Getting Quiet

Quitting her job changed her life. Making a movie challenged her expectations. Starting a radio show brought about a new path. But opening a yoga studio gave her exactly what she needed. How slowing down has helped Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau find the joy in life.

By Emily Leas; Photographed by Shanna Wolf

Each morning, from its prime perch on the corner of John Nolen Drive and Williamson Street, downtown Madison’s Machinery Row building bustles to life. Cars pause at the corner stoplight as they head across the isthmus while locals pop into the first floor restaurant and bike shop. Upstairs, venture down a long second-floor hallway and office space gives way to The Studio, a dedicated yoga space where exposed brick, a plush sofa and a warm cup of tea greet visitors at the door.

There, Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau sits at a simple wooden desk. Phone in hand, she looks up and smiles as she advises a potential yoga student about which class would be right for him. It’s a gray, blustery day but the natural light streaming in through floor-to-ceiling windows creates a welcoming glow. Her comfortable fleece hoodie, jeans and riding boots complete the cozy atmosphere. 

A small-town girl from northwestern Wisconsin, Slattery-Moschkau has led a life full of unexpected twists and turns that have shaped the woman, wife, mother and yogi she is today. A decade-long career in the pharmaceutical industry inspired a foray into filmmaking, and the popular movie that followed led to a nationally syndicated radio show that spread Slattery-Moschkau’s message far and wide. Just months ago she called it quits, making the decision to not only speak her truth but live it right here in her quiet corner of Madison. 

She ends her phone conversation with simple instructions to her potential yogi: Honor yourself. Straightforward and succinct, it’s a message that resonates far from the walls of her studio. Having lived the mantra herself, letting it take her to Hollywood and back, the creed is still a fitting tribute to Slattery-Moschkau’s life today.

It was 1991 and Slattery-Moschkau was flat broke. Having just graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a political science degree, she did what college grads do: Hunt down that first paycheck.

After a brief stint in cell phone sales and marketing, Slattery-Moschkau received a call from a pharmaceutical sales recruiter who dangled a hefty paycheck and company car in front of the wide-eyed 22-year-old. Slattery-Moschkau was shocked she was qualified without a science background—after all, she would be tasked with telling medical professionals about why particular drugs were best. In the end, the chance at a career—and the salary that came with it—enticed her.

“I think I was excited at first because I was this little businesswoman with my little briefcase,” she says. “I didn’t question much.” 

Over the next decade Slattery-Moschkau built her career in corporate America. However, she couldn’t shake that initial concern from the back of her mind.

“How can I be a political science major telling these doctors what to prescribe?” she asks. “How could I not be telling them about a major side effect that could be a matter of life or death? It got to the point where I couldn’t even look in the mirror anymore,” she adds quietly. 

The nagging ethics involved in making a sale weren’t the only problem. 

“I didn’t love it,” she says honestly. “So many people are in careers that do nothing to tap into their greatest talents, that do nothing to make their souls sing.”  

But was quitting an option? Could she and her family—which now included her husband and two young children—survive without the benefits and bonuses?

She told herself, “I sure hope so, because I can’t do this for another day.”

The rollercoaster could have started then. After 10 years, Slattery-Moschkau was leaving the only career path she had ever known. Stepping away from the cushy job and financial stability, she moved forward without a set path in front of her.

“I was so nervous the day I gave my notice. Then I was scared when my manager came to [my house to] clean out all my samples and swag. Will I be filled with regret? Will we be able to pay our mortgage? What am I doing?” she remembers thinking. 

The ride stopped the moment her boss pulled out of her driveway. 

“There was so much uncertainty leading up to it, but I never looked back. I think people feel uncertainty and are afraid to act,” she muses. “But when it’s the right thing, you know.”

Nevertheless, leaving the daily grind wasn’t easy. Undecided on the road ahead, she relied on running and regular yoga practice to help ease her concerns. 

“It felt really uncomfortable at first,” she recalls, fidgeting at the memory. “I couldn’t sit still and I didn’t want to.”

Yet a change was slowly brewing: She was finally learning to trust herself. 

“It came from that first decision to leave, which gave me the confidence to realize that I can take a different route,” she explains. 

Feeding off the assuredness yoga was helping her find, Slattery-Moschkau felt ready to tap into talents that had gone unused for so many years. She felt ready to take a risk. 
During her decade in sales, writing had been her creative outlet. Whenever confronted with something shocking or hilarious on the job, her impulse was to dive for a pen and record the moment.

She wrote in her spare time, read up on the writing process and even took mini-courses and weekend writing seminars. Once she stepped back she saw the recipe for her next big step.

“I started thinking about all of these notes I had [from my experiences]; all of these things people would not believe,” she says. “I thought: people need to know this stuff [about the industry].” 

She reasoned the best way to get her message across was to aim high. For her, that meant taking her message to Hollywood, and she began to put her idea into the form of a screenplay. 

Reminiscing about the filmmaking experience, Slattery-Moschkau ticks off the steps that followed: Get an agent, pitch it to Hollywood, work with a rewriter to put the finishing touches on her draft, and get actors on board.

Though it sounds so simple now, Slattery-Moschkau laughs and admits, “I got tons of nos!”

Offers came in, but with each new draft for different production teams, Slattery-Moschkau felt her message slipping away. 

“[Movie studios] kept taking out all of the information that I thought was so critical for people to know,” she says. 

As she worried she was selling out again for the paycheck, her husband, Steve, offered a solution: They could just make the movie on their own. And they did.

Money was tight and time was short—their miniscule (in Hollywood standards) budget of $190,000 resulted in a 16-day shooting schedule, all on location in Madison.

