Kate Orne is someone I have great admiration for. She is a Swede with an exuberance that is hard not to get caught up in. The summer posts of her daily swims in nearby lakes featuring her bright orange swimsuit makes me long for the water. Kate is the creator, publisher and Creative Director-in-Chief of Upstate Diary, an online and print magazine. Previously, Kate was a successful photographer in New York City, shooting for fashion magazines worldwide. When Kate moved upstate NY in 2009, longing to be closer to nature, she sensed her future would entail something that wouldn't require her to drive back and forth to the city, nor was shooting fashion in a rapidly changing business still stimulating. For the next four years, Kate mulled over projects when the idea came; she would start featuring artists and creators with lifestyles close to nature — just like her— in a magazine to inspire others about this meaningful lifestyle.
In 2015, Kate launched Upstate Diary. What began as a blog soon became a beautifully printed biannual publication, now sold in great shops from New York to Tokyo. Kate used her years of experience and network working with magazines as a fashion editor and later as a photographer to make a midlife pivot. Even though starting a new business is arduous work, she attributes part of her success to luck, saying that "opportunity happens when you go for it" and "for the first time in my life, I'm in control. Nobody is telling me what or how to do things."
To learn more, visit @upstate_diary.
Photo of Kate by @jmontbarron
