KATY BOHINC

I am a poet and a data scientist; an avant garde publisher and a professional marketer; an activist, an astrologer and an innovator. I studied pure math and comparative literature. I don't think these things are contradictory.

I think it's the future.

One example of how this all comes together is in this article.

I have three books of poetry: Dear Alain (Tender Buttons Press, 2014), Trinity Star Trinity (Scarlet Imprint, 2017), and Scorpio (Miami University Press, 2018). 

Since 2013, I've collaborated on the award-winning Tender Buttons Press with Founding Editrix Lee Ann Brown.  We publish experimental women's poetry, expanding the field of possible and probable since 1989.  Nearly half of all Tender Buttons authors have been honored with Guggenheim lifetime achievement awards.

Through Tender Buttons I've edited two volumes of poetry: Tender Omnibus: The First Twenty-Five Years of Tender Buttons Press and Please Add To This List: A Guide To Teaching Bernadette Mayer's Sonnets and Experiments.

Since 2008, I've worked as a data scientist and engineer for Fortune 500 brands, leading teams which measure marketing performance and architect analytics systems.

In 2021 I founded The Ratio, which studies astrology with data science. The Ratio continues a 2,500+ year old, universal math problem. I believe there is indeed music in the spheres, and wish to experience it personally. We have the data and technology now to approach astrology - which birthed for humanity all of mathematics - with contemporary eyes! Aren’t you curious too?

All my work is creative at heart, but one could say artistically my most recent project is Scorpio (Video) Poems. Working alongside fashion photographer and videographer, Kezi Ban, we visualized 16 poems from Scorpio in subversive and beautiful ways. I am extremely proud of these videos; you can watch the playlist here.

My work is varied in concept and content, but a unifying thread is bridging the seemingly disparate. With Dear Alain I bridge poetry and philosophy; Trinity Star Trinity poetry and the occult; Tender Buttons publishing and activism (Tender Buttons publishes only women writers); and with The Ratio data science and astrology. Perhaps part of this practice comes from fifteen years at the marketing brand strategy table as a measurement and data technology expert, or four formative years spent studying in France, Buenos Aires and China. My unique background in mathematics and poetry provides the elemental knowledge to combine myriad fields with innovation and elegance - regardless of format. While studying mathematics, my specialty was literally translation across universes: set and field theory, and I believe I have been practicing these concepts all my life. Scorpio is the most elemental and personal of my art.

Some "non-professional" background --

I was born in Ohio in 1983 and raised on the border between rural and strip malls. I left home at 17 when I received a scholarship to study in France. I fell in love with learning new languages and systems of thought.

I worked my way through Georgetown University, hostessing 40 hours a week or more. I majored in pure mathematics and comparative literature. Sophomore year I took a break and moved to Beijing. I did not speak Chinese; I now speak pretty decent Mandarin (for a white girl).

I learned that everything interesting is growing in the edges of a language not yet formed. I graduated and wrote a lot. I studied poetry at Bridgestreet Books in Washington D.C., visiting several times a week from 2008-2013. I moved to NYC in 2013, into TornPage, the home of Geraldine Page and Rip Torn, now a beautiful space for artists, actors and writers to perform and collaborate.

During Covid I relocated to San Juan, Puerto Rico to become a gringo. All of Scorpio Poems (The Videos) were shot on this gorgeous island. Sometimes these days I feel I remember nothing except the ocean.

The photos on this website were proudly taken by me; the amazing headshots by the magnificent Kezi Ban.

Pleased to now be represented by Harry Walker Agency for keynote speeches.