Orchid Holistic Search

🌿 Founder of a boutique, high-impact executive search firm, personally billing $500K–$1M annually while leading a team dedicated to placing purpose-driven leaders in natural products, wellness, and sustainability. Partnering with conscious companies (🌱Startup - $500M) and Private Equity firms to build leadership teams that drive long-term success.

Recent Searches:
Managing Director 
Head of Creative
VP Operations/COO
Head of Marketing
VP Sales
CMO
CFO

President

Blanco y Negro Sostenible

Connecting our community to their food, and to one another. One bite at a time.  Leading growth strategy for a 2.5 acre regenerative woman-owned farm, packaged goods, retail food and experiences business in the Cartago province of Costa Rica.

Vice President of Growth & Culture 

Regenerative Magic Retreats

Taking busy executives out of their comfort zones and into the wild, lush beauty of Costa Rican nature.  Curated groups will explore farming, food as medicine, nature and authenticity as sources of connection and community.  Filling our cup regenerates our own personal magic. ✨

Founder

Venteon Finance

Managed a split-desk (business development & recruitment). Specialized in accounting, finance and HR professionals for direct-hire and contract placement in the Metro Detroit - Ann Arbor areas. Pioneered new market segments of not-for-profit, education and healthcare. Implemented strategic marketing initiatives to grow and retain client base.

Sales & Recruitment Executive

Let’s find YOUR people! 💎🌺🔎

For a decade and a half, I have had the honor of stewarding conscious hiring for Natural CPG brands and manufacturers, Private Equity firms and other adjacent orgs doing good in the world. We build leadership teams that align with mission and fuel growth. At Orchid Holistic Search, we take on just a few searches at a time to go deep and get it right for our Clients. No mass emails. No bots. Just precision matchmaking for purpose-driven brands with an average time to fill of 36 days. ⚡️

🌿 Regenerative Hiring: Living on a farm in Costa Rica has reinforced what I’ve always known: growth thrives with care, diversity, and the right conditions. So do leadership teams.

✨ Beyond hiring, leaders need S P A C E to thrive. I curate wellness & personal growth retreats in Costa Rica for women in industry, giving founders and executives time to pause, realign with purpose, and lead with clarity. In 2023, I was honored with the New Hope Joy Award, nominated by retreat guests who found deep transformation & joy in these experiences.

Angela Marturano

Katharina Sommerkamp

I partner with early-stage, purpose-driven founders to de-risk critical assumptions, achieve product-market fit and build the foundations for sustainable growth. My sweet spot is figuring out what makes people tick, translating insights into strategy and activating teams to bring those new ideas to life.  

Areas of focus:
〰️ Product & customer insight
〰️ Go-to-market & human-led/community growth 
〰️ Team & operating systems

I work directly with startups, as well as VCs and venture builders, to give founding teams extra leverage on the big challenges that sit outside their business-as-usual.

Let's chat! → https://calendly.com/katsommerkamp/hello

Operating Partner

Included VC

One of 112 selected from 5,000+ applications to join Included VC, a global fellowship backed by top funds including BITKRAFT, Creandum, Daphni, European Investment Fund, Esprit Foundation, HSBC Ventures, HV Capital, Mouro Capital, Mangrove Capital, Notion Capital, Seedcamp and Wilson Sonsini.

Venture Capital Cohort Member (Class '24)

d.MBA

Led d.MBA’s flagship business program for +100 experienced designers & and built d.MBA's community platform, d.MBA Academy, from scratch the ground up. Alumni from +60 countries include experienced designers at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IDEO and Nike.

Platform Director

Blum

Built leadership program from the ground up that combines the science of positive psychology with tactical advice from top tech leaders in LATAM. Hit 500+ paying users in year one with no ad spend.

Co-Founder & Advisor

Designit

Led business model innovation projects for global corporates, bridging business, design, and technology. Clients included: The Kraft Heinz Company, Capital Energy and Wipro, among others.

Business Design Lead

Founders Factory

Built Ohana, a brand-to-brand partnership network incubated at Founders Factory. After initial traction, we struggled to find product–market fit and made the call to return the remaining investment.

Entrepreneur in Residence

Polymath Ventures

Restructured the talent acquisition function and scaled operations across Polymath and its portfolio ventures.

Lead Business Designer - VP Talent Acquisition | Polymath Ventures

Employee #7 at Elenas (social commerce). Led pivot from e-commerce to marketplace and built supply side from scratch, laying early foundations for a platform now empowering 100K+ women in LATAM.

Senior Business Designer - VP of Business Development | Elenas

Led venture design at Polymath, identifying and validating fintech and proptech opportunities targeting LATAM's emerging middle class. Focused on user research, business model innovation and early GTM.

Business Designer - Consultant | Polymath Ventures

E.ON

Incubated new digital solutions and IP to unlock value in the renewable energy space. Part of the team behind a data analytics patent, granted in 2023 [EP3512228].

Venture Manager

Imagination

Led investor roadshows across Europe and the US. Learned to really think on my feet under high pressure and uncertainty. Clients include: Alibaba, Actavis and Magnit, among many more.

Project Manager & Client Relations

Noble Group

Structured $250M+ in financing for commodity projects in high-risk markets across EMEA and LATAM. Worked across deal sourcing, structuring, fundraising and investor relations.

Structured Commodity Finance Manager

👋 Hey - I'm Kat. Startup Operating Partner, Advisor & Community Builder. 

Over the past +10 years I have launched new ventures from the ground up and stepped into cross-functional roles bridging product, growth & operations to help startups navigate the messy 0→1. I've also reviewed hundreds of pitch decks as a mentor, VC fellow and angel investor.

Before this, I worked in finance unlocking capital for supply chain and infrastructure projects in emerging markets (where I first fell in love with data), and project-managing some of the world’s most notorious IPO roadshows (which taught me to think on my feet when there are many moving parts and stay steady under high pressure). Yes, life is non-linear 🙃

Today, I'm an Operating Partner, working with early-stage founders to de-risk critical business assumptions, accelerate their path to product-market fit and build the foundations for sustainable growth. 

I combine the discipline and strategic lens of big business with the creativity, speed and scrappiness of start-ups. My sweet spot is figuring out what makes people tick, translating insights into strategy and activating teams to bring those new ideas to life. 

Some of the forms this has taken in the past 👇🏼
〰️ Took multiple ventures from opportunity to traction
〰️ Built the supply side from scratch to pivot from e-commerce to a scalable marketplace model
〰️ Redesigned and led the Talent Acquisition team for a venture studio and it’s portfolio
〰️ Led tons of strategic initiatives to drive sustainable growth along the entire funnel (incl. events, communities, content, ambassador and referral programs, etc.) 

Alongside my fractional work, I'm also an active angel investor (currently interested in consumer-powered climate innovation, healthy aging and economic empowerment). If you're building in one of these spaces, I'd love to chat over coffee ☕ → https://calendly.com/katsommerkamp/hello

taplio

The Battle

Angela Marturano

Katharina Sommerkamp

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