As we count down to the TheMHS Conference 2026, we’re thrilled to introduce our first keynote speaker, Kathryn Goetzke.
We recently caught up with Kathryn to learn more about her work and the perspectives she’ll bring to the conference. Kathryn’s keynote presentation will contribute to critical discussions on illuminating hope, inclusion & connection, bringing valuable insight to conversations shaping the mental health sector.
Biography
Kathryn Goetzke, MBA, is CEO & Chief Hope Officer of The Shine Hope Company, Founder of iFred (2004), the Author of ‘The Biggest Little Book About Hope‘, podcast host of The Hope Matrix, creator of award-winning Hopeful Minds, Hopeful Cities, and Hopeful Mindsets. In 2004, she launched Mood-lites™, a brand that achieved over 35 million dollars in retail sales and ran the first nationwide cause marketing campaign for mental health. Kathryn is a representative for the World Federation for Mental Health at the United Nations, the first organization in the world for mental health, established in 1948 that sets the theme for World Mental Health Day on October 10th. She also worked to get an International Day of Hope passed at the United Nations, now celebrated July 12th around the world.
Kathryn and her work have been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, the BBC, CBS, NewsMax, PBS, PsychCentral, Psychology Today, InStyle, Scholastic, and has presented at UCLA, Harvard, Columbia University, the World Bank, the United Nations, and more. Her research on Hope has been published in peer-reviewed journals around the world. She lost her father to suicide at 18, had her own attempt in her 20s, and is now on a mission to ensure all know what hopelessness is, how to proactively manage it, and be equipped with skills to Shine Hope.
What has been a highlight of your career so far?
One highlight was building a light-bulb brand from scratch and securing national shelf space for our Mood-lites product line in Lowe’s Home Improvement at a time when the lighting aisle was dominated by major manufacturers like GE and Philips. For an individual entrepreneur to build a brand in that category was pretty outrageous. Seeing 27 SKUs of Mood-lites on that shelf across more than 2,700 stores in the United States was an extraordinary moment.
What made it even more meaningful was what we built into the packaging. For every Mood-lites sold, $0.25 was donated to iFred, the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression, now Hope. It became the first nationwide cause-marketing campaign for mental health. We ultimately sold more than nine million products, raising over $1 million to advance mental health awareness and education at a time when almost no one was talking about it.
My father was a retail banker who worked closely with Sam and Bud Walton and was obsessed with retail, so standing in front of that shelf meant a great deal to me. I often think about how proud he would have been, especially because it took far more persistence and hard work than I ever expected. But I never gave up.
That experience ultimately led me to a deeper understanding of hopelessness and the power of Hope, and it shaped my next company and mission: to ensure everyone knows how to Hope.
It also led to my next equally incredible highlight, standing on the floor of the United Nations watching 161 countries vote in favor of establishing the International Day of Hope, a day now celebrated around the world to honor the science, stories, and strategies of Hope.
The International Day of Hope is now observed each year on July 12.
Kathryn at the United Nations congregation.
What drew you to this work, and what keeps you committed to it?
What drew me to this work was losing my father to suicide and later being told that I myself, was at high risk. Watching someone you love suffer and not knowing what to do or how to help is one of the most painful experiences imaginable.
Years later, I experienced what I can best describe as a brain attack. In a single moment, my despair and helplessness collided so severely that I could not see a way out. What shocked me most was that I was not in clinical depression or living in a constant state of anxiety. It was simply a moment when my brain lost access to Hope.
As I began studying suicide prevention, I learned that hopelessness is the single most consistent predictor of suicide. Yet most systems focus on crisis intervention rather than true prevention. To prevent something, you have to address the root cause.
Because I had been told I was at high risk, I knew I had to figure it out. That work led me to create Hopeful Minds, the first global evidence-based program designed to teach the how of Hope.
What keeps me committed is simple: I hate seeing human suffering. When I see a problem, I feel a responsibility to work to solve it. My father taught me that.
Now my focus is ensuring that everyone has access to these skills. We need programs that reach children, adults, workplaces, and communities, so I have been working to build them.
Our work includes the SHINE Hope Framework (Stress Skills, Happiness Habits, Inspired Actions, Nourishing Networks, and Eliminating Challenges) and the Hopeful Cities activation model.
Ultimately, we need a global movement to ensure everyone knows how to Shine Hope.
If someone was hearing about The Shine Hope Company for the first time, what’s the one thing you’d want them to know?
I’d want them to know that Hope is measurable (www.myshinehope.com) and a skill you can learn and practice. And it takes time, patience, yet is always possible.
Kathryn’s father at the Walmart Annual Meeting
What moment in your journey made you realise the true ripple effect that teaching hope can have on communities?
One of the most powerful moments has been working in communities that have every reason not to Hope. I have spent time with incarcerated youth, Indigenous communities, and many remarkable individuals through conversations on The Hope Matrix podcast.
Again and again, I meet people who have faced circumstances where you wonder, “How can they possibly Hope?” Yet they do. And when they share their stories, they naturally describe the same skills we teach in the SHINE Hope Framework.
Different people, different challenges, different cultures, yet the same core patterns. When people learn how to manage despair and take inspired action, Hope becomes possible again. Seeing that across communities has shown me how powerful and universal these skills truly are.
If every leader adopted just one principle from your hope framework, which would you choose and why?
Cultivate Hope in your people.
For years, leaders have repeated the phrase “hope is not a strategy.” Yet research tells us the opposite. A global Gallup study across 52 countries and territories representing 76% of the world’s population and 86% of global GDP found that the most important need followers have from leaders is Hope.
In fact, 56% of the attributes people associate with the most positive leaders in their lives relate to Hope, far surpassing trust, compassion, or stability.
When people believe the future can be better and that they have the power to help make it so, they think more creatively, persist longer through challenges, and contribute more fully.
Great leaders cultivate Hope. They measure it, talk about it, and help people build the skills to strengthen it.
Because when leaders build Hope, they strengthen people, organizations, and communities.
