasn’t fat as a kid. I’m not one of those people who has been fat all my life. The “freshman 15” was more like the “freshman 50” (or 60, or 75, or something like that). Like a lot of young women, I started dieting around that time, trying to control my body and control my weight. I did a lot of yo-yoing, probably within a couple hundred pounds, and I went through all different versions of it. Going to WeightWatchers and taking laxatives the day before weigh-in to try and get the best possible weight. The cabbage soup diet, the juice cleanse, all of those things. Later in young adulthood, I went through the “If I just love myself enough, I will naturally become thin” diet. That’s the one that lasted the longest for me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things changed.

I remember seven years ago, my son was young, and he didn’t know how to swim yet. We were at a pool party. He was hanging out in the shallow end. He kept calling for me to get in. And I thought, “I don’t want to get in my bathing suit in front of all these skinny Los Angeles mothers.” And he was like, “MOM, PLEASE.”

I had this moment of awakening, where I was like, “No one doesn’t know I’m fat. They’re not going to be surprised when I take my clothes off, like, ‘Oh my gosh, look what she was hiding.’” I remember my relationship with my body kind of starting to shift from there.

It was a radical act just to be in our bodies and enjoy ourselves.

Shortly after that, I resolved to stop dieting. I think I attempted a couple of lifestyle changes, which were diets in disguise. Then in Los Angeles, I started taking a class called Fat Kid Dance Party. It was a dance aerobics class. And I had this whole story about how I don’t dance (which is funny because I’m in a dance troupe now. You can see the true journey.) I went to the first class – I was terrified – and I just had so much fun. I was actually moving my body in a way that didn’t feel like punishment. Previously, exercise had only been for shrinking my body.

I kept going, and it transformed my relationship with my body. That’s where I learned about the body liberation movement, fat activism, fat acceptance – even just using the word “fat” as a neutral word, versus an insult. It’s just a descriptor. It doesn’t have to have a connotation associated with it. Taking the word back.

When my family decided to move here in early 2018, that fat community was the one thing I was afraid of leaving behind. There were those of us who went to the class regularly, and then we would hang out or get a drink afterwards or just show up at each other’s events. We had this space of folks who had this shared experience but also just enjoyed life together. It was a radical act just to be in our bodies and enjoy ourselves.

After we moved here, I kept longing for that community. And then I met a new friend; she’d moved here from Kansas City. We met each other in a Health at Every Size Facebook group. We met up once, and she’s just such a no-nonsense person. She was like, “Why aren’t you starting it? Just start it.”

That helped push me out of the thinking-about-it phase to starting a Facebook group, then adding people I’d already talked to, and having them add people. And it grew very quickly from five people to around 200 now. I wanted to have this not be my thing. I wanted it for myself, but I want it to be in the service of other people.

One thing that we’re doing is we’re intentional about being gender-inclusive. Lots of folks think that body liberation or fat activism is a women’s issue. It certainly does affect women in a really specific way in our society, but it’s not just women. I have this belief that fat-phobia harms everyone.

We ended up with a really diverse group. We have people of all genders, people of all races, people of all ages. We chat online, and then we also have events in person. We had a pool party, like from the television show “Shrill”, this summer. So many people were like, “I haven’t been in a bathing suit in 10 years; I’ve never felt so free.”

I was like, “IT’S HAPPENING!”

We have a lot of stuff going on. We had a clothing swap, and we’re going to keep doing that every quarter.

I would love to hear more about the day job piece of your life.

My career is leadership and organizational development, specifically through the lens of diversity and inclusion. Racism hurts everyone and marginalizes people of color. Sexism hurts everyone and marginalizes women. I have a day job, and I also do this on the side as a consultant.

What kind of organizations are you typically consulting with?

Mostly nonprofits. A lot of education stuff.

The thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately… Diversity and inclusion is always going to be a moving target. The world is always going to be growing and changing. I have this favorite quote: “What’s right changes as we learn more over time.” Many white women that I talk to, myself included, have this idea that frames our lives that we can figure out how to do shit right – whether it’s life, or body, or relationship, or parenthood. What we would benefit from is not trying to get it right all the time, but by being learners. And being in an authentic relationship with people who can teach us, and doing that in a way that’s not exploitative. Take ownership of, “Oh, yeah, I didn’t know that.”

You’ve been in Cincinnati for a year and a half now. Was there anything unexpected about the move?

People told me that people from Cincinnati were really skeptical and were not going to be excited about doing new things. And that’s not my experience. Like I started this Facebook group for this community, and people were like, “ME! I want to come!” My partner, Jennifer, does a meditation out of our home, and people show up in droves, like, “Thank you so much for doing this.” There’s this hunger for new things, and that’s been amazing and surprising. Other than the body liberation community, which now exists, there was nothing that I needed or wanted that I couldn’t find.

What’s been something you didn’t anticipate that’s been surprising?

I was surprised and delighted by the beauty of changing seasons. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a magical wonderland, like when it snows. I’m like, “This is amazing!” I was very publicly delighted in the leaves changing or the snow.

People are just incredibly generous and kind to us. In the beginning, people were offering to do things for us. And I kind of panicked. I was like, “What are we going to owe them?” I had so much anxiety about learning to be in a more generous, less “every person for themselves” culture. It’s turned out to be great.

Tell us about an influential woman in your life.

I think I’m going to talk about Quanita Roberson, someone who lives here in Cincinnati. She is someone we were introduced to by a friend at a fundraiser last year. I immediately looked up to her. She does what I do in the world – she’s an organizational development professional. She has this grounded and serene energy. I reached out to her because my work was struggling with a big transition, and we ended up working together on that. Since then, we’ve done lots of things together. She just has these nuggets of wisdom that, for me, make everything in the world make sense. She is clear about who she is and what she believes.

I feel myself being at this weird cusp right now – I’m 39, trying to let my gray hair grow in. I’m trying to claim my adulthood. Then I doubt myself. Maybe I’m not good enough… I look to her as someone who is so secure in what she has to offer. I try to breathe that in and embody it. She’s generous with inviting people to learn from her. I aspire to be like that.

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Kate McCracken: Fat, Witchy, and Always Learning