A Note From the Heart
I didn't find this work by accident, I found it by taking intentional space
I needed a reset to understand how I was actually wired to operate
At 33, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was nearly a decade into a career in media and ad tech — Discovery Networks, NBC, and a fast-moving startup that was building advanced advertising technology for TV. The kind of career where you don't slow down, you just push harder. So that's what I did. I kept working through treatment because stopping felt impossible, and honestly, because I didn't know any other way to be.
I recovered. Then the pandemic hit, and I was laid off. The startup had been acquired by AT&T, then by Microsoft, and the wave had finally ended. For the first time in my adult life, I wasnt attached the identity I had created over the last 20 years. It made me pause.
I did what I'd always wanted to do but never let myself: I traveled. I walked 500+ miles on the Camino de Santiago. I learned to meditate in Bali. I got my mediation teacher training in the Swiss Alps. I sat still long enough to actually hear myself think. And slowly, I started to understand why I'd spent so many years exhausted, overriding my instincts, and trying to operate like everyone else and take on other people's expectations — when I was fundamentally wired differently.
That's when I reconnected with Human Design. And I want to be honest: It was so overwhelming, I almost didnt know what to do with all the insight. But it gave me a new lens of now I not only looked at myself, but also how I related to everyone else around me.
I went deep. I completed multiple Human Design certifications, 200+ hours of meditation training, and Seth Godin's altMBA — a highly selective, peer-intensive program focused on shipping real work and making meaningful change. I started applying what I was learning. Experimenting with it. Living it. And then I started sharing it — through one-on-one readings, written reports, and group workshops — because the shifts I saw, in myself and in the people I worked with, were too significant to keep quiet
Authenticity Labs exists because I believe there's a better way to move through the world than constantly pushing against your own grain. You were born with an operating system. Most of us just never got the manual.
I'm here to explore your unqiue design with you.
Katie McCarthy — founder, Authenticity Labs LLC
Three things I know to be true
These aren't just ideas I teach. They're the convictions that came out of living through the hard parts — and they shape everything I do here.
"We're each meant to live our own way."
There is no single right path — and trying to walk someone else's will wear you out. Your design is specific to you, and it's worth understanding.
"Real change doesn't come from overthinking."
It comes from small, real-life experiments. When you try something aligned and notice how it feels in your body, that's where the actual shift happens.
"Ancient wisdom is surprisingly modern."
The things that have guided humans for thousands of years — the I Ching, the chakra system, the Kabbalah — still work. Weaving them into daily life creates a kind of groundedness that nothing else quite matches.
What understanding your design actually changes
It's about living and working in a way that genuinely fits you — and noticing the difference.
Know Your Wiring
Understand how you're designed to move through the world — your natural rhythm, pace, and way of engaging with others.
Manage Your Energy
Know what genuinely fills you up versus what drains you, and stop apologizing for needing what you need.
Decide with Confidence
Trust your inner signals instead of overthinking or people-pleasing.
Relate with Ease
Show up with clearer boundaries, better timing, and a deeper understanding of how you connect with others.
Take Aligned Action
Make choices that energize you rather than deplete you and create a system that works with your design.
Ready to understand how you're wired?
Start with your free chart, get your personalized report, or book a session with Katie to go deep on your specific design.