Months of editing and promoting the film followed until March 2005, when “Side Effects,” her satirical fiction-based-on-fact film, premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, Calif. 

After receiving a great response, she followed up the effort a year later with a documentary-style film, “Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety,” which presented a more in-depth look behind the curtain of the pharmaceutical industry. 

Both films garnered press worldwide for showing what Slattery-Moschkau saw as a dangerous side of a powerful industry. Suddenly, she had a platform. With it came opportunities to write, speak and send her message to a wider audience. But along the way, as she gave interview after interview about her films, the spotlight began to shine on her personal life. 

“I exposed these things in the pharmaceutical industry so people would ask better questions and make better choices about what they’re putting in their bodies,” she says. “Then they were asking, ‘how the hell do you go from selling pharmaceuticals to making movies?’”

What she thought was a very personal experience was exactly what people were hungry to talk about: How do you find the courage to take those bold risks? How do you walk away from the security of that paycheck? How could they find their path, too? 

The questions were a spark. No matter how bumpy the ride had been, Slattery-Moschkau’s next adventure was in front of her. The one option that stood out, and the only one where she didn’t have to wear make-up and “could [work] in my underwear if I wanted to,” was radio.

“This [would present] an opportunity to explore all those juicy areas with thought leaders and experts from around the world,” she says, excitement shining in her eyes. 
 By the summer of 2006, “The Kathleen Show” debuted on radio stations nationwide.

The pitch of her voice, steady and sure yet soft and tinged with a sense of humor, lends itself perfectly to the virtual world of radio and podcasts. “The Kathleen Show’s” catchy tagline, “grabbing life by the ovaries,” made the mood of her production clear from week one: She was here to shake things up. 

“[Radio] was a great way to continue the conversation, but at a much deeper, more personal level,” she says. The focus was broad but each show had a common thread: Exploring ways to live healthy, authentic lives by tackling topics “people could sink their teeth into.” 

Over the next five years, she welcomed big name guests such as famed poet and author Maya Angelou and alternative medicine and empowerment authority Deepak Chopra. 
While they explored a range of issues, Slattery-Moschkau began to notice something in the feedback from her listeners: That society, and women in particular, had begun using the word “busy” as a crutch. Too busy to cook, too busy to meditate, too busy to focus on themselves for even 30 seconds a day. It was a realization that stood out to Slattery-Moschkau. As a business owner, mom and wife she understood how that busyness could sweep you away.

“Sometimes it’s easier to spend life skating on the surface,” she admits. “When we’re nervous about who we are and the way we’re living, it’s easy to fill the day with television, Facebook, texts and over-scheduling.”

What she found was that in her quietest moments—whether running, practicing yoga or just walking out into nature—she was able to hear her own voice loud and clear.
“One thing I am so passionate about is that authenticity,” she says. “I am who I am. It’s about not living someone else’s life or how society says you should be living. Somewhere in you, you know what you want, what you like, what sings to you.”

These radio conversations tapped into her passion and genuine curiosity while producing the show built her confidence in entirely new ways. But it also served as the stepping stone for another avenue to reach out. Requests from listeners across the country came in asking for more guidance, a chance to discuss their personal situations with someone who had been there. Slattery-Moschkau was more than happy to oblige, and began coaching people across the country in one-on-one sessions, on the phone and via the Internet.

The culmination of all of this—confidence, conversation, authenticity, getting quiet—came together in January 2011 as The Studio. 

For Slattery-Moschkau, it was a natural transition. 

“I wanted to take it from a virtual experience [on the radio], to a place where I can physically help people, see their transformations and see it in their faces,” she says. 
In the cozy confines of The Studio, she offers an array of yoga classes for all experience levels, with Slattery-Moschkau and her husband contributing as instructors. Like her own life, the classes are frequently evolving. From a yoga/run class and boot camps to discussion workshops, Slattery-Moschkau and her staff continue to develop a sanctuary where attendees can get quiet, literally and metaphorically. In that quiet, her hope is that they’ll find opportunity. 

“People come out of class and they’re cracked open because they’ve gotten quiet and settled down. The anxiety is lifted,” she says softly. “They sit down, have a cup of tea and pull a book off the shelf and start a conversation.”

Some, she knows, may even find what she did—the path and the confidence to do something that makes their souls sing. 

“I was afraid of my own shadow when I was 22, and even into my 30s,” she admits, pausing. “I was a shell of a person. With each step along the way, I found myself. I found my voice. And now at 42, I recognize that the unknown, the uncertainty, is where all of the possibility and juice in life lives.” 

Slattery-Moschkau led into the final commercial break of her Aug. 21, 2011, show with a big tease: She had a “major” announcement. As she bid farewell to her guest of the day, she also announced to her listeners that she was bidding farewell to them as well. 

She was honest in her goodbye. After five years of researching, scheduling and producing “The Kathleen Show,” she had taken a deep breath and reassessed. Creating a show that could be a continued financial success was difficult—she’d have to cover particular topics in ways that pleased advertisers and she wasn’t willing to do that. 
Far from abandoning her “honor yourself” message, she was ending the show to keep living it. Today, she’s soaking up the chance to be with people face to face in The Studio, and all of the “what’s next” questions are now focused in this space. After that?

“I have no idea what’s next and nothing would surprise me,” she says, flashing her warm smile. “Even if it’s the simplest thing of nothingness, of fading out into the sunset, or maybe it’ll be something really big, but I know it’ll rise up in me.” 

And she will hear it, because she’s listening